ANTIGONUS. - Name of two Jewish princes of the Hasmonean dynasty.
1) Son of John Hyrcanus I, born about 135 B.C. After his father’s death (105), he shared in the rule of his brother Aristobulus I (q.v.), who, following a scandalous intrigue, had him put to death in 104 (Flavius Josephus, *Antiquities of the Jews*, XIII, 10, 2; 11, 1 ff.).
2) By his Jewish name *Mattathias*, son of Aristobulus II (q.v.), he was the last king of the Hasmoneans. He attained the throne, long coveted in vain, with the aid of the Parthians, who had invaded Judea, and reigned from 40 to 37 B.C., constantly at war with the pretender Herod, whom the Roman senate had proclaimed at the wish of Antony. Assisted by the Jews dwelling near Mount Carmel, A. before Pentecost of 40 entered Jerusalem and shut Herod with his brother Phasael up in the royal fortress of Baris; once in his power, he had his uncle John Hyrcanus II—who had imprudently gone with Phasael to the Parthian commander’s camp—maimed by cutting off his ears, thus disqualifying him from the high-priesthood. Having become king, on his coins he took the title “High Priest Mattathias, King A.”
He spent his energies in vain besieging Joseph, Herod’s brother, in the fortress of Masada. When Herod, now named king with Roman troops, returned, A. bribed the Roman general Ventidius to bring the Parthians back into Palestine. But Ventidius defeated the Parthians (8 June 38) and was ordered by Antony to aid Herod. In October 37, on the Day of Atonement, Herod stormed Jerusalem. A., descending from the fortress of Baris, begged for his life from the Roman Sosius, and would have obtained it until Antony’s triumph over the Parthians; but Herod prevailed on Antony to have him beheaded at Antioch (November 37 B.C.; Flavius Josephus, *Antiquities of the Jews*, XIV, 4, 5 – 16, 4).