42 CHAPTER ONEnative governors.^61 The expansion strengthened the representatives of the Ju-
daean institutions—the priests and scholars of the Torah—in some respects,
for they now had at least some limited sort of jurisdiction over a vastly in-
creased population. But the expansion weakened them in other ways, for they
now had to compete for royal favor with non-Judaean generals and friends of
the kings. This process was confirmed and accelerated by the lengthy Hasmo-
nean civil war (67–37B.C.E.), which tended to favor the advancement of the
non-Judaean generals and friends and to marginalize the Judaean priests and
Torah experts.
Religion. The mass conversions ought to have been controversial among
Judaeans, yet there is surprisingly little evidence that they were. We know that
some Judaeans were contemptuous of the annexed nations, but there is no
indication that they were not regarded as Jews. What their Judaism consisted
of is a different question, which has already been briefly discussed, and they
may have introduced some of their own practices into standard Judaism. For
example, archaeologists have traced the practice of burial inkokhim–niches
hewn out of the walls of caves—from Marisa, the main city of Idumaea, in
the third and second centuriesB.C.E., to Judaea, in the first centuryB.C.E., to
all of Jewish Palestine, in the first centuryC.E. and following.^62
The Civil War (67–37B.C.E.)
Hyrcanus II, the elder son of Alexander Yannai and Salome Alexandra
(reigned 76–67), had served as high priest during his mother’s reign and was
named heir to the kingdom. When she died, however, he was immediately
attacked and defeated by his brother Aristobulus II. Aristobulus assumed the
high priesthood and royal throne and allowed his brother to live in retirement.
However, Hyrcanus had a friend, an Idumaean called Antipater, whose father
had been a friend of Alexander Yannai and had governed Idumaea on the
king’s behalf. He had also prudently maintained ties of friendship or marriage
in the Nabataean royal court.^63 Antipater convinced Hyrcanus to go to war
against Aristobulus and promised him the help of the Nabataean king Aretas.
For his part, Aristobulus seems to have enjoyed the support of some Ituraean
dynasts who ruled the land just north of the Hasmonean kingdom in what is
(^61) See S. Schwartz, “King Herod, Friend of the Jews,” in J. Schwartz, Z. Amar and I. Ziffer,
eds, Jerusalem and Eretz Israel: Arie Kindler Volume (Tel Aviv: Rennert Center and Eretz Israel
Museum, 2000) pp. 67–76.
(^62) See E. Oren and U. Rappaport, “The Necropolis of Maresha-Beth Guvrin,”IEJ34 (1984):
149–51.
(^63) On the importance of friendship in late Hasmonean and Herodian politics, see S. Schwartz,
“King Herod, Friend of the Jews,” B. Shaw, “Tyrants, Bandits, and Kings: Personal Power in
Josephus,”JJS44 (1993): 184–89.