Read Online The Age of the Maccabees (Illustrated) by Annesley Streane - Free Book Online
Authors: Annesley Streane
Ads: Link
considerable time the approach of the
Sabbatical year compelled Hyrcanus to withdraw his forces, whereupon Ptolemy
slew his mother-in-law, and fled to the wilderness east of Jordan. We hear of
him no more. That Hyrcanus took no further measures against him is sufficiently
explained by the need which befell that he should himself sustain a siege from
Antiochus III (Sidetes), who approached Jerusalem, laying waste the
neighboring country. After carefully investing the city for more than a year,
without much progress being made, and both sides apparently suffering from lack
of food while the besieged were still sufficiently supplied with water,
Hyrcanus turned out all who were incapable of bearing arms, and as they were
refused succor from the outside forces many of them perished. At length
Hyrcanus asked for seven days’ cessation of hostilities in order to keep the
feast of Tabernacles. Antiochus’s favorable response was accompanied by a
present, including offerings of animals prepared for sacrifice. Negotiations
for peace commenced, and it was concluded, the Jews agreeing “to deliver up
their arms, to demolish the fortifications of Jerusalem, to pay tribute for the
towns they had seized outside the narrower limits of Judea, and to give
hostages for their good behavior!”
That the towns here
referred to (Joppa, Gazara, and others) were not taken from the Jews at this
time, when Syria was able to reassert her supremacy, is doubtless to be
ascribed to the interference of the Romans, with whom Hyrcanus was in
communication, and who, from motives of self-interest, sided, as heretofore,
and as usual, with the weaker state.
Hyrcanus soon rebuilt
the walls, and we are told that he proceeded also to hire mercenary troops, a
novel step which, however little approved by the straiter sect of his
countrymen, would at least afford a welcome relief from military service to
many of the nation. The money needed for their pay or for the tribute to
Antiochus, is said to have been obtained from the tomb of David.
Hyrcanus now
accompanied his late foe in the expedition of the latter to Parthia to rescue
his brother Demetrius Nicator, who had been forcibly detained there for the
last ten years. The Parthian general was defeated, and the king set Nicator
free, that Sidetes might be drawn homewards by the need of protecting himself
against his rival. Antiochus was soon afterwards slain in an attack of the
enemy on his camp. Hyrcanus, who had been treated with much consideration by
Antiochus, now escaped, and on reaching Jerusalem proceeded to take advantage
of the strife which followed among claimants for the crown of the Seleucids, to
render his country once more independent and to extend its limits.
Nicator, who had
designs upon Egypt, was soon defeated, captured, and put to death (circ. 125
BC) by Alexander, nick¬named by the Syrians Zabinas, “the purchased”, who was
said by some to be the son of Alexander Balas, by others an adopted son of
Sidetes. Antiochus VIII (Grvphus), son of Demetrius Nicator, soon asserted his
supremacy over Zabinas (122 BC), and for eight years reigned in peace over a
kingdom reduced in size. At the end of this period there followed three years
(114—111 BC) of civil war between him and his half-brother, Antiochus IX
(Cyzicenus), remarkable mainly for his love of pleasure and sensuality, and
apparent desire to pose as a second Antiochus Epiphanes in point of character.
Cyzicenus, unlike his two immediate predecessors, ventured to meddle with
Hyrcanus, who, however, on the one occasion on which their forces met,
inflicted on him a decisive defeat.
Hyrcanus, taking
advantage of the helplessness of Syria to check his schemes of extension,
obtained forcible possession of considerable districts east of Jordan, as well
as of Idumean and Samaritan territory. The Idumeans, who seem to have reaped
much advantage from the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (580 BC) in
the way of extension of
Sabbatical year compelled Hyrcanus to withdraw his forces, whereupon Ptolemy
slew his mother-in-law, and fled to the wilderness east of Jordan. We hear of
him no more. That Hyrcanus took no further measures against him is sufficiently
explained by the need which befell that he should himself sustain a siege from
Antiochus III (Sidetes), who approached Jerusalem, laying waste the
neighboring country. After carefully investing the city for more than a year,
without much progress being made, and both sides apparently suffering from lack
of food while the besieged were still sufficiently supplied with water,
Hyrcanus turned out all who were incapable of bearing arms, and as they were
refused succor from the outside forces many of them perished. At length
Hyrcanus asked for seven days’ cessation of hostilities in order to keep the
feast of Tabernacles. Antiochus’s favorable response was accompanied by a
present, including offerings of animals prepared for sacrifice. Negotiations
for peace commenced, and it was concluded, the Jews agreeing “to deliver up
their arms, to demolish the fortifications of Jerusalem, to pay tribute for the
towns they had seized outside the narrower limits of Judea, and to give
hostages for their good behavior!”
That the towns here
referred to (Joppa, Gazara, and others) were not taken from the Jews at this
time, when Syria was able to reassert her supremacy, is doubtless to be
ascribed to the interference of the Romans, with whom Hyrcanus was in
communication, and who, from motives of self-interest, sided, as heretofore,
and as usual, with the weaker state.
Hyrcanus soon rebuilt
the walls, and we are told that he proceeded also to hire mercenary troops, a
novel step which, however little approved by the straiter sect of his
countrymen, would at least afford a welcome relief from military service to
many of the nation. The money needed for their pay or for the tribute to
Antiochus, is said to have been obtained from the tomb of David.
Hyrcanus now
accompanied his late foe in the expedition of the latter to Parthia to rescue
his brother Demetrius Nicator, who had been forcibly detained there for the
last ten years. The Parthian general was defeated, and the king set Nicator
free, that Sidetes might be drawn homewards by the need of protecting himself
against his rival. Antiochus was soon afterwards slain in an attack of the
enemy on his camp. Hyrcanus, who had been treated with much consideration by
Antiochus, now escaped, and on reaching Jerusalem proceeded to take advantage
of the strife which followed among claimants for the crown of the Seleucids, to
render his country once more independent and to extend its limits.
Nicator, who had
designs upon Egypt, was soon defeated, captured, and put to death (circ. 125
BC) by Alexander, nick¬named by the Syrians Zabinas, “the purchased”, who was
said by some to be the son of Alexander Balas, by others an adopted son of
Sidetes. Antiochus VIII (Grvphus), son of Demetrius Nicator, soon asserted his
supremacy over Zabinas (122 BC), and for eight years reigned in peace over a
kingdom reduced in size. At the end of this period there followed three years
(114—111 BC) of civil war between him and his half-brother, Antiochus IX
(Cyzicenus), remarkable mainly for his love of pleasure and sensuality, and
apparent desire to pose as a second Antiochus Epiphanes in point of character.
Cyzicenus, unlike his two immediate predecessors, ventured to meddle with
Hyrcanus, who, however, on the one occasion on which their forces met,
inflicted on him a decisive defeat.
Hyrcanus, taking
advantage of the helplessness of Syria to check his schemes of extension,
obtained forcible possession of considerable districts east of Jordan, as well
as of Idumean and Samaritan territory. The Idumeans, who seem to have reaped
much advantage from the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (580 BC) in
the way of extension of
Similar Books
