King and high-priest of the Hasmonean dynasty who ruled Judea from 103-76 BC. Famous for the wars that occupied most of his reign and oppressive rule, his opposition to the rising influence of the hasidim led to an rebellion in 94-88.
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Alexander Jannaeus was the second son of John Hyrcanus I. Josephus tells us that Hyrcanus "was "hated by his father as soon as he was born, and could never be permitted to come into his father's sight till he died." (Antiquities, 13.12.1). His luck did not change much when during the reign of his brother Judah Aristobulus, he and his younger, Antigonus, were imprisoned. When Aristobulus died in 103 BC, his widow, Salome Alexandra, released the two from prison, married Jannaeus (Aristobulus and Salome had no children, so the marriage to the latter accorded with Jewish laws), and enabled Alexander Jannaeus to become high-priest and king of Judea.
Jannaeus' reign was driven and characterized by military conquest and territorial expansion, which he accomplished to a remarkable degree, even though there were famous reversals, the first just a short while after accession, when he laid eyes on and soon lay siege to Ptolemais. The city, in turn, sought the aid of Ptolemy Lathyrus to save them. Lathyrus was the disgraced son of Cleopatra III, ruler of Egypt. He had been driven out of Egypt, but managed to secure himself in ruler of Cyprus. Jannaeus was forced to back down and sign a truce with Lathyrus. At the same time, however, Jannaeus made a pact with Cleopatra to act against Lathyrus. When Lathyrus learned about this, he invaded from the Transjordan and swept down all the way to the coasts of Judah. Just then Cleopatra's troops arrived to drive off Lathyrus. The Egyptians could have annexed Judah if Cleopatra so minded, but was persuaded by one of her generals, a Jew, of the lack of wisdom in it. Jannaeus came with the breadth of a whisker of losing his kingdom.
Jannaeus's ambition for conquest, however, continued unabated, taking him next into the Transjordan where he took Gadara and Amathus. He then marched west and subdued Raphia and Gaza (the city held out for a year before it was reduced) near the Egyptian border. His next attempt at expanding in the Transjordan lands known in ancient times as Ammon and Moab was a disaster. The Nabateans considered these lands their sphere of influence (Gaza failed to receive their help only because they did not act in time). Janneaus and his forces were ambushed and nearly wiped out. Janneaus just managed to escape back to Jerusalem with his life.
The sight of their humiliated king gave his subjects, who had suffered badly under his oppressive rule and who were more and more influenced by the nascent influence of the Pharisees, the courage now to resist him. The insurgency lasted six years, form 94-88 BC, before it was finally put down, with Jannaeus employing Hellenist troops (those who originally so oppressed Judea and sparking the Maccabean Revolt which brought the Hasmoneans into power) to attack his own people. In that time thousands died and many more fled the country. As a lesson to them, Jannaeus had 800 of the crucified alive, their wives and children brought before them and killed, while he, with his officers and their wives and concubines, feasted.
That, however, was not the end of his trouble. When the last of the dying Seleucids led a force to invade Nabatea, they forced their way through Judea even though Jannaeus tried to stop them. The Seleucids were dealt a crushing defeat by the Nabateans, led by Aretas II, and much of the Seleucid lands became Aretas's, making the Nabateans Judea's most dangerous neighbours. Jannaeus sued for peace. By the time he died in 76 BC, however, his territory ranged as vast as those of the twelve tribes in ancient days. As a king he was oppressive, as a model high-priest he was not.
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