ABSTRACT
After the Parthian victory, Herod set off for Rome to meet Mark Antony who had secured the eastern provinces from Octavian in the division of the empire. With a Roman army Herod conquered Judaea; after a five-month siege Jerusalem fell in 37 bce. Herod, however, had married a Hasmonean princess, Mariamne, and her mother Alexandra complained to the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra about this nomination. As a result, Herod was forced to appoint Alexandra's younger son Aristobulus instead. Alexandra and her daughter, Herod's wife Mariamne, were put to death along with Costobarus for plotting against Herod. The great achievement of his reign was the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple on a magnificent scale. In the years that followed, Herod managed to obtain two large regions of southern Syria from Augustus. He also intervened with the Romans to stop Greek cities from withholding the privileges to which Jews in the diaspora were entitled.
