Aristobulus II (died 49 BC) was King and High Priest of Judea from 66 BC to 63 BC, interrupting Hyrcanus II's two reigns. He competed with his brother for the throne in three civil wars, during which he was backed by the Sadducees against his pro-Pharisee brother. He was defeated by the Roman Republic under Pompey, and, when Julius Caesar sent him to turn Judea against Pompey in 49 BC, he was poisoned by the Pompeians.
Biography[]
Aristobulus was the younger son of Alexander Jannaeus and Salome Alexandra, and the brother of Hyrcanus II. In 73 BC, his mother installed his older brother as High Priest, and, when Salome died in 67 BC, Hyrcanus succeeded to the kingship as well. Aristobulus won the favor of the Sadducees, the nobles, and the military in order to depose his brother, who was backed by the Pharisees. In 66 BC, he rebelled against his brother at the head of a mercenary army, and, when battle was joined near Jericho, Hyrcanus' army went over to Aristobulus, and Hyrcanus was forced to renounce the throne and the title of High Priest, while keeping the revenues of the latter office. However, Antipater the Idumaean convinced Hyrcanus that Aristobulus was planning his death and had him take refuge with Aretas III, King of Nabatea. Hyrcanus and an army of 50,000 Nabateans besieged Jerusalem, but the Roman general Marcus Aemilius Scaurus intervened, ordering Aretas to withdraw his army after Aristobulus bribed him. Aristobulus then attacked the retreating Nabatean army, inflicting a crushing defeat on them. However, when Pompey himself arrived in 63 BC, he decided that he favored Hyrcanus, and Pompey defeated the Jewish armies in numerous battles and captured Aristobulus and his sons Alexander and Antigonus. Aristobulus and his sons were taken into captivity in Rome, but they escaped in 57 BC and returned to Judea. The Roman general Aulus Gabinius besieged Aristobulus in Machaerus, and Mark Antony led the assault on the city. Aristobulus was again taken prisoner, but he was released by Julius Caesar in 49 BC in order to turn Judea against Pompey. He was poisoned by Pompey's party, while his son Alexander was beheaded; his other son, Antigonus, became the Parthian puppet ruler of Judea in 40 BC before meeting a similar fate at Antony's hands in 37 BC.