Siege of Jerusalem (37 BC)
Encyclopedia
Herod the Great
's Siege of Jerusalem (37 BC) was the final step in his campaign to secure the throne of Judea
. Aided by Roman forces provided by Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony), Herod was able to capture the city and depose Antigonus II Mattathias, ending Hasmonean
rule. The siege appears in the writings of Josephus
and Dio Cassius
.
, Pompey the Great intervened in a civil war in the Hasmonean Kingdom between Hyrcanus II
and Aristobulus II
, conquered Judea
and appointed Hyrcanus High Priest
. Under Hyrcanus, real power rested with his chief minister, Antipater the Idumaean
. In 49 BCE Antipater prompted Hyrcanus to side with Julius Caesar
during Caesar's Civil War
. Following his victory, Caesar bestowed the title of ethnarch
on Hyrcanus and epitropos (or Procurator
) on Antipater. A few years later, Antipater appointed his sons Phasael
and Herod
military governors of Jerusalem and the Galilee
respectively. After the Roman civil war following the murder of Julius Caesar
, Hyrcanus and Antipater became clients of Mark Antony
, who now ruled the Roman east.
In 40 BCE, Antigonus II Mattathias, son of Hasmonean
Aristobulus II
, offered money to the Parthian army
to help him recapture the Hasmonean realm. The Parthians invaded Roman Syria, took Judea, captured Hyrcanus and Phasael and installed Antigonus II on the Judean throne. Hyrcanus was mutilated, and Phasael commited suicide rather than fall into the hands of Antigonus II. Herod and his family was besieged at Masada
, but Herod escaped to Petra
. When he received no help from the Nabataeans
, Herod made his way to Rome
. Supported by Antony, he was proclaimed "King of the Jews" by the Roman Senate
and returned to Judea to claim the throne.
Between 39–38 BCE, the Roman general Publius Ventidius Bassus
defeated the Parthian army, sending troops under the command of Poppaedius Silo to await the arrival of Herod. Herod landed at Ptolemais
and began his campaign against Antigonus with the conquest of the Galilee, marched down the coast to take Jaffa
and then relieved Masada, where his family was still holed up. He then marched on Jerusalem, hoping to capture the city and bring a swift end to the war. Faced with corruption among his Roman officers, mutinuous Roman troops and Antigonus' guerrillas, however, Herod was forced to abandon his siege of Jerusalem. He operated in Judea, Samaria and the Galilee instead, fighting against both insurgents and bandits, while sending his brother Joseph to deal with Idumaea. By late 38 BC, reinforced by several Roman legion
s and having fought two years of counter-insurgency, Herod was finally able to pacify the Galilee and march south towards Jerusalem. Antigonus attempted to face Herod in pitch battle, striking against both Jericho
and Samaria
, but both efforts were defeated. Herod once again pitched camp outside Jerusalem, though the onset of winter brought military operations to a halt.
, near a saddle
allowing access to the city walls, the same location chosen by Pompey 26 years earlier. According to Josephus, Herod had 30,000 men under his command, though a modern estimate puts the number at about half of that. These were reinforced by several Roman legions, 6,000 cavalry and Syrian auxiliaries sent by Antony and led by Gaius Sosius
. With the coming of spring, Herod began executing his siege with vigour. His engineers followed Roman practices, erecting a wall of circumvallation
and guard towers, cutting down the trees surrounding the city, and employing siege engines and artillery. The besieged suffered from lack of provisions, compounded by a famine brought about by the sabbatical year, but were nevertheless able to put up an effective defence. They sallied from the walls, ambushing the besieging troops and hindering Herod's attempts to raise ramparts, and fought Roman efforts to mine under the walls with counter-mining.
After forty days, Herod's forces breached what Josephus calls "the north wall", apparently Jerusalem's second wall. The first wall fell 15 days later, and soon the outer court of the Temple fell as well, during which its outer porticoes were burnt down, apparently by Antigonus' supporters. While Antigonus shut himself up in citadel known as the Baris
, the defenders were left holding the Temple's inner court and Jerusalem's upper city (southwestern quarter of the city). These now appealed to Herod to permit the passage of animals and other offerings into the temple for the sacrifices to continue. During the siege Antigonus had used Herod's lack of pedigree as propaganda, calling him a "commoner and an Idumaean, that is a half-Jew", publicly questioning Herod's right to the throne. Herod, fearful for his legitimacy and popularity, therefore complied with the requests. Further negotiations, however, proved fruitless and Herod's forces assaulted the city. Having taken Jerusalem by storm and despite Herod's pleas for restraint, the troops now acted without mercy, pillaging and killing all in their path, prompting Herod to complain to Mark Antony. Herod also attempted to prevent Roman soldiers from descecrating the temple's inner sanctuary, eventually bribing Sosius and his troops in order that they do not leave him "king of a desert".
in Rome. Herod, however, fearing that Antigonus would also win backing in Rome, bribed Antony to execute Antigonus. Antony, who recognized that Antigonus would remain a permanent threat to Herod, had the Hasmonean beheaded in Antioch
, the first time the Romans had executed a subjugated king. Herod also had 45 leading men of Antigonus' party executed.
With the fall of Jerusalem, Herod's conquest of the kingdom was complete. After consolidating his rule, he began systematically exterminating the Hasmonean line, which he perceived as a direct threat to his reign. Hyrcanus II, the last major scion of the Hasmoneans, was executed in 30 BCE. Herod would rule until his death in 4 BCE, an ever-faithful client king of Rome.
Herod's siege of Jerusalem may have inspired Psalm of Solomon
17, the earliest text expressing the expectation of a Davidic messiah
. The first portion of the psalm condemns the illegitimate Jewish sinners who had usurped the throne in violation of the Davidic covenant
, God's promise to establish the Davidic dynasty as the eternal rulers of Israel. These sinners are then overthrown by a foreign ruler and their line extinguished. Scholarship has since identified the sinners with the Hasmonean dynasty, but the foreign ruler has traditionally been identified as Pompey the Great. An alternate reading, noting that Pompey did not in fact kill off the last of the Hasmoneans but rather reinstated their rule, suggests that the events of Psalm 17 describe Herod, his conquest of Jerusalem and the his subsequent eradication of the Hasmonean line.
Herod the Great
Herod , also known as Herod the Great , was a Roman client king of Judea. His epithet of "the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis." He is also known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and elsewhere, including his...
's Siege of Jerusalem (37 BC) was the final step in his campaign to secure the throne of Judea
Judea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
. Aided by Roman forces provided by Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony), Herod was able to capture the city and depose Antigonus II Mattathias, ending Hasmonean
Hasmonean
The Hasmonean dynasty , was the ruling dynasty of Judea and surrounding regions during classical antiquity. Between c. 140 and c. 116 BCE, the dynasty ruled semi-autonomously from the Seleucids in the region of Judea...
rule. The siege appears in the writings of Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
and Dio Cassius
Dio Cassius
Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus , known in English as Cassius Dio, Dio Cassius, or Dio was a Roman consul and a noted historian writing in Greek...
.
Background
In 63 BCE, following his victory in the Third Mithridatic WarThird Mithridatic War
The Third Mithridatic War was the last and longest of three Mithridatic Wars fought between Mithridates VI of Pontus and his allies and the Roman Republic...
, Pompey the Great intervened in a civil war in the Hasmonean Kingdom between Hyrcanus II
Hyrcanus II
Hyrcanus II, a member of the Hasmonean dynasty, was the Jewish High Priest and King of Judea in the 1st century BC.-Accession:Hyrcanus was the eldest son of Alexander Jannaeus, King and High Priest, and Alexandra Salome...
and Aristobulus II
Aristobulus II
Aristobulus II was the Jewish High Priest and King of Judea, 66 BC to 63 BC, from the Hasmonean Dynasty.-Family:Aristobulus was the younger son of Alexander Jannaeus, King and High Priest, and Alexandra Salome. After the death of Alexander in 76 BC, his widow succeeded to the rule of Judea and...
, conquered Judea
Siege of Jerusalem (63 BC)
-Bibliography:** Josephus, Flavius. William Whiston, A.M., translator . . Auburn and Buffalo, New York: John E. Beardsley. Retrieved 15 July 2010.*****...
and appointed Hyrcanus High Priest
Kohen Gadol
The High Priest was the chief religious official of Israelite religion and of classical Judaism from the rise of the Israelite nation until the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem...
. Under Hyrcanus, real power rested with his chief minister, Antipater the Idumaean
Antipater the Idumaean
Antipater I the Idumaean was the founder of the Herodian Dynasty and father of Herod the Great. According to Josephus, he was the son of Antipas...
. In 49 BCE Antipater prompted Hyrcanus to side with Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
during Caesar's Civil War
Caesar's civil war
The Great Roman Civil War , also known as Caesar's Civil War, was one of the last politico-military conflicts in the Roman Republic before the establishment of the Roman Empire...
. Following his victory, Caesar bestowed the title of ethnarch
Ethnarch
Ethnarch, pronounced , the anglicized form of ethnarches refers generally to political leadership over a common ethnic group or homogeneous kingdom. The word is derived from the Greek words and ....
on Hyrcanus and epitropos (or Procurator
Procurator (Roman)
A procurator was the title of various officials of the Roman Empire, posts mostly filled by equites . A procurator Augusti was the governor of the smaller imperial provinces...
) on Antipater. A few years later, Antipater appointed his sons Phasael
Phasael
Phasael was a prince from the Herodian Dynasty of Judea.-Origins and early career:...
and Herod
Herod the Great
Herod , also known as Herod the Great , was a Roman client king of Judea. His epithet of "the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis." He is also known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and elsewhere, including his...
military governors of Jerusalem and the Galilee
Galilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...
respectively. After the Roman civil war following the murder of Julius Caesar
Liberators' civil war
The Liberators' civil war was started by the Second Triumvirate to avenge Julius Caesar's murder. The war was fought by the forces of Mark Antony and Octavian against the forces of Caesar's assassins Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus in 42 BC.-Prelude:After the murder of Caesar,...
, Hyrcanus and Antipater became clients of Mark Antony
Mark Antony
Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...
, who now ruled the Roman east.
In 40 BCE, Antigonus II Mattathias, son of Hasmonean
Hasmonean
The Hasmonean dynasty , was the ruling dynasty of Judea and surrounding regions during classical antiquity. Between c. 140 and c. 116 BCE, the dynasty ruled semi-autonomously from the Seleucids in the region of Judea...
Aristobulus II
Aristobulus II
Aristobulus II was the Jewish High Priest and King of Judea, 66 BC to 63 BC, from the Hasmonean Dynasty.-Family:Aristobulus was the younger son of Alexander Jannaeus, King and High Priest, and Alexandra Salome. After the death of Alexander in 76 BC, his widow succeeded to the rule of Judea and...
, offered money to the Parthian army
Parthian Empire
The Parthian Empire , also known as the Arsacid Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia...
to help him recapture the Hasmonean realm. The Parthians invaded Roman Syria, took Judea, captured Hyrcanus and Phasael and installed Antigonus II on the Judean throne. Hyrcanus was mutilated, and Phasael commited suicide rather than fall into the hands of Antigonus II. Herod and his family was besieged at Masada
Masada
Masada is the name for a site of ancient palaces and fortifications in the South District of Israel, on top of an isolated rock plateau, or horst, on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea. Masada is best known for the violence that occurred there in the first century CE...
, but Herod escaped to Petra
Petra
Petra is a historical and archaeological city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is famous for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system. Established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited...
. When he received no help from the Nabataeans
Nabataeans
Thamudi3.jpgThe Nabataeans, also Nabateans , were ancient peoples of southern Canaan and the northern part of Arabia, whose oasis settlements in the time of Josephus , gave the name of Nabatene to the borderland between Syria and Arabia, from the Euphrates to the Red Sea...
, Herod made his way to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. Supported by Antony, he was proclaimed "King of the Jews" by the Roman Senate
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
and returned to Judea to claim the throne.
Between 39–38 BCE, the Roman general Publius Ventidius Bassus
Publius Ventidius Bassus
Publius Ventidius Bassus, or in full, Publius Ventidius Publii filius Bassus, "Publius Ventidius, Publius's son, Bassus" was a Roman general and one of Julius Caesar's protégés...
defeated the Parthian army, sending troops under the command of Poppaedius Silo to await the arrival of Herod. Herod landed at Ptolemais
Acre, Israel
Acre , is a city in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay. Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country....
and began his campaign against Antigonus with the conquest of the Galilee, marched down the coast to take Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
and then relieved Masada, where his family was still holed up. He then marched on Jerusalem, hoping to capture the city and bring a swift end to the war. Faced with corruption among his Roman officers, mutinuous Roman troops and Antigonus' guerrillas, however, Herod was forced to abandon his siege of Jerusalem. He operated in Judea, Samaria and the Galilee instead, fighting against both insurgents and bandits, while sending his brother Joseph to deal with Idumaea. By late 38 BC, reinforced by several Roman legion
Roman legion
A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...
s and having fought two years of counter-insurgency, Herod was finally able to pacify the Galilee and march south towards Jerusalem. Antigonus attempted to face Herod in pitch battle, striking against both Jericho
Jericho
Jericho ; is a city located near the Jordan River in the West Bank of the Palestinian territories. It is the capital of the Jericho Governorate and has a population of more than 20,000. Situated well below sea level on an east-west route north of the Dead Sea, Jericho is the lowest permanently...
and Samaria
Samaria
Samaria, or the Shomron is a term used for a mountainous region roughly corresponding to the northern part of the West Bank.- Etymology :...
, but both efforts were defeated. Herod once again pitched camp outside Jerusalem, though the onset of winter brought military operations to a halt.
Siege
Herod had pitched his camp north of the TempleSecond Temple
The Jewish Second Temple was an important shrine which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced the First Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE, when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon...
, near a saddle
Mountain pass
A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...
allowing access to the city walls, the same location chosen by Pompey 26 years earlier. According to Josephus, Herod had 30,000 men under his command, though a modern estimate puts the number at about half of that. These were reinforced by several Roman legions, 6,000 cavalry and Syrian auxiliaries sent by Antony and led by Gaius Sosius
Gaius Sosius
Gaius Sosius was a Roman general and politician.Gaius Sosius was elected quaestor in 66 BC and praetor in 49 BC. Upon the start of the civil war, he joined the party of the Senate sometimes called optimates by modern scholars...
. With the coming of spring, Herod began executing his siege with vigour. His engineers followed Roman practices, erecting a wall of circumvallation
Investment (military)
Investment is the military tactic of surrounding an enemy fort with armed forces to prevent entry or escape.A circumvallation is a line of fortifications, built by the attackers around the besieged fortification facing towards the enemy fort...
and guard towers, cutting down the trees surrounding the city, and employing siege engines and artillery. The besieged suffered from lack of provisions, compounded by a famine brought about by the sabbatical year, but were nevertheless able to put up an effective defence. They sallied from the walls, ambushing the besieging troops and hindering Herod's attempts to raise ramparts, and fought Roman efforts to mine under the walls with counter-mining.
After forty days, Herod's forces breached what Josephus calls "the north wall", apparently Jerusalem's second wall. The first wall fell 15 days later, and soon the outer court of the Temple fell as well, during which its outer porticoes were burnt down, apparently by Antigonus' supporters. While Antigonus shut himself up in citadel known as the Baris
Hasmonean Baris
The Hasmonean Baris was a citadel constructed north of Jerusalem's Temple Mount in existence during the Hasmonean period.-History:Nehemiah refers to a "birah" on or adjacent to the Temple Mount. This may have been the predecessor or identical to the Hellenistic fortress mentioned in the Letter of...
, the defenders were left holding the Temple's inner court and Jerusalem's upper city (southwestern quarter of the city). These now appealed to Herod to permit the passage of animals and other offerings into the temple for the sacrifices to continue. During the siege Antigonus had used Herod's lack of pedigree as propaganda, calling him a "commoner and an Idumaean, that is a half-Jew", publicly questioning Herod's right to the throne. Herod, fearful for his legitimacy and popularity, therefore complied with the requests. Further negotiations, however, proved fruitless and Herod's forces assaulted the city. Having taken Jerusalem by storm and despite Herod's pleas for restraint, the troops now acted without mercy, pillaging and killing all in their path, prompting Herod to complain to Mark Antony. Herod also attempted to prevent Roman soldiers from descecrating the temple's inner sanctuary, eventually bribing Sosius and his troops in order that they do not leave him "king of a desert".
Aftermath
Antigonus surrended to Sosius, and was sent to Antony for the triumphal processionRoman triumph
The Roman triumph was a civil ceremony and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the military achievement of an army commander who had won great military successes, or originally and traditionally, one who had successfully completed a foreign war. In Republican...
in Rome. Herod, however, fearing that Antigonus would also win backing in Rome, bribed Antony to execute Antigonus. Antony, who recognized that Antigonus would remain a permanent threat to Herod, had the Hasmonean beheaded in Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
, the first time the Romans had executed a subjugated king. Herod also had 45 leading men of Antigonus' party executed.
With the fall of Jerusalem, Herod's conquest of the kingdom was complete. After consolidating his rule, he began systematically exterminating the Hasmonean line, which he perceived as a direct threat to his reign. Hyrcanus II, the last major scion of the Hasmoneans, was executed in 30 BCE. Herod would rule until his death in 4 BCE, an ever-faithful client king of Rome.
Herod's siege of Jerusalem may have inspired Psalm of Solomon
Psalms of Solomon
One of the Pseudepigrapha, the Psalms of Solomon is a group of eighteen psalms that are not part of any scriptural canon...
17, the earliest text expressing the expectation of a Davidic messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
. The first portion of the psalm condemns the illegitimate Jewish sinners who had usurped the throne in violation of the Davidic covenant
Covenant (biblical)
A biblical covenant is an agreement found in the Bible between God and His people in which God makes specific promises and demands. It is the customary word used to translate the Hebrew word berith. It it is used in the Tanakh 286 times . All Abrahamic religions consider the Biblical covenant...
, God's promise to establish the Davidic dynasty as the eternal rulers of Israel. These sinners are then overthrown by a foreign ruler and their line extinguished. Scholarship has since identified the sinners with the Hasmonean dynasty, but the foreign ruler has traditionally been identified as Pompey the Great. An alternate reading, noting that Pompey did not in fact kill off the last of the Hasmoneans but rather reinstated their rule, suggests that the events of Psalm 17 describe Herod, his conquest of Jerusalem and the his subsequent eradication of the Hasmonean line.