their prime objective. Ongoing dynastic quarrels were complicated by an
increasingly belligerent Parthian menace. The Parthian annexation of
Babylonia in 140 posed a major threat to the coherence of Macedonian
rule in the east, and the invaders’ readiness to play off one Seleucid against
another compounded the crisis. The diversion of energies to meet these
pressing new problems loosened the Seleucids’ grip on their ambitious
Jewish clients. In response, Simon’s successors applied themselves to the
pursuit of Hellenistic statecraft.
Territorial acquisition commenced in earnest under Simon’s son, John
Hyrcanus I (ruled 135/134-104), who extended Hasmonean hegemony into
Idumea, Samaria, and Galilee (see map 5). Aggrandizement accelerated
during the tenure of Hyrcanus’s own sons, who pushed their conquests as
far north as Iturea, while absorbing much of the Transjordanian and
coastal zones. The transition to Hasmonean rule was not a smooth one.
The Samarian campaign resulted in the demolition of the temple on Mt.
Gerizim, intensifying Jewish-Samaritan animosity. Circumcision and ad-
herence to Jewish laws became mandatory for continued residence within
the newly subjugated Idumean and Iturean domains. Pompey’s later liber-
ation of Greek cities controlled by the Hasmoneans signals both the extent
of their military success and the unwelcome, imposed character of their
rule.
Militarism demanded manpower, which in turn required money.
Hyrcanus is said to have plundered the tomb of David in order to buy off
Antiochus VII and to supplement his own force with mercenaries. His son,
Alexander Jannaeus (ruled 103-76), is known to have continued this prac-
tice, his territorial gains doubtlessly enhancing his purchasing power. With
the development of standing armies beholden to their Hasmonean pay-
master rather than to their fellow countrymen came overt monarchic as-
sertion. Hyrcanus’s son, Aristobulus I (ruled 104-103), was the first to claim
royal honors, and Jannaeus followed suit. And with kingship came dynas-
tic struggles whose divisive potential and destructive impact was only am-
plified by the resources at each side’s disposal. Between 67 and 63b.c.e.,
the sons of Jannaeus — Aristobulus II and Hyrcanus II — became em-
broiled in a contest for the kingship that ultimately terminated the career
of the Hasmonean state.
Already under Hyrcanus I, Hasmonean pretensions met with Jewish
resistance. Internal opposition reached its apogee during Jannaeus’s reign.
So intense was their detestation of the king that his enemies actually ap-
pealed to the reigning Seleucid monarch for assistance in ousting him. The47Jewish History from Alexander to HadrianEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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