Navigation bar
  Print document Start Previous page
 34 of 826 
Next page End Contents  

  
was given a reduced Judaea to rule, not as king but as a prince or ethnarch. He remained high priest, and
Antipater retained his position as the chief minister of state. 
For the rest of his life Antipater was thus involved in the affairs of Rome. In 57 B.C., when the governor of
Syria, Aulus Gabinius, broke Judaea apart, Idumaea was given to Antipater, and he later joined the
governor on an expedition to restore Ptolemy XII of Egypt to his throne. The Roman Civil Wars soon
followed, and Hyrcanus, through Antipater, supported Pompey. The exiled Aristobulus was rescued in
Rome by Julius Caesar and sent with two legions to begin a revolt in Judaea. Fortunately for Antipater,
Aristobulus was poisoned before he could achieve anything. 
Julius Caesar then won the battle of Pharsalus in 48 B.C., and Antipater found a means by which he 
could placate the victor. He marched to Caesar's aid when the Roman was in serious trouble in 
Alexandria, and Caesar was grateful enough to reward Antipater with the rank of chief minister of 
Judaea. This provided him with Roman citizenship, with the right to collect taxes for Rome, accompanied
by exemption from personal taxes and the opportunity of keeping large amounts of the Roman monies due.
Antipater also placed his sons in major positions in the kingdom. One was Phasael, who governed
Jerusalem, and the other was HEROD THE GREAT, then governor of Galilee. 
In 44 B.C., Caesar was assassinated, and Cassius, one of the murderers, arrived in Syria demanding 
assistance. Antipater and Hyrcanus were compelled to assist him, and special taxes were collected, 
especially by Herod, to provide him with funds for his war against Antony. The Jews, however, were no 
longer tolerant of Antipater's pro-Roman policies, and a group of anti-Romans, led by one Malichus, 
staged several fiery demonstrations, which climaxed with the poisoning of Antipater himself in 43 B.C.. 
¤ ANTONIA (1) (36 B.C.-37 A.D.) Antonia epitomized the virtues of the Empire in an era of turmoil 
and was the mother and grandmother of two emperors. The daughter of Marc ANTONY and OCTAVIA, 
Antonia grew up in the care of Octavia and both loved and married DRUSUS THE ELDER, the brother 
of Tiberius. He died in 9 B.C., after several children were born to the couple, including CLAUDIUS and 
GERMANICUS and a daughter Livilla. The Lex de maritandis ordinibus of the period demanded that all
widows remarry, but Augustus freed her of the requirement (see MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE) and she 
never remarried. 
Her time was spent either in Rome or at her estate in Bauli. She was the closest friend of LIVIA, the 
mother of Drusus and Tiberius, was amiable to Tiberius and generally tried to help keep order in the 
divided and resentful environment in which Augustus ruled. When Tiberius inherited the throne, 
however, the conflicts between Antonia's son Germanicus (and his wife AGRIPPINA THE ELDER) and