Category:Alexander Jannaeus (subject)

Judea under Alexander Jannaeus

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Alexander Jannaeus (2nd-1st century BCE), brother of Aristobulus, was a member of the Hasmonean dynasty. He ruled as King and High Priest, 101-76 BCE. He was succeeded by his wife Salome Alexandra; see Maccabees.

This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel

Overview

Alexander Jannaeus was the son of John Hyrcanus, and the younger brother of Aristobulus. Imprisoned in 104 BCE by his own brother, he was freed and married by Aristobulus' widow, Salome Alexandra, and became the new High Priest and King in 101 BCE. The first part of his reign was dominated by the conquest of the coastal littoral that brings him at war first against Ptolemais, then as consequence a confrontation against the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt, in the person of King Ptolemy X Lathyrus. King Alexander Jannaeus was defeated in a battle by the Egyptian general Philostephanos. However a civil war between Cleopatra III and her son Ptolemy X Latyrus stopped the invading Egyptian army. Thus Cleopatra III, Ptolemy’s mother, and rival to the throne of Egypt, sent an army against his son, under the command of the Jewish generals Hananias and Chelkias, an offspring of the Oniads family. Ptolemy X Latyrus was defeated and he has to retire to Cyprus. King Alexander Jannaeus could finish the conquest of the coastal area, which included the cities of Dora and of Strato’s Tower, under the rule of the petty tyrant Zoilus, and the city of Gaza, that was razed to the ground. Ptolemais, however maintains its independence.

In the successive years, between 94-84 BCE, a civil strife between King Alexander Jannaeus and the Pharisees dominated the political scene. According to both Josephus and Rabbinic literature, during the Feast of the Tabernacles the king was pelted with Ethrogim, as he did not pour the water on the altar, a Pharisean custom, probably much popular, but he poured the water on his feet, following a Sadducean custom. As consequence no less than 6.000 persons were massacred. In the same period King Alexander Jannaeus started also a war against King Obodas I of Nabataea. However the Hasmonean army was defeated. The Pharisees and other rebels took advantage from the situation and called in their help the Seleucid ruler Demetrius III Eucaerus of Syria. King Alexander Jannaeus was defeated by the Seleucid army. However by then most the rebels turned back to their king. Alexander Jannaeus’s defeated the remaining rebels at Bethome. No less than 50.000 Jews were killed in this civil war instigated by the Pharisees. According to Josephus, at the end Alexander Jannaeus crucified 800 rebels in Jerusalem, killing their wives and children before their eyes, while the king was eating ate with his concubines. Still the Hasmonean ruler had to stop the Seleucid army of Antiochus XII from invading Judaea.

According to Josephus, King Alexander Jannaeus had a fortification, which spanned in lenght from Joppa to Cafarsalama, built to stop Antiochus XII. Anyway, the Seleucid ruler retreated, and was later killed fighting the Nabataeans. Between the years 83-80 BCE Alexander Jannaeus conduced once more a war against the Nabataeans. The war resulted in the conquest of most of the Decapolis and the Hauran regions in Transjordan. Thus during his long reign, which lasted until 76 BCE, Alexander Jannaeus largely expanded the boundaries of the Hasmonean kingdom, which reached its greatest extension. Alexander Jannaeus died in 76 BCE, leaving the kingdom to his wife Queen Salome Alexandra, while appointing his son John Hyrcanus II as the New High Priest, in an overt attempt to compromise. King Alexander Jannaeus minted various bronze coins, with inscriptions in Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic. Moreover King Alexander Jannaeus was responsible as well for the enlargement of the Hasmonean estate at Jericho, which was transformed in a huge winter palace.