The New International Encyclopædia/Aristobulus I

ARISTOBULUS I. A prince of Judæa, who succeeded his father, John Hyrcanus, as high-priest in B.C. 105. His mother had been given the royal office by the will of Hyrcanus, but the son deposed her, put her in prison, where she died of hunger, while he took the title of king, the first instance of its assumption among the Jews after the Babylonian captivity. Aristobulus had a decided leaning toward Hellenism, though, despite this fact, he remained Jewish in his feelings. He was disliked by the people for imprisoning his mother, and all his brothers except Antigonus, and even him, at a later period, he murdered at the instigation of Queen Salome. He conquered a large part of the Iturean country and compelled the inhabitants to accept Judaism. He died in B.C. 104 of a malignant disease, although his death may have been hastened because of remorse for the murder of his brother.