IRCANUS II. — High priest and ethnarch of the Jews from 63 to 40 B.C.
He was the son of Alexander Iannaeus and Queen Alexandra, who during her reign (76–67 B.C.) appointed him high priest. Of a timid and cowardly nature, he ceded the kingship to his mother, but only for three months; for, defeated by his energetic younger brother Aristobulus II (q.v.), he was forced to retire into private life, yielding the high priesthood and the kingship to him. Soon afterward, however, incited by the Idumaean Antipater (q.v.), Hyrcanus began rebellions against Aristobulus. In 65 B.C. the Roman legate Scaurus favored Aristobulus, who was later opposed by Pompey. After the latter occupied Jerusalem (autumn of 63 B.C.), Aristobulus was taken to Rome as a prisoner with his sons, while Hyrcanus was reinstated as high priest and ethnarch (no longer king) of the Jews. But the real head of Judea was his protector Antipater, while Roman interference grew ever stronger.
Sad years followed for Palestine, torn by the uprisings of Alexander, son of Aristobulus, and then by those of Aristobulus himself, who in 56 B.C. had escaped from Rome. Supported by the Romans and by Antipater, Hyrcanus lacked even a semblance of authority, which in practice was confined to the duties of the high priesthood. Gabinius, proconsul of Syria (57–55 B.C.), even stripped him of the title of ethnarch, restoring it to Julius Caesar. In 40 B.C. Antigonus, son of Aristobulus, allied with the Parthians, gained control of his uncle Hyrcanus, whom he mutilated by cutting off his ears to render him unfit for liturgical office. When the Parthians withdrew from Palestine they took Hyrcanus with them to Babylonia, whence Herod, once firmly established on the throne, had him brought back. But in 30 B.C. Herod had him put to death, thus eliminating the last obstacle.