A History of Civilization in Palestine

The Romans began to interfere in Palestinian politics in B.C. 63 when Pompey in the course of his campaign against Tigranes was called in to settle the dispute that had arisen between the brothers Aristobulus and Hyrcanus successors of the valiant Maccabean leaders. The Jews however refusing to submit to the arbitration of a gentile Pompey laid siege to and captured Jerusalem on which occasion he entered the temple and penetrated into the Most Holy Place. From this time onward the native kings ruled under Roman suzerainty. In the turmoil caused by a Parthian raid on the country in B.C. 70 the Edomite (Idumaean) Herod managed to lay his hand on the governorship and having with Roman aid captured Jerusalem he established himself as king in 37 B.C. of course by the consent and under the suzerainty of the Roman republic. Herod seems to have set himself to imitate the traditional glories of Solomon. As Solomon built the temple and a fine palace so did Herod. Indeed he improved upon the example of his prototype for besides these buildings he erected a number of others designed to impress and to please the people. He built for example an amphitheatre at Jerusalem... - R.A.S. MacAlister. Contents: Palestine and Its Earliest Inhabitants. The Later Stone Age in Palestine. The Pre-Israelite Semitic Occupations. The First Struggle of West and East. The Hebrew Monarchy. The Captivities and After. The Growth of the Religious Consciousness in Israel. Roman and Byzantine. The Last Struggle of West and East.