grandson of
Alexander Jannai &
Salome Alexandra
son of Aristobulus II
husband of his cousin
Alexandra
father of Mariamne
I &
Aristobulus III
The energetic oldest
son of Aristobulus was his father's chief champion during his long
struggle to depose his uncle & father-in-law
Hyrcanus II. He
had married the latter's daughter, probably as part of the truce
between the feuding sons of Alexander Jannai, in which Hyrcanus
ceded
Aristobulus the role of "king." But when, at
Antipater's
urging, Hyrcanus invited Nabatean aid to reclaim the high
priesthood, Alexander became his father-in-law's implacable foe.
Captured & sent to
Rome with
Aristobulus when Pompey
took Jerusalem
(63 BCE),
Alexander managed to escape & return to
Judea. Rallying
Jews angered by Pompey's invasion of their sanctuary, he took
control of Judea's fortresses & declared war on Rome. Yet his
forces were overwhelmed by Roman troops under the command of
Syrian governor
Gabinius & his lieutenant
Marc Antony who
quelled the uprising (57 BCE).
Alexander saved his personal freedom on condition of his
surrender. But Gabinius dissolved the centralized Hasmonean
theocratic kingdom & divided it into districts governed by
regional councils (sanhedrins).
A year later,
however, after Aristobulus & his younger son (Antigonus)
escaped from Rome, Alexander led an even larger uprising against
Roman domination. Again Gabinius delivered him a crushing
defeat, this time at Mount Tabor in
Galilee
(55
BCE).
For nearly eight years Alexander eluded capture in Syria. But
two years after his father's murder
(47
BCE)
he was caught, taken
to Antioch & beheaded by order of Pompey, leaving his
brother Antigonus as
the last Hasmonean to challenge Roman domination.
References:
Josephus,
Antiquities
14.82,
89-90,
102,
125.
_____, War
1.160-163, 167,
176-177, 182,
185.
Other online
resources:
Perspective on the
World of Jesus 