However, he did not take any booty or interrupt the services of the Temple. After two months, the Romans broke through and massacred some 12,000 of the Jews defending the Temple.Īccording to Josephus, Pompey stepped into the Holy of Holies, the innermost sanctum of the Temple. The forces of his opponent, Aristobulus, fought against Pompey and Hyrcanus. The Jewish forces lead by Hyrcanus promptly withdrew. (The Sanhedrin, ever wary of allowing Rome in the door – and history would prove their caution warranted - sent a delegation saying that Rome’s intervention wasn’t needed.) Pompey listened and then took his time responding. Warring factions of Jews sent representatives to convince the Roman to side with them and not their opponent. In the year 64 BCE, Pompey appeared in Damascus. However, he did want to control them somehow. Therefore, Pompey was not interested in going to war with the Jews or running their country. They could not comprehend an invisible God with a Temple that had no visible idol to worship.
Moreover, the Romans viewed the Jews as “atheists” or “non-believers.” Anyone who was religious, in their world view, had a god that you could see. The Jews had the reputation as difficult to fight in a war and impossible to govern. The Romans referred to the Jews as “porcupines.” Just as a porcupine is an animal that even great predators avoid, so too the Jews. Ideally, he did not want to do it through war, because the Jews – the Hasmoneans/Maccabees – had a fearsome reputation.
Therefore, he looked for a way to get himself in power in Judea. Even if Judea was merely a neutral independent it would serve as a wedge between the Northern Empire (Syria) and the Southern Empire (Egypt). He was the first Roman leader to understand that Rome could not successfully control the Middle East if it did not control Judea. Pompey was a talented, ruthless general for Rome. On January 10, 49 BCE, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, signaling the start of civil war between his forces and those of the Roman who defiled the Holy of Holies.
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