Josippon

Pompey returned to his land, to Roma, bringing with him Aristobulus with his two daughters and two sons, for the third son, Alexander, had fled and taken refuge. Pompey left as governors in the land of Israel Hyrcanus and Antipater, and he left with them Scaurus, to whom he gave the whole of Egypt. Pompey went on his way to Roma, and Scaurus marched to Desert Rock to the Arab nation, accompanied by Hyrcanus, Antipater, and all the army of Judaea. With their advance, they subdued the Arab nation under Roma, for Antipater had persuaded them, since he had been for some time a close friend of the Arav king.

While Hyrcanus and Antipater were at Desert Rock with Scaurus, commander of Pompey's army, to fight against Arav, Aristobulus's son Alexander escaped from Pompey, entered Jerusalem, and rebuilt the walls of the city that Pompey had destroyed and, gathering a strong force of Jews, fought against Hyrcanus and Antipater and routed them; nor could Scaurus stand against him.

Gabinius came from the city of Roma to the land of Aram; and when he heard all that Aristobulus's son Alexander had done—that he fought against Scaurus and killed many Romans and routed Hyrcanus and Antipater and rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem that Pompey the Great had destroyed—Gabinius came against him with a heavy force of Romans and Aramaeans and, in addition, Hyrcanus's and Antipater's large and strong Judaean army. Antonius, who is Marcus (for two names are a sign of valor, and he was a hero and an experienced warrior), joined with them also, and all these generals came to do battle against Aristobulus's son Alexander in Jerusalem.

Alexander came out to confront them accompanied by a small force of some ten thousand infantry and fifteen hundred cavalry and fought a battle with these generals; six thousand of his warriors died in the fighting, and he fled with the rest of his men and entered Alexandrium. Gabinius came to the city and fought against it. But he made yet another sortie from the city and, making a surprise attack on Gabinius's camp, killed many of them. Marcus Antonius joined the battle, forcing Alexander back and chasing him into the city and losing many of his men in the fighting. Gabinius besieged the city and fought against it. Alexander's mother came to him (she was the wife of Aristobulus) and pleaded with him in tears to make peace between Gabinius and Alexander; and he agreed, so Alexander went out and made peace with him.

Gabinius divided the kingdom of Judaea into five units, with Hyrcanus as ruler in Jerusalem: he placed in Gadara a governor for the second unit; in Ḥamath (Amathus) a governor for the third unit; in Jericho a governor for the fourth unit; and in Sipporin (Sepphoris) in the Galil a governor for the fifth unit. All this Gabinius did in order to douse zeal in the kingdom and put an end to wars in the land of Judaea, but he did not succeed.

At that time, Aristobulus and his son Antigonus escaped from the city of Roma to the land of Judaea and arrived at the border of the land of Judaea, where a great crowd of Judaeans fell in with him; Pitholaus, commander of Jerusalem, joined him with one thousand warriors, for he remembered his former glory. When Aristobulus saw the great multitude with him, he separated out the poorer mass, choosing eight thousand valiant warriors who would not turn their backs nor retreat for any reason. He went forth to confront Gabinius in battle; Gabinius came with a very strong force of Romans and Judaeans to battle against Aristobulus. He fought against him with his eight thousand veterans and dealt the Roman horde a very great blow, killing many of the Roman force. Also seven thousand of Aristobulus's veterans died in that battle, and Aristobulus remained with his one thousand veterans. With them he burst through the Roman force, smiting as he advanced, until he took refuge atop the mountain. The Roman force pursued him and overtook him, so Aristobulus turned around and fought against them for two days.

On the third day, his one thousand veterans fell, after having killed many more of the Roman army. Aristobulus remained alone, fighting, and killing many. They wounded his head with a great many wounds, for the bronze helmet on his head was split open, and he fell to the ground. They captured him alive and bore him to Gabinius, who healed him from the blows and, binding him again with chains, led him to Roma to the Elder and his 320 counselors. The days that Aristobulus ruled were three years and six months, a precious man, a hero, generous, handsome, and good looking.

Afterward, the Elder sent Aristobulus's sons from Roma to Jerusalem, for he took pity on Aristobulus's wife, their mother, Gabinius having written to him of the woman's wisdom; for this reason, the Elder in Roma took pity on her and sent her sons and daughters to her.

Gabinius crossed the Euphrates River and fought against Persia and Media (Parthia) and subdued them, for Pompey the Great had conquered them, but when Pompey left, they rebelled. Gabinius went and subdued them, subjecting them to Roman rule.

At that time, the Egyptian people rebelled and deposed Ptolemy as king of Egypt, for the Egyptian people said: "We shall no longer pay tax to Roma." Ptolemy sent for Gabinius to help him. The latter came with all his army to help Ptolemy, king of Egypt; and Gabinius sent for Hyrcanus and Antipater to aid him. Antipater went forth from Jerusalem with a very heavy army, the army of Judaea and Benjamin, and went to aid Gabinius, whom they found in Damascus on his return from Persia. Now Gabinius ordered him to precede him to Egypt to open the road for him; Antipater led the way and fought the Egyptian guard, smiting them a very great blow, and opened the road. Then Gabinius came to Egypt and restored Ptolemy to his kingdom.

At that time, when Antipater was with Gabinius in Egypt, Aristobulus's son Alexander continued to rebel. He gathered a large force of Judaean young men and invaded Mount Gerizim and smote the Roman guard that Gabinius had left there; he extirpated also all the Romans from the land of Judaea. When Gabinius heard this, he sent Antipater to speak words of peace unto the ears of the people who rebelled. Antipater went and convinced the people, restoring them to Gabinius, but Alexander paid no heed to him and, taking with him thirty thousand Judaean young men, went to Mount Tabor and arrayed for battle against Gabinius; ten thousand of his lads fell, and he fled with twenty thousand. Gabinius marched back to Jerusalem and returned the kingdom to Hyrcanus; he also made Alexander governor over all the people of Judaea. He left there and returned to Roma.

A year past, and the Elder and his 320 counselors heard that Persia and Media had rebelled, so they sent there Grassus (Crassus) with a very heavily armed force. Crassus came to Jerusalem and entered God's Temple, where he stretched forth his hand to take the gold that was in God's Temple, two thousand talents of gold drachmas. In those days, the high priest was Elazar, a righteous and devout man, and he said to Crassus: "Why do you stretch forth your hand to despoil God's Temple, to take the gold that Pompey did not touch nor other generals? Swear to me that you will not take the gold, and I, for my part, will give you one beam of gold whose weight is three hundred gold minas." On that beam were hung all the clothes of blue and purple that covered the gate of the Holy of Holies. This is why the beam was hidden from everyone's eyes and was not seen. Crassus swore to him that he would neither touch nor take any of the gold in the Temple, save for the beam alone, so Elazar the priest gave him the beam, made by a master craftsman, its weight three hundred minas of gold. The weight, according to the words of Joseph ben Gurion, was two and one-half pounds, which is thirty ounces, and one ounce is sixty measures, according to Joseph ben Gurion. But when Crassus had taken the beam, he broke his word, returned, and took all the gold in the House of God, two thousand talents' worth of gold drachmas and all the golden utensils, more than two thousand talents of pure gold.

Joseph ben Gurion said: "Many enemies and haters who despised the nation of Judaea will not believe my words regarding the wealth of our God's Sanctuary, but my words are true; there is no lie in them. Many great kings had sent to the Temple of God from year to year an offering of silver and gold vessels, and in those days, there were a great many very wealthy Jews. Many authors have borne witness just like me, including Nicholaus of Damascus, and also Strabo of Caphtor spoke about the wealth of the Jews, saying: 'Mithridates, king of Armenia, attacked the city called Coö (Cos), on the frontier of the land of Asia and took the gold that Cleopatra Queen of Egypt had deposited there.' He also took the gold that the Jews had dedicated to send to the Temple of our Lord, and the weight of the gold that only the Jews living in the land of Asia dedicated to the Temple was eight hundred talents. For there was no gold from the land of Judaea there nor from the land of Alexandria, just the gold from the land of Asia."

After Crassus took the gold that was in God's Temple, he went to battle against Persia and Media and fell with all his army in one day. The Persians were victorious and, invading Aram, took it from Roma, until Cassius, the Roman general, a valiant man, came and invaded Aram and redeemed it from Persian oppression, returning it to the rule of Roma and chasing the Persian army out of Aram. Cassius returned and, entering the land of Judaea, found the people of Judaea fighting against Hyrcanus and Antipater: he assisted the two, and the kingdom was pacified under Hyrcanus. Cassius left there and, crossing the Euphrates, wielded his sword against Persia and Media, waging great battles against Persia and Media until he restored them to Roman rule, just as Pompey the Great had subdued them before, for Pompey had subdued twenty-two kings when he was in the East.