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At approximately the time of the Rebellion of Diodotus Tryphon (c. 144 BC) Josephus for the first time in his account mentions the factions Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes by name (Antiquities 13.5.9). He may have been reading later conditions into his sources or, what is more likely, simply introducing groups whose origin is already history.
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The Greek term pharisaioi (pl.) presents a problem. It appears to be a probable Greek rendering of the Aramaic term for "Persian", paresai. If so, a group with such a name must have held ideas in some ways traceable to the Persian Period (c. 539-330 BC, i.e, prior to Alexander the Great). Indeed, in its earliest stages this scholarly point of view seems to have originated around the time of Ezra who was High Priest and Scribe sometime the fourth century BC. With the appearance of the Macedonians this group probably represented a very conservative anti-Macedonian, anti-Greek position. At the very least they may have championed positions that their contemporaries associated with the Persian period. Simon the Just, Antigonus of Sokho, and the so-called eshkoloth(**) were important links down to the second century BC. The scholarly tradition identifies the zugoth(**), pairs of scholars associated with the great council, as the links in the scholarly tradition down to the end of the first century BC. The problem here is that the history of the Hasmonaean Council is difficult to reconcile with what is attributed to the Pharisee role in Hasmonaean politics. Neither are we at all certain how to factor in the popular opposition to Jason and Menelaus (**).
In any case, by the first century BC the Pharisee group had espoused a moderate, limited Hellenism so the earlier meaning of the name was obscured by a newly invented one. The new etymology was based on cognate Hebrew and Aramaic words that are both spelled with the "p" instead of the "ph" and the "sh" instead of the "s"; namely the Hebrew prshm, vocalized parushim, and the Aramaic vocalized perishye. Both derive from the semitic root prsh, vocalized parash, "to separate". Scholars today believe the Hebrew parushim may mean "separatists", but there is not a single textual usage to confirm this. By analogy with other similar constructions in Hebrew, it might better be translated "the separators". The comparable Aramaic term, clearly in the passive voice, means "those being separated". We should expect the Greek rendering of parushim which is plural to disregard the Hebrew plural ending im in favor of a Greek plural ending oi. Beyond that, however, we should expect paryshoi or parishoi. In defense of the parash derivation the schism among the followers of Antigonus of Sokho may be remembered.
Rabbinical Traditions preserve the names of the zugoth that served in the middle of the second century as leaders of the beth din ha-gadol, the Great Council (**). Joshua son of Perakhyah may have been av beth din from about 162 when Alcimus, the High Priest, executed his predecessor. He then succeeded to the office of nasi when Josiah son of Johanan died some time between c. 150 and 145 BC. At that same time the office of the av beth din was given to Nittai the Arbelite. He then shifted to nasi when Joshua son of Perakhyah died, possibly about 135 BC. Judah son of Tabbai then filled the position of av beth din. [More on the Pharisees.]
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The Greek term saddoukaioi (pl.) is paralleled by the late Hebrew tsdqm vocalized tseduqim. By the first century AD the Sadducees liked to associate their name with the Hebrew tsdqm vocalized tsaddiqim and its probable Aramaic equivalent which has not survived. Tsaddiqim meant "the ones being righteous". No evidence has survived of the possible Hebrew word vocalized as tsadduqim which is closer to the Greek. It should mean "the ones acting righteously". Another derivation has been suggested by analogy with Hellenistic political influence where the Jews would have to invent a Hebrew word to render the Greek word syndikoi, (pl.) "advocates", or representatives of the people who defend them against unjust actions of the government. The Hebrew rendering would be sdkm, vocalized sedukim, while an Aramaic rendering could be sdkn, vocalized saddukain. Neither of these words has survived in a written context, unless the Greek term saddoukaioi is based on one or the other.
By the time we can understand their position, the Sadducees represent the most thoroughly Hellenized, urban dwelling, aristocratic and generally wealthy Jewish families in Judea. They may have drawn support from a similar class of Jews in Alexandria. While the Sadducees had little interest in the scholarly midrash tradition they were interested in the other branch of the oral tradition; namely, that of the judicial taqqanoth, "enactments, ordinances," and gezeroth, "prohibitions", "prohibitive ordinances". This part of the oral tradition had to do with preserving the actions of the council pertaining to social and civil practices or temple ceremonies not necessarily treated one way or another in the Torah. Such council actions might reflect the strong Hellenistic influence that began to be noted as early as the fourth century. At some point this tradition began to branch off into two distinct streams: a conservative branch favoring the older institutions that were identified with the Persian period, and a liberal branch that favored the Hellenistic institutional concepts pressing from every side.
Again, as in the case of the Pharisees, it is difficult to reconcile the reported activities of the Sadducees with the changes than must have taken place in the composition of the Hasmonaean council. [More about the Sadducees.]
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The term essenoi (pl.) was used by Josephus, while esseni was Pliny's rendering and Philo used essaioi. This inconsistency among our sources makes it very difficult to determine what the name of this group really meant. Both Josephus and Philo emphasize holiness as a characteristic of the faction; hence, some recent scholars conjecture that the name derived from the Aramaic word or words meaning "holy ones". The hypothetical reconstruction in the Aramaic results in chesenai or khasayya based on a later Syriac usage.
In an unrelated context Philo describes a Jewish ascetic community near Alexandria that sounds similar to what we know otherwise about the Essenes. This Greek-speaking religious community he refers to as hoi therapeuein, "the worshippers", or with equal justification, "the healers" (from therapeuein, "to serve, court, worship, attend, treat medically, i.e. nurse, heal"). An Aramaic word with the meaning of treating medically or healing does survive in more than one later Aramaic dialect. While no instance of such a word has been found in any chronologically relevant text of South Syrian Aramaic, it may nonetheless have been in use. Its spelling should have been either assen or assai, or both.
Priests played a very important role in the Essene leadership and the qualifications for the High Priest were an issue of prime importance with them. They opposed the Hasmonean monopoly on the office of High Priest and favored the restoration of the descendants of Zadok to that office. Because they rejected the Hasmonaean priesthood they would not participate with the rest of the population in the Temple courses. If they went to the Temple at all--scholars debate this--they seem to have offered their sacrifices separately.
When the Essenes might have jelled into an organization is unknown, but there are several historical moments that seem to have potential, before Josephus's report related to the 140's BC. One of the first one's is the appointment of Menelaus, who may have been a non-Zadokite priest. There are further clues in a document found in a Cairo Synagogue storeroom. The so-called Damascus Document reports that a group finally fled to Damascus from Judea after a period of 20 years without leaders. There are several occasions that might be the context for such a scenario. For example, the twenty years after the death of Simon II (=c. 196-176) until the Maccabean rebellion broke out has been suggested. After the twenty years there arose an anonymous "Teacher of Righteousness" who was a priest persecuted by "the wicked priest". This Teacher seems to have lead the group away to Damascus. One possible instance was during the high priesthood of Jonathan son of Mattathias about 147, twenty years after the decrees of Antiochus IV and the beginning of the Maccabean rebellion. Other possible instances will be cited below. [More about the Essenes below.]
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Diodotus Tryphon escorted by his army came down to Scythopolis in 143 BC on the pretense of a friendly consultation with Jonathan at Ptolemais. Jonathan was tricked and arrested apparently supposing the Jews would ransome him. Simon, Jonathan's brother, took over in Jonathan's absence. He strengthened the fortification of Jerusalem, forced the inhabitants of Joppa to accept Judaism or evacuate. When Tryphon's army marched toward Jerusalem, Simon blocked them and forced Tryphon to negotiate. Tryphon asked for Jonathan's sons as hostages and a payment of tribute. Simon agreed to this and complied. Then Tryphon had Jonathan executed. Soon thereafter Tryphon eliminated the Pseudo-Antiochus VI and declared himself King. Demetrius II, however, was strongly entrenched in Cilicia and in the Eastern provinces.
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Simon became the head of the insurgents. He launched immediate and successful campaigns against the Diodotus Tryphon's garrisons at Gazara and Jerusalem. The population of Gazara was given the option of circumcision or forced evacuation.
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Before October of 142 Demetrius II had agreed to cancel all tribute and make Judea completely free and independent of Seleucid authority. Simon now became High Priest and King. He was inaugurated by the people on 18 September 140 BC about three years after Jonathan's death. Some scholars identify this event as what triggered the Essene schism since it falls, roughly, twenty years after the purge of Alcimus. If this is the case then Simon son of Mattathias would be the "wicked priest" who persecuted the "Teacher of Righteousness" in accord with the Dead Sea Scrolls/Damascus Document tradition.
Meanwhile the Parthians had invaded Babylonia in 141 BC. and Demetrius II had campaigned with some success against them in 140. Simon conspired with Demetrius II against Diodotus Tryphon who was still at large.
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Demetrius II was captured in Babylonia by the Parthians in 139 BC and lived several years as a royal prisoner of war in Parthia. While there he was honored at the royal court, adopted the Parthian custom of wearing a beard, and married the Parthian King's daughter, Rhodogune.
In that same year, but far away in the west the Roman Senate acted to recognize the independence of the Judean state from the Seleucids.
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Meanwhile Seleucid Queen, Cleopatra Thea, called Demetrius II's 21 year old brother in from Rhodes to fill his brother's shoes. Antiochus VII Euergetes (better known as Sidetes) confirmed his brother's arrangements with Simon, defeated Diodotus Tryphon, drove him from Antioch, captured him and forced him to commit suicide in 138 BC.
Sidetes proceeded to impose a 1000 talent indemnity on Judea for their actions in Gaza and Joppa. If the Seleucid garrisons were readmitted the indemnity would be cancelled. Simon agreed to pay only 100 talents. The Seleucid forces operating out of Jamnia under the general Kendebaus begain raiding western Judea. Simon's sons, Judas and John Hyrcanus led the Judean army successfully against Kendebaus.
Simon's son-in-law, Ptolemy Aboubus, governor general of Jericho and the surrounding region killed Simon and his two elder sons, Judas and Mattathias, in February, 134. In the absense of any clear information we may speculate on the origin of this Ptolemy. In the years after 145 many Jews were driven from Alexandria by the tyrannical practices of Ptolemy VIII Physcon. Many of these probably sought exile in Judea. Ptolemy Aboubus seems to have been a very ambitious and aggressive individual. His name, Aboubus, suggests, however, that he may have come originally from the desert fringe.
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Simon's third son, John Hyrcanus, governor general of Gazara, immediately took control of Jerusalem and marched toward Jericho. Ptolemy had Hyrcanus' mother with him and threatened to throw her off the walls if John attacked. While there is no indication other than circumstance, Ptolemy may have been in conspiracy with Sidetes; for the Seleucid army soon appeared and laid siege to Jerusalem. After many months, perhaps more than a year, a group of Roman Senators showed up and dictated a peace treaty between Sidetes and John Hyrcanus. Sidetes was forced to lift the siege and withdraw in 133 BC. Judea was to pay annual tribute for Joppa and a 500-talent indemnity for the destruction of the garrisons, give hostages, lay down their arms, and dismantle the fortification of Jerusalem. John Hyrcanus was to be recognized as an independent ruler and Roman ally. Later in 129 the Judean army joined the Seleucids in a campaign against the Parthians, a campaign in which Sidetes was killed. Some modern scholars have concluded that John Hyrcanus was not really independent of Sidetes from 133 to 129 BC.
Early in his reign John Hyrcanus had been supported and advised by partisans of the Pharisees. We are led to assume that the Pharisees had enjoyed similar favor from the earlier Hasmonaean rulers, at least since Jonathan. But, because of the great influence the Pharisees had over the people and because of a disagreement about John Hyrcanus' priestly qualifications, Hyrcanus switched and followed the advice of the Sadducee faction (Josephus, Antiquities 13.10.1). The Pharisees were concerned that John Hyrcanus' mother, Simon's wife, had been legally disqualified to be the wife of a priest because she had been imprisoned together with Simon, her husband back in the days of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. According to the Pharisee's understanding any woman who was imprisoned--even in the company of her husband--legally becomes a zonah, "harlot", and cannot marry or remain married to a priest. Any child born to a priest by a zonah was considered illegitimate and would not inherit the priesthood from his father. A official Pharisee investigation explored these charges and ruled that she was not a zonah; yet, Josephus tells us, many did not accept the verdict of the inquiry. The way the Pharisees treated their man Eleazar who had made the original accusation convinced John Hyrcanus that they believed the man's accusation was just. Hence, for the remainder of his reign he favored the Sadducees and sought their advice. [More about the Sadducees.]
Possibly in connection with the development discussed above a member of the current zug, made up of Nittai the Arbelite and Judah son of Tabbai, seems to have left Judea possibly as a result of the Pharisee's loss of favor. Judah son of Tabbai who was probabaly av beth din went to live in Alexandria, Egypt. The Rabbinical Traditions do not answer any of our questions as to whether Judah son of Tabbai was replaced, or continued to serve in absentia. The possibilities are interesting. Did Nittai continue to serve as nasi without a colleague after Judah's departure, or with a Sadducee colleague, or, most unlikely, had Simon son of Shetakh come to the role of av beth din at that time? Did Judah son of Tabbai return to Judea as nasi when Nittai died? If so, when did Nittai's career end? Nittai the Arbelite may have died about the same time Judah went into exile or he may have continued as nasi until the last decade of the century. Indeed, what the traditions do convey is the association between Judah son of Tabbai and Simon son of Shetakh, sometimes with Simon as av beth din and sometimes as nasi. This unexpected fact has caused scholars to postulate that Simon son of Shetakh and Judah son of Tabbai switched offices about 104 BC when Simon's brother-in-law took office as High Priest and King. [More about the Pharisees.]
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The Parthian government released Demetrius II and sent him back to Syria hoping to weaken the government of Sidetes. When Antiochus VII Sidetes died Demetrius II reclaimed his throne. Cleopatra Thea, formerly Demetrius II's wife and more recently widow of Antiochus VII was not reconciled to the situation, yet the marriage was not repudiated.
Alexander Zabinus, an Egyptian, opposed Demetrius II claiming to be the legitimate heir of Antiochus VII--or Alexander Balas, according to some. The current Ptolemaic ruler, Ptolemy VIII Physcon, supported him. It is unknown whether Cleopatra Thea had appealed to Physcon or not. Physcon had married his sister, Cleopatra II the widow of Ptolemy VI and the mother of Cleopatra Thea. Alienated from her husband because he had murdered their child, Cleopatra II called on Demetrius II, her son-in-law, to protect her. He marched on Egypt but got no farther than Pelusium in the Nile delta. Alexander Zabinus captured and killed Demetrius II in 126 BC at Tyre, but he was unsuccessful in his bid for the Seleucid thone.
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Using Egyptian mercenaries, John Hyrcanus began the conquest of Samaria by taking Shechem and Mt. Gerezim. When he attacked the city of Samaria they called on Cyzicenus for protection. The Seleucid general Callimander brought forces to defend the city, but John Hyrcanus' sons Antigonus and Aristobulus defeated and killed Callimander. The people were driven from the city, and it was demolished and left in ruins. Another Seleucid general, Epicrates surrendered Scythopolis to John Hyrcanus.
Josephus reports (Antiquities 13.9.1) that John Hyrcanus conquered Idumea and forced the Idumeans to be circumcised and to follow all the laws of the Jews. It appears that Josephus may be misleading us here by implying that the Idumeans consented only following aggressive threats to drive them out of the Judean region. It may, however, be that the Idumeans of the second century were not so hostile to becoming Jews as we might suppose. They doubtless had as much or more in common with the Jews and John Hyrcanus than with the Hellenistic Seleucid rulers. Moreover even their most Hellenistic cities (Marissa and Adora) apparently did not call for Seleucid assistance as the people of Samaria had. Indeed Josephus implies that the only real resistance was apparently at those two cities.
John Hyrcanus' coinage was inscribed in two ways. One type of coin read "Johanan the high priest and the congregation of the Jews" while the other type read "Johanan the high priest and chief of the congregation of the Jews." John Hyrcanus had five sons, but he planned for his widow to retain the government while his oldest son, Judas Aristobulus, would take the High Priesthood.
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Cleopatra Thea successfully blocked Alexander Zabinus in his bid for the Seleucid throne by advancing her son by Demetrius II, Seleucus V. This young man lasted only until his mother poisoned him after a year. Next Cleoptra Thea advanced her younger son, Antiochus VIII Philomater otherwise known as Grypos, "Hooknose". This 16 year old Athenian educated leader was able to eliminate Alexander Zabinus about 122 BC. Wise beyond his years, Grypos poisoned his mother about 120 BC.
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Judas Aristobulus assumed the office of High Priest when his father died in 104 BC. Without heeding his father's direction, he confined his mother and starved her to death. He then crowned himself king, the first Hasmonaean to use that title, and imprisoned his three oldest brothers but took his youngest, Antigonus, as a colleague in the government.
Aristobulus' reign of one year was almost too short for the accomplishment of all that Josephus attributed to him. In particular that he forced the Itureans to be circumcised and live according to Jewish customs in order not to be driven from their lands. Perhaps this achievement actually began while his father was still alive. This aggressive Judaization of the Itureans stands in rather sharp contrast to Josephus' allegation that he was a philhellene, "lover of the Greeks" (Antiquities 13.11.3).
Judas Aristobulus had married Salome Alexandra but there are no reports of children. She was the sister of Simon son of Shetakh, a prominent Pharisee who according to Rabbinical Traditions held one of the very honored posts in beth din ha-gadol, the great court. Normally he would have first served as av beth din, beginning possibly as early as the beginning of John Hyrcanus' reign, but likely much more recently. When his brother-in-law became High Priest and King Simon was elevated to the nasi switching places with the former incumbent in the latter honor, probably Judah son of Tabbai. [More about the Pharisees.]
Josephus tells a very odd, rambling anecdote about an Essene named Judas who was training a bunch of disciples to be prophets (Antiquities 13.11.2). The story is too long and circuitous to repeat here, but it explains how the King and Queen conspired against Antigonus resulting in his death only hours before Aristobulus himself died of a fatal and painful illness. [More about the Essenes.]
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Salome Alexandra promptly ordered the release from prison of Alexander Jannaeus, Judas Aristobulus' oldest brother and proceeded to marry him and advance him to the roles of King and High Priest. His coins are interesting. One issue was identical with those of John Hyrcanus except for his Hebrew name vocalized jehonathan. Another issue carried a by-lingual inscription in Hebrew and Greek, The Hebrew was vocalized as melech jehonathan, "king John", and the Greek read basileus Alexandros, "king Alexander".
King Alexander was an aggressive warrior whose campaigns enlarged Judea to its maximum size. However, there were serious defeats along the way. He began with an attack against Ptolemais, sometimes a capital of the southern Seleucid realm. The current Seleucid kings, Grypos and his brother Cyzicenus, were elsewhere fighting a civil war. Alexander's siege of Ptolemias motivated the inhabitants to seek outside assistance. Zoilus the warlord who controlled two small maritime cities south of Mt. Carmel, Dor and Strato's Tower, brought his little army. Gaza, on the other hand, the only other remaining maritime regime still independent was unable to offer any help. Ptolemais turned finally to Ptolemy IX Soter II Lathyros, currently from Cyprus. Lathyros now brought his army from Cyprus and usurped control over Phoenicia from the Seleucids. When he offered his help to Ptolemais, the city rejected it because they had had second thoughts and were afraid of the retaliation of Lathyros' mother, Cleopatra III. The Hasmonaeans, however, did lift the siege of Ptolemais and retreat to Judea where Alexander staged a deceptive bit of diplomacy. He asked Lathyros for an alliance while at the same time asking his Mother to bring troops against Lathyros.
The tyrant Zoilus together with the people of Gaza, however, came to Lathyros asking for his aid against the Jews. Alexander's deal was to ally with Lathyros provided Lathyros would conquer Zoilus and turn over Dor and Strato's Tower to the Jews. Lathyros accomplished his part of the deal before realizing that Alexander had tricked him. Lathyros returned to besiege Ptolemais, but took part of his army to devastate Alexander's realm. Lathyros destroyed Asochis a city just across the frontier in Galilee and attempted unsuccessfully and with substantial loss of manpower, the same action with Sepphoris, next city down the road. Then he marched to meet Alexander's army just across the Jordan river. Josephus reports that his sources say either 30,000 or 50,000 were slain (Antiquities13.12.5). Victorious over the Hasmonaeans Lathyros re-crossed the Jordan and left a path of destruction through the villages of Judea on his way to liberate Gaza. Meanwhile Cleopatra III, Lathyros' mother and the power behind her younger son, Ptolemy X Alexander I, sent the latter with troops to reclaim Cyprus and Phoenicia from Lathyros. The Seleucid city of Ptolemais had rebuffed Lathyros, they now rebuffed his brother. Cleopatra III came in person with more troops commanded by a Jewish general named Ananias, one of the sons of Onias, the Jewish priest of the Temple at Leontopolis in Egypt. Another Egyptian army under Ananias' brother Chelcias, blocked Lathyros' attempt to invade Egypt. Ananias and Cleopatra took Ptolemais. While Lathyrus wintered in Gaza, Alexander Jannaeus paid court to Cleopatra III at Ptolemais. Subsequently, Cleopatra came to Sythopolis to make a treaty of mutual assistance with Alexander Jannaeus against her son Lathyros.
King Alexander Janneaus now using an army of mercenaries from Cilicia and Pisidia, plundered the Hellenistic city of Gadara in the northern Gilead after a ten month siege. He also took the fortress of Amathus on the edge of the Jordan valley in southern Gilead. Amathus belonged to the warlord Zeno who ruled the highlands of central Gilead. Next the Hasmonaean king conquered and annexed Raphia and Anthedon and laid siege to Gaza in the southern coastal plain. After a yearlong siege Gaza and its population were destroyed in 96 BC.
Back in the Transjordan because Zeno and his son Theodorus had retaken Amathus, the Hasmonaean king now destroyed Amathus and subjugated the Gileadites and the Moabites, their southern neighbors. Before the year was over he fought with the Nabataeans under king Odebas in the northern Gilead near Gadara. Alexander Jannaeus was nearly killed there in an ambush.
Meanwhile, the Hasmonaean king-priest was not enjoying the support of all the Jewish people. The problem was brought to a head by the ill feeling that emerged between Alexander Jannaeus and his brother-in-law Simon the son of Shetakh. Simon was highly honored as the nasi, an official in what the Rabbinical scholars of later generations called beth din ha-gadol, the Great Court. This was doubtless the council of elders that formed a part of the Hasmonaean government of Judea. As nasi Simon was responsible for supervising those who made vows at the Temple. On this occasion three hundred nazarites came to present the prescribed sacrifices necessary to complete their vows. Since these sacrifices were apparently very expensive Simon undertook to subsidize half of them and asked Alexander Jannaeus to subsidize the other half. Simon found other benefactors for his but the king apparently paid for his half out of his own funds. When he learned what Simon had done the king became very angry and Simon had to discretely retire from public life. To further irritate the king, a Parthian delegation specifically asked where the nasi was.
These hard feelings seem to have infected the Pharisee fellowship to the degree that they expressed their negative feelings toward the Hasmonaean priest-king in a public forum, the Temple. In 90 BC during the festival of Tabernacles the High Priest went up on the Great altar to offer sacrifice. Some of the worshippers, apparently Pharisees, threw over-ripe citrons at him. The Priest ordered the temple guards to terminate the demonstrators and thus end the demonstration. Later he ordered a wooden fence built to shield him from the other worshippers, "the crows" as he put it.
The Pharisees now deliberately set out to undermine the Hasmonaean regime. They not only launched a full scale rebellion they contacted the Seleucid king, Demetrius III, and persuaded him to come to their aid. Demetrius and his army joined by a substantial force of Pharisees marched into Judea and defeated Alexander Jannaeus in a battle near Shechem. Demetrius however was disappointed that the Pharisees suddenly abandoned him forcing him to withdraw to Damascus. Because the civil war continued to embarrass Alexander Jannaeus' regime, he was forced to purchase the Nabataean neutrality by surrendering Gilead and Moab to them.
The civil war continued for six years thereafter until Alexander Jannaeus rounded up 800 of the rebel leaders and had one after the other publicly crucified while they watched the executioners cut the throats of their wives and children. It has been estimated that 50,000 Pharisees lost their lives in this war. Some 8000 rebels, still at large, went into exile for the duration of his reign (Josephus, Antiquities 13.14.2). The Rabbinical Traditions do not provide any insight into this period at all. It has been assumed that Simon son of Shetakh and Judah son of Tabbai survived throughout most of this period. [More about the Pharisees.]
Some have suggested this may have been the moment in Essene history when the Essenes repaired to Damascus with the "Teacher of Righteousness" whom the "wicked priest" had persecuted. It does not seem likely that Simon son of Shetakh, a prominent Pharisee would be the Righteous Teacher, but the Essene teacher would have likely stood beside him in opposition to the "wicked priest". We should remember that Demetrius III made his capital at Damascus and the rebels must have lived somewhere in exile.
It was in 85 that Antiochus XII Dionysus marched down across northwestern Judea on his way to war with the Nabataeans in the south. Alexander threw up earthworks and wooden towers in a barrier across the Plain of Sharon north of Joppa in an attempt to block his progress. While Jannaeus' earthworks hardly slowed Antiochus down, the Nabataeans under King Aretas III were defeated, and Antiochus XII died in the battle. His troops fell back in disarray and straggled back though Judea begging for food. Subsequently, Aretas III invaded the Transjordan and defeated Alexander Jannaeus, but withdrew when the Hasmonaean agreed to pay tribute.
Before his death in 76 he was ill for at least three years, but refused to remain inactive. He was supervising a siege at Ragaba in the Transjordan at the time of his death.
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As the Seleucid effectiveness waned the tribal groups of northern Arabia emerged as significant power sources contending for a place at the table. One of the first of these new autonomous formations of peoples along the desert fringe was the Gileadites. This group seems to have taken in name from the Biblical Gilead south and east of the Sea of Galilee. It was a Syrian region that had been colonized by numerous settlements of veterans from the earlier Antigonid and Seleucid operation in the area. In the first century AD it will be known as the Decapolis, the ten Hellenistic cities that had resulted from those veteran colonies. The rural population of the Decapolis area was closely akin to those people living along the edge of the Arabian desert all the way to the Euphrates River. In the days of Antiochus X (95-83) we hear about Laodice, Queen of the Gileadites, who allied with him in his war against Parthia at the Euphrates River. Laodice is a Hellenistic name, so we may speculate that this dynasty may not have been Arabian.
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Also in this period of political fragmentation in the Seleucid realm the Iturean people became independent and autonomous. The Itureans like the Idumeans south of the Dead Sea were indigenous Semitic peoples speaking Aramaic dialects which by Roman times were be recognized as Arabs and thought to be most closely related to the Nabataeans.
The Itureans appear to have been settled as agriculturists in the Beka'a plain between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains. This homeland was traversed by the Litani River from its headwaters just north of Baalbec (=Heliopolis) it flowed south on the west side of Chalcis, their dominant city by the first century AD, to the southern end of the Beka'a. Here the Litani turns abruptly to the right around the southern end of the Lebanon Range and flows directly across the coastal plain and into the Mediterranean about 10 to 12 miles north of Tyre. There is no reference of the Itureans spreading on to this coastal plain following the Litani to the sea where they would have simply added to the cosmopolitan nature of the Phoenician population. However, they did spread from the Beka'a southward into Galilee and the Golan on either side of Lake Huleh where the several headwaters of the Jordan converge to a single channel--the whole region called Hulatha or Ulatha. The southern frontier of Ulatha rested on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. Over on the East Side of the Anti-Lebanon Range the Itureans spread out towards Damascus. The city of Abila became a important Iturean center dominating that region as far south as the foothills of Mt. Hermon. Their apparent expansion eventually bypassed Damascus on the south, stretching from Mt. Hermon and Ulatha east by southeast across Trachonitis, and including parts of northern Gaulanitis, Batanaea, and Auranitis. Indeed this may have been the access originally employed by these Arabian spawned Itureans.
In the foothills southwest of Mount Hermon above Ulatha the Itureans had a shrine to their god at a location where an underground river emerged to join the Jordan. This Iturean god was syncretized with the Greek god Pan so the location was named Panaion. While I have so far been unable to learn if anybody has a conjecture as to the name of the deity originally worshipped at Panaion, it certainly was one of the earthy beings informing and explaining the most basic activities of human survival in the primitive natural habitat of emerging agriculture. One indigenous god of that region in King David's day was Hadad. This god may also have been identified with Edom.
The Hellenic Pan was one of the type of entities often pictured as part human, part goat. Pan is reported to have hailed from Arcadia, over which he ruled. Arcadia was one of the most culturally primitive regions of the southern Greek peninsula. The human part of Pan's representation is a smallish human torso with arms and hands, and a face sporting a very noticeable turned-up nose. The ears, horns, rear legs, hooves and tail of a male goat constitute the animal part of Pan. Among the Greeks of Arcadia Pan perhaps originally presided over one or more of the emotions understood to motivate action in humans, animals and other beings. Perhaps Pan earned his name, "All", by being identified with all such motivating emotions. The emotion is generally described as "fear" The experience of the onset of such feelings of fear came to be described as an experience "of, from or relating to Pan" (i.e., panikos, "panic").
Pan, however, had already been recruited by the Dionysus cult as a key figure in some of their depictions. But most important for the identification of Pan with the caves and shrine on the southern slopes of Mt. Hermon is very likely the fact that veterans from the armies of the Macedonians had been settling in the area of southern Syria
when Antigonus Monophthalmos and his son Demetrius Poliorcetes had ruled Syria between 312 and 291 BC they had become familiar with this location.
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The Idumeans in the first century BC living in the hills of southern Judea below an east-west frontier laying just south of Bethlehem and running from the Dead Sea coast to the coastal plain. The Idumeans were an Aramaic speaking people living in that part of Judea that had once been under the influence of the culture of Edom, their neighbor on the southeast. In the Old Testament era the semi-arid region known as the land of Edom lay astraddle the Arabah, that deep dry valley running south of the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Elat (Aqabah) on the Red Sea. A mixed economy combining a semi-nomadic pastoral regime, with a more sedentary regime based on marginal agriculture seems always to have been characteristic of the inhabitants in this desert fringe region. Such mixed economic regimes are not uncommon in parts of all desert fringe areas. The additional socio-economic regime that is in evidence here but is sometimes missing in other desert fringe areas is the role of the semi-urban trading center. Any nearby lands where a fully sedentary agricultural economy is practical attract certain elements of the population of such a mixed society. This does not mean, however, that all the population abandons its homeland. The theory is that attractive space in southern Judea became available as a result of the Babylonian deportation of Judeans in the sixth century BC. The Edomite political authority expanded into that part of southern Judea as a result. This helps explain the settled population of the Idumean region in southern Judea in subsequent centuries.
Some, however, like to think of the process as a wholesale migration of the whole population from Edom to Idumea. This would then be paralleled by another migration of a whole tribal nation from deeper in the desert or further south on the desert fringe into the area of Edom. These latter immigrants would be the Nabataeans. There would be very little or no motivation for the urban-based traders to move since the trade routes would thus be abandoned. I think the Edomite traders and probably substantial number of the pastoral population simply were incorporated into a new political regime, the Nabataeans.
By the first century BC the Idumeans and the Nabataeans live in different economies because they live in different locations. Yet their ethnic origins are most likely similar or the same despite the attractive simplicity of the migration theory. The frontier between the two would be a matter of political authority rather than ethnic differences. The central half of the western coastline of the Dead Sea would be Idumean. The frontier between Idumeans and Nabataeans would start a little south of Masada on the Dead Sea coast. Thence, it would cut through the negev somewhere south of Beersheba before circling northward around Orda and running along edge of the Philistine plain more or less parallel to, but ten to fifteen miles inland from, the Mediterranean coast. Idumea's northwest corner included the hinterland of the Hellenistic City of Marissa (Hebrew, vocalized as Mareshah), perhaps the largest of their urban trading centers. Others included Hebron and Adora.
Further discussion of the Idumeans will be encountered at several points in the following sections of this work.
The Nabataeans seem to represent a tribal configuration built around a successful military leader from a royal tribe and held together by the loyalty of the indigenous regional (clan based) warlords. This was a flexible confederation of clans among the pastoral, semi-agricultural peoples bordering the south Syrian sedentary areas from the Egyptian frontier in the west to the desert fringe of Damascus and potentially farther to the north. It seems obvious that the leading chiefs, that is, their kings came from the ancient Nabataean clan. This loosely structured political configuration was already present when the Macedonians first came to the area in the fourth century BC. By the second century BC Petra in the mountains of Edom on the East Side of the Arabah had become the favorite city of the royal clan. A number of other urban trading centers of the Nabataeans provided the wealth and manpower necessary capitalize in the long range trade between Arabia to the south, Egypt to the west, and Southern Syria to the north. This trading activity gave the Nabataeans a very important and reasonably lucrative role in the economy of the whole region.
The Nabataean role in the historical development of the Near East for the next two centuries is quite significant.
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Antiochus IX Philopator (Cyzicenus) son of Antiochus VII Euergetes (Sidetes) by Cleopatra Thea rebelled in 116 BC and overthrew his half-brother's regime in 113 BC. Grypos regained enough power to force Cyzicenus to divide the kingdom with him in 111 BC. Cyzicenus ruled the South sometimes from Ptolemais, 111-95 BC, and Grypos ruled the area around Antioch.
The half-brothers married sisters, the daughters of Physcon and Cleopatra III, daughter of Physcon's other wife, Cleopatra II. Grypus had married Cleopatra Tryphanea and had six children. Then he put her away and married her sister Cleopatra Selene who had already born two sons by her brother Ptolemy IX Lathyros. Cyzicenus married another sister Cleopatra IV who had already born a daughter named Cleopatra Berenice to her brother, Lathyros. Cleopatra IV predeceased Cyzicenus who then married Grypus' widow, Cleopatra Selene in 96.
Antiochus X Eusebes Philopator, 95-83 BC, married Cleopatra Selene, his father's widow and struggled to hold his southern realm together. He was killed fighting with the Parthians on the Euphrates River. Grypus' five sons fought over the northern realm. Seleucus VI Epiphanes Nicator ruled almost one year in 96-95. He was responsible for the death of Cyzicenus in 95, but was driven out of Syria by Antiochus X. Seleucus VI lost his life while in exile. Next Antiochus XI Epiphanes Philadelphus, Seleucus VI's brother, took up the family cause and fought unsuccessfully with Antiochus X, loosing Antioch and his life in 95 BC. Then the brother, Philip I Epiphanes Philadelphus, ruled from 95 to 83 BC, finally regaining control of Antioch in 86 BC.
With the southern branch of the family (Antiochus X) dying in 83 BC, Ptolemy IX Lathyros, ruler of Egypt, intervened and installed Philip I's brother Demetrius III Philopator Soter Eucairus at Damascus to rule the south, 95-88 BC. Demetrius III attacked Philip I who was a guest of an independent warlord named Strato in eastern Syria. Strato called in the Arabs and the Parthians against Demetrius III. He was captured and sent to the Parthian court where he lived till c. 86 BC. Grypos' youngest son, Antiochus XII Dionysius, succeeded to the crown of Demetrius III. He ruled from 88 to 85 when he died in a war with the Nabataean Arabs under King Aretas III. Aretas III took Damascus in 84 BC and held it.
Meanwhile the Itureans from both sides of the Anti-Lebanon Range consolidated under the leadership of their Tetrarch, Ptolemy Mannaeus c. 85 - 40 BC, who was also the ruling priest at the temple of the sun-god at Baalbec, one of their major shrines. Ptolemy seems to have extended Iturean power closer to Damascus. It seems likely that he was in alliance with the Nabataeans under Aretas III.
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Mediterranean pirates with their bases in Cilicia, Pamphylia, Lycia (all along the south coast of Asia Minor), the island of Crete and some other islands of the Aegean had ravaged eastern Mediterranean shipping and coastal enterprises for nearly 40 years. Then in 67 BC Gaius Pompey was given command against them. Pompey's coordinated strategy effectively terminated their activities demonstrating young Pompey's talent.
Rome had been at war (for the third time) with the king of Pontus for the last nine years, since 74 BC. Mithridates VI of Pontus had occupied Bithynia in 74 BC, but the former king of Bithynia had willed his kingdom to Rome at his death. These were the actions that led to the war. The Roman general Lucullus, governor of the province of Asia, drove Mithridates out of Bithynia (northwest Asia Minor) and eastward out of Pontus (north central Asia Minor) into Armenia (northeast Asia Minor). The Roman troops of Lucullus refused to pursue him farther in 69 BC even though they were victorious. Mithridates regained control of Pontus, but his ally Tigranes I, king of Armenia, lost some territory in north Syria that Armenia had held since 83 BC.
Pompey had been named commander of the war against Mithridates in 66 BC. He received his orders while he was supervising the agricultural settlmement of the former Lycian based pirates in Cilicia (near Tarsus) during the winter of 67-66 BC. In usual Pompeian fashion, before the year was up he had driven Mithridates out of Asia Minor, destroyed the Pontic army, conquered Armenia, and invaded Albania (on the southern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains). Mithridates fled to the remaining part of his kingdom in the Bosporus (i.e. the Crimea, in present day Ukraine) where his son, Machares, who had just previously declared his independence, now surrendered to his father. Mithridates made strenuous preparations for continuing the war.
Pompey marched west from Albania through Iberia and Colchis in the Spring of 65 but instead of going on to the Bosporian kingdom he retraced his steps to Pontus. Operating out of Pontus for the next year and a half he moved about making boundary changes and political arrangements with the kingdoms and provinces of Asia Minor--something he had no authority to do! Western Pontus and Paphlagonia were included in the new Roman province of Bithynia. The Roman province of Asia was re-established but many of its cities lost their financial autonomy and the immunity from Roman taxation they had enjoyed. The kingdoms of Cappadocia under King Ariobarzanes, Commagene under King Antiochus I, and Armenia Major under King Tigranes I, as well as Colchis under her king, were all made client kingdoms. Eastern Pontus and Armenia Minor were annexed to Galatia under King Deiotarus who also became a Roman client. Eastern Cilicia was made a client kingdom under king Tarcondimotus. The Roman province of Cilicia was now enlarged to include coastal Lycia, Pamphylia, Western Cilicia, together with inland Pisidia and Isauria.
Pharnaces, another of Mithridates VI's sons, led a rebellion in the Bosporian kingdom against his father. Mithridates committed suicide in early 63 BC and Pharnaces promptly made peace with Pompey as a client king and retained the Bosporian Kingdom as well as the now smaller Pontic kingdom.
The above mentioned "client kingdoms" are frequently regional governments which enter subject status with Rome by means of a treaty rather than by conquest. Sometimes even after a conquest the native ruler of an area would be allowed to continue ruling under the supervision of Roman agents. Such native rulers are called Roman clients. All contacts between the native ruler's region and other subject or non-subject regions were both regulated and carefully monitored by the Roman officials.
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Armenian expansion had been felt in north Syria as early as the last days of Demetrius II (129-126) when they had occupied Edessa and Osrhoene in northwest Mesopotamia. Now Tigranes I, new king of Armenia crossed the Euphrates and conquered the northern realm of Philip I around Antioch and the Orontes River valley. Cleopatra Selene retained her autonomy at Ptolemais in behalf of her infant son by Antiochus X, Antiochus XIII Asiaticus. Her realm was essentially confined to the Phoenician coast. The Nabataeans retained control over Damascus. Tigranes I's activities in Asia Minor attracted the attention of Rome and that resulted in a Roman campaign against Tigranes in 69 BC. Armenian authority was withdrawn from Syria as a result.
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With the death of Alexander Jannaeus in 76 his widow, Salome Alexandra, and his two sons survived. Salome asserted herself as Queen and managed to reconcile herself with the Pharisees and Sadducees. Her oldest son, Hyracnus II, was installed as High Priest while her younger son, Aristobulus II, was to wait his turn. The indications are that Simon son of Shetakh, Salome Alexandra's brother, had survived the purge of the Pharisees and took a leading role for a few years. The Sadducee advisors of Alexander Jannaeus were executed. The banished Jews were restored their freedom and prisoners were freed. The legislation favored by the Pharisees and overthrown by John Hyrcanus was now re-instituted.
Aristobulus II gained favor from the demoted Sadducees. Salome Alexandra had allowed them to fortify and defend sanctuaries at various locations to stave off any popular reprisals against them. Aristobulus also played on local fears of an Armenian invasion.
When Salome Alexandra became ill she announced that Hyrcanus II would become king. Aristobulus promptly rebelled and took charge of all the Sadducee fortifications. The Queen ordered war against him but did not live to see it begin. [More about the Sadducees.]
The Rabbinical Traditions identify a new zug, the fourth, evidently in the midst of Salome's reign. These individuals are both identified as disciples of Judah son of Tabbai who had joined him during his Egyptian sojourn. The late Talmudic Traditions consider both these to have been proselytes--gentile converting to Judaism. We have only vocalized Hebrew renderings, Shemaiah and Avtalion. [More about the Pharisees.]
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The Nabataean tribes moved into the vacuum left by the departing Armenians. They claimed Emesa on the upper Orontes River by 68. Antiochus XIII with the support of Shemash-Geram, Nabataean chieftain of Emesa, attempted to revive the Seleucid realm ruling from the mouth of the Orontes at Seleucia. Philip II Philorhomaeus, son of Philip I, secured the assistance of another Nabataean chieftain, Aziz, and moved against Antiochus XIII, putting him in prison. Aziz and Shemash-Geram now made peace between themselves and decided to eliminate both Seleucid contenders in 64 BC. Philip II seems to have escaped their clutches and held out against them during 64-63 BC. They released Antiochus XIII in 64 BC, hoping he would counter Philip II. Instead he fled northward across the Taurus Mountains seeking assistance from the Romans. Pompey dispatched his army immediately and they occupied north Syria late in 64 BC. Pompey himself was detained longer than he expected the next spring negotiating the peace with Pharnaces.
Pompey made his decision fast; Syria was to be a Roman province and the two Seleucid princes would be sent to Rome where they would live out their days at Roman expense. As for the Nabataeans and their allies, he determined to make short work of them at the first opportunity. By mid-year of 63 BC. Pompey and his army had marched to Damascus and occupied the city--the Nabataeans had abandoned it. It was the staging point for his proposed Nabataean campaign. It is probable, but not reported, that he also took the opportunity to force the nearby Itureans under Ptolemy Mennaeus to back off and to accept client status with Rome.
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Hyrcanus II attempted to carry out his mother's wishes when she died in 67 BC but Aristobulus II captured him, forced him to resign all his royal and priestly powers and receive a pension. Aristobulus II ruled then as High Priest and King by default.
Hyrcanus II was not without supporters. Earlier, Alexander Jannaeus had named Antipater son of Antipas governor of Idumea. The latter now determined to assist Hyrcanus by raising support among the general population. He finally persuaded Hyrcanus to purchase the help of Aretas III, king of the Nabataeans. The Jews loyal to Hyrcanus with the assistance of the Nabataean forces besieged Aristobulus at Jerusalem.
Both Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II sent gifts and requests for support to Pompey's general Sacurus when he entered northern Syria in 64 BC. Scaurus favored Aristobulus and sent orders for Aretas III to remove his troops immediately from Judea. Aristobulus attacked Aretas and his troops as they complied with Scaurus' orders. Aristobulus II sent enormous gifts to Pompey when he arrived in Syria early in 63 BC. Then when Pompey came to Damascus to stage his campaign against the Nabataeans, both the Hasmonaeans sent messengers carrying more gifts to greet Pompey and beg for his intervention on behalf of their respective patrons.
Suspicious of Aristobulus II, Pompey decided to postpone his campaign against the Nabataeans and personally led an army to Jerusalem. Aristobulus welcomed the Romans but when they were about to escort him into Jerusalem, the Jews in the city shut the city gates. Pompey promptly ordered Aristobulus put under arrest and preparations for a siege of the city was began.
Meanwhile, within the walls of Jerusalem the followers of Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II continued their civil war without pause. The followers of Hyrcanus finally gained control of the gates and threw them open to the Romans. Aristobulus' party withdrew into the Temple fortress where Pompey's forces besieged them three months. When the siege ended 12,000 Jews had been killed. Aristobulus and other leaders of his party were taken prisoner destined to march in the streets of Rome as part of Pompey's victory celebration.
Hence the era of the autonomous Hasmonaeans was snuffed out as Rome encroached on the Middle East in the first century BC. Discussion of these developments will be found in Appendix 4.
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The Ptolemaic realm was divided into three sections at the death of Ptolemy VIII Physcon in 116 BC. Ptolemy IX Philomater Soter II (Lathyros) ruled jointly with his mother, Cleopatra III, from Alexandria over Egypt, 116-108. Lathyros married his sister, Cleopatra IV, another of his sisters, Cleopatra Selene, and a concubine named Eirene. His mother Cleopatra III deposed him in 108 choosing rather his younger brother Ptolemy X Alexander I who had ruled Cyprus since 116 BC. The affairs of Cleopatra III and Lathyros in South Syria are discussed elsewhere. Cleopatra III died in 101 and the Ptolemy X Alexander I was killed in a Alexandrian riot in 87 BC. He had taken a second wife after returning to Alexandria, Cleopatra Berenice IV, his niece, the daughter of Cleopatra IV and Lathyros. He had promised Rome that they could have Cyprus when he died, however, the Romans did not act in 87 BC.
Ptolemy IX Lathyros now returned to Alexandria after Ptolemy X Alexander I and ruled jointly with his daughter Cleopatra Berenice IV over both Egypt and Cyprus from 87 till his death in 80 BC. Lathyros' son, known as Ptolemy of Cyprus but otherwise nameless, continued to rule Cyprus till his death in 58 BC when Rome claimed Cyprus.
Ptolemy XI Alexander II who next married and jointly ruled with Cleopatra Berenice IV for 19 days in 80 BC, murdered his wife. Whether Ptolemy XI Alexander II was a son or a grandsom of Ptolemy X Alexander I is unknown. Cleopatra Berenice's Alexandrian supporters rioted with a vengence and Ptolemy XI Alexander II was killed.
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The Alexandrians then chose as king Ptolemy XII Theos Philopator Philadelphos Neos Dionysos, more briefly known as Auletes, "the flute player". He was apparently the son of Ptolemy IX Lathyros and a concubine whose name has been lost, but whose reputation as one of Alexandria's most talented and beautiful Greek 'professional' women was well known. This woman, Ptolemy XII and his siblings had been living in exile under the protection of Mithridates VI of Pontus. Ptolemy XII had married his own sister, Cleopatra VI Tryphaena II and they had five children. The new king was between 26 and 36 years of age when he took office in 80 BC without having received recognition from Rome as an ally. In order to clear his name with Rome he paid Julius Caesar who was Consul in 59 an enormous amount to secure recognition from the Roman Government. The bribe was financed personally by Auletes who consequently was forced to live in exile in Rome on borrowed money until 55 BC.
In the absence of Ptolemy Auletes the Egyptians were ruled by Cleopatra Tryphaena II and her oldest daughter Berenice V. When the mother died in 57 the daughter become sole Queen. Berenice V quickly married her Seleucid cousin, several degrees removed, known to the Alexandrians as Kybiosaktes, "the salt-fish salesman". He is believed to be the son of Antiochus X Eusebes Philopator. She, nevertheless, had him murdered before a week had gone by. Then in 56 she married Archelaus of Pontus, a son of Mithridates VI her former host during the family's exile in Pontus.
Ptolemy XII Auletes' bribe had secured recognition of the Roman Senate in 59 but Auletes was trapped in Rome. He finally borrowed enough more money to bribe Aulus Gabinius, the man appointed by Pompey to be governor of Syria, to authorize the use of Roman troops to reinstall Auletes in Alexandria by force. Gabinius' troops were led by a young Marcus Antonius. Archelaus of Pontus defended Alexandria and died for his efforts. Berenice V was captured, imprisoned and executed. Ptolemy XII Auletes then ruled until his death in 51 BC. Ancient sources speculated that Marcus Antonius took notice in passing of the unfortunate Berenice V's fourteen year old sister Cleopatra VII.
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The year before his death Ptolemy XII presided over the marriage of his oldest son, Ptolemy XIII Dionysus, to his oldest surviving daughter, Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator. Although they succeeded their father in 51, they were not a happy couple. Ptolemy XIII attempted to eliminate Cleopatra VII through a palace conspiracy, involving a court official named Theodotus, a palace eunuch named Pothinus, and a general named Achillas. Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator, however, escaped to southern Syria and returned leading an army of Nabataeans. She got no farther than Pelusium where Ptolemy XIII fortified himself. Neither force was large enough, nor perhaps aggressive enough, to demand a resolution so things reached a stalemate.
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The Roman warlord, Gaius Pompey, fleeing after his defeat by Julius Caesar at Pharsalus (Greece) in August of 48, came seeking asylum in Egypt. He landed at Pelusium 28 September 48 and was immediately arrested and assassinated by Pothinus and Achillas. Pothinus took Pompey's severed head and moved swiftly to Alexandria. Julius Caesar in pursuit of Pompey arrived in Alexandria on 2 October almost simultaneously with Pothinus who presented him with Pompey's pickled head.
Julius Caesar immediately landed his 3200 legionnaires and 800 cavalry. He installed himself in the royal quarters and promptly demanded that Ptolemy XIII present himself and explain his dealing with his older sister. Around the middle of October Cleopatra herself suddenly appeared at Caesar's court having smuggled herself across the hostile frontier to Alexandria with some merchandise. Ptolemy XIII soon realized that Cleopatra was exercising a distinct advantage over him, at least in the eyes of Caesar. Meanwhile Pothinus spread the word that Rome was taking Egypt and that Cleopatra was going to be installed as a client queen. While this inflamed the Hellenistic Alexandrians the Coptic population could scarcely have cared less. In November Pothinus summoned Achillas with some 20,000 veterans from Pelusium to besiege Alexandria.
The Alexandrian war drug on until March before Caesar finally got the upper hand. Meanwhile Cleopatra's sister Arsinöe escaped from the palace with her Eunuch Ganymede and fled to Achillas. He, the troops, and the Alexandrian population promptly proclaimed her Queen. Shortly thereafter Ganymede murdered Achillas. Caesar's force was surrounded. Then in late February Caesar's men made a very risky but successful attempt to break out of the blockade by gaining access to the sea. They captured Pharos (lighthouse) Island and the heptastadion, "seven mile", mole connecting it to the mainland. As a distraction to cover this maneuver Caesar released Ptoelmy XIII to the Alexandrian people and may have started the fires in some warehouses near the mainland end of the mole. Unfortunately, the fire spread and evidently destroyed some fraction of the great Alexandrian library before it was contained.
Ptolemy XIII unsuccessfully counterattacked trying to retake Pharos Island just at the time reinforcements were arriving for the Romans by sea under the command of Mithridates of Pergamum. Ptolemy XIII drowned.
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Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator now married her 11 year old brother, Ptolemy XIV Philopator, and they reigned jointly until his death in 43 BC. About the time of this marriage her son, Ptolemy XV Caesar, known as Caesarion, was born 23 June 47 BC.
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Return to the Lecture/Essay Table of Contents for Part I.
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