Aristobulus

Aristobulus. Several personages bearing this name played their parts in later Jewish history.

1. Aristobulus I., known as Philhellen, succeeded his father, John Hyrcanus, as high priest in 105 B.C., and having thrown into prison his mother, who assumed the duties of government, took the title of king. He marched against the Itureans, and forced them to judaise. He died after an oppressive reign of twelve months.

2. Aristobulus II., second son of Alexander Jannaeus, who deposed his brother Hyrcanus, the high priest (70 B.C.), and raised himself to the throne. Attacked by the Arabs, he invoked the aid of the Romans, and endeavoured to obtain recognition of his title, but having provoked Pompey he was besieged in Jerusalem, taken to Rome in triumph, and detained there for eight years. He then escaped and took up arms once more, only to be defeated and sent back to Rome in fetters. Some seven years later Julius Caesar released him with the idea of employing him against the Pompeians in Syria, but he was poisoned by that party before he could make a start.

3. Aristobulus III., grandson of Hyrcanus II. and brother of Mariamne, Herod's wife, was, through the influence of his mother and his sister with Antony and Cleopatra, made high priest at the age of seventeen. Herod, though forced to consent to the appointment, resolved to be revenged. He visited his mother-in-law near Jericho, where Aristobulus was staying, and, taking him to bathe, had him drowned in the Jordan, B.C. 34. Thus ended the Asmonean dynasty.