History of the Jews, Vol. 2 (of 6)

BY HEINRICH GRAETZ
VOL. II
From the Reign of Hyrcanus (135 B. C. E.) to the Completion of the Babylonian Talmud (500 C. E.)
PHILADELPHIA The Jewish Publication Society of America 5717–1956
Copyright, 1893, by THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher: except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA


The Crowning Point of the Period​—​War with Antiochus Sidetes​—​Siege of Jerusalem​—​Treaty of Peace​—​The Parthian War​—​Hyrcanus joins Antiochus​—​Successful campaigns of Hyrcanus against the Samaritans and Idumæans​—​The Idumæans forced to embrace Judaism​—​Destruction of the Samaritan Temple at Gerizim and of the Capital, Samaria​—​Internal Affairs​—​The Parties: Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes, their Rise and Constitution​—​Their Doctrines and their Relations to one another​—​The Synhedrion​—​Strained Relations between Hyrcanus and the Pharisees​—​Death of Hyrcanus.
135–106 B. C. E.
The reign of Hyrcanus is at once the pinnacle and the turning-point of this period. He not only carried on his father's work, but completed it. Under his predecessors Judæa was confined to a narrow space, and even within these bounds there were territories in the possession of foreign foes. Hyrcanus enlarged the boundaries to the north and to the south, and thus released the State from the external pressure that had been restricting its growth. His genius for war was aided by fortunate circumstances in bringing about these happy results.