ARISTOBULUS. - Name of various members of the Hasmonean dynasty, two of whom were kings and a third was a claimant to the throne of Judah.
- A. I (his Jewish name was Judah), firstborn of John Hyrcanus, assumed power and, first of all, the title of king upon his father's death (105 B.C.). Flavius Josephus narrates his family tragedy in a manner that may give grounds for reservations. He is said to have imprisoned all his closest relatives, causing his mother to die of starvation there. After having his brother Antigonus, his co-regent, put to death, he died, it is said, of grief in 104 B.C.
In a successful campaign against the Itureans, he united to Judea a great part of their territory, and forcibly Judaized them, imposing upon them circumcision and the Law (Flavius Josephus, Antiq. Iud., XIII, 11, 1-3).
- A. II, grandson of the preceding, son of Alexander Jannaeus and Queen Alexandra, had a very adventurous life. Even against his mother, who preferred to him his inept brother Hyrcanus (II), he organized a revolt. When his mother died, in 67 B.C. he defeated his brother at Jericho, forced him to renounce the kingdom and the high priesthood, and, having taken Jerusalem, proclaimed himself there king and pontiff.
In the first two years of peaceful reign he followed the strong policy of his mother, relying on the Pharisees. Soon, however, the cunning Antipater (v.), governor of Idumea, ensnared in his schemes the unwarlike Hyrcanus, who became his unwitting instrument, and he first called to his aid Aretas III king of the Nabateans and then Pompey. Matters became complicated, especially because of A.'s incoherent conduct toward Pompey. In 63 he was defeated by Pompey, who took Jerusalem and subjected Judea to Rome, uniting it with Syria.
A. was led as a prisoner to Rome. Having succeeded in escaping, in 56 he reappeared unexpectedly in Palestine to reconquer the kingdom with his son Antigonus (v.). But Gabinius suppressed the insurrection and A. was brought back to Rome. In 49 he was freed by Caesar and sent with two legions to Judea to fight against Pompey. But he was poisoned in Syria by the Pompeians.
- A. (III), son of an Alexander, born of A. II, and of Alexandra, was the brother of Mariamme, wife of Herod the Great. At the age of 17 he was proclaimed High Priest. But a year later, Herod, envious of A.'s popularity, perhaps suspecting him of aiming at the kingdom with his mother's help, had him drowned in the bath at Jericho (35 B.C.; Flavius Josephus, Antiq. Iud., XV, 2,5-3,4). He was the last of the Hasmoneans.