The End of the Hasmonean Priesthood

Herod was then made king by the Romans, but he no longer appointed high priests from the family of Asamoneus [i.e., the Hasmoneans]. Rather, he chose certain men not from eminent families who could barely claim to be priests, with the exception of Aristobulus. Herod appointed Aristobulus, the grandson of Hyrcanus, who was taken captive by the Parthians, and married Aristobulus III’s sister Mariamme, hoping thereby to win the goodwill of the people who remembered Hyrcanus. Yet later, out of fear that the people would sympathize with Aristobulus, he put Aristobulus to death, arranging to have him strangled while he was swimming at Jericho, as we have already related. After that, he never entrusted the high priesthood to any of the descendants of Asamoneus.

Archelaus, Herod’s son, also behaved like his father with regard to appointing high priests, as did the Romans when they later took over the government from the Jews. As a result, the number of high priests from the time of Herod until the day when Titus took the Temple and the city and burned them totaled twenty-eight over the course of one hundred and seven years. Some of them were political governors who ruled the people during the reign of Herod and the reign of his son. But after their deaths, the government became an aristocracy, and the high priests were entrusted with power over the nation.

Translated by William Whiston, revised bySheila Keiter, in consultation withLouis H. Feldman.