MACCABEES, BOOKS OF

tetrarchs of the country of the Jews. Antigonus, however, the second son of Aristobulus, with the assistance of the Parthians, captured PhaBael, compelled Herod to flee, and seized the State. Hyrcanus was carried away prisoner by the Parthians, and his ears were cut off, so that he could no longer act as high priest.

After Herod had been made king, Hyrcanus was brought back to Judaea, and became a centre of one of the various intrigues against Herod, who had married Hyrcanus' grand-daughter Mariamme. As a result, Herod had him executed (B.C. 30), on the charge of conspiracy with the king of Arabia (Jos. Ant. XIV. v.-xiii.; BJ I. viii.-xiii.).

11 . Alexander, the elder son of Aristobulus ii . , who escaped from Pompey on the journey to Rome, collected an army and headed an insurrection in Judaea (B.C. 67). He wats finally defeated, and later during the civil wars was be-headed by order of Pompey as a friend of Csesar.

12. Antigonus, with his father Aristobulus, escaped from the Romans, and in B.C. 56 headed a revolt in Judaea. Aris-tobulus retreated to Machgerus, but after two years' siege was compelled to surrender, and went again as prisoner to Rome, where he was poisoned (b.c 49), just as he was setting out to the East to assist Ceesar. Antigonus in B.C. 47 attempted unsuccessfully to induce Caesar to establish him as king of Judaea in place of Hyrcanus and Antipater. After the death of Csesar and during the second triumvirate, Antigonus attempted to gain the throne of Judaea with the assistance of the Parthians, and in 40-37 maintained himself with the title of ' king and high priest.' At the end of that period, however, Herod I., who had been appointed king by the Romans, conquered Antigonus with the assistance of Rome. Antigonus was beheaded (b.c. 37) by Antony at the request of Herod (Jos. Ant. xiv. xiv.-xvi.; BJ i. xiv.-xviii. 3).

13. Alexandra, daughter of Hyrcanus n., marned her cousin Alexander, son of Aristobulus ll. She was a woman of great ability, and as the mother of Mariamme, wife of Herod I., was an object of bitter hatred on the part of Herod's sister Salome. She was executed by Herod m B.C. 28.

14. Aristobulus HI., son of Alexander and Alexandra, became a member of the household of Herod after the latter's marriage with Mariamme. Like all Hasmonaeans, he waspossessedof great personal beauty.and was afavourite with the people. At the request of his sister he was made high priest by Herod (B.C. 35) . On account of his popularity, Herod had him drowned while he was bathing at Jericho, in the same year, when he had reached the age of seventeen.

15. Mariamme, daughter of Alexander and Alexandra, was reputed to be one of the most beautiful women of the time. She became the wife of Herod, who loved her jeal-ously. Driven to madness, however, by the scandalous reports of his sister Salome, Herod had her executed in B.C. 29.

Although the direct line of Hasmonaeans was thus wiped out by Herod, the family was perpetuated in the sons of Herod himself by Mariamme — Alexander and Aristobulus. Both these sons, indeed, Herod causedto be executed be-cause of alleged conspiracies against him, but the Macca-baean line still lived in the persons of Herod of Chalcis and Agrippa I. and ii. (see Hehod). Shailer Mathews.

MACCABEES, BOOKS OP.-See Apocktpha, §§ 1, 2.

MACEDONIA. — The Macedonians were a part of the Hellenic race who settled early in history in the region round the river Axius at the N.W. corner of the .aSgaean. When they first came into Greek politics they had dominion from the mountains N. of Thessaly to the river Strymon, excepfwhere the Greek colonies of the peninsula of Chalcidice kept them back. Their race was probably much mixed with Illyrian and Thracian elements; they did not advance in culture with Southern Greece, but kept their primitive government under a king, and were regarded by the Greeks as aUens. Down to the time of Philip (B.C. 359) they played a minor part as allies of various Greek cities having interests in the N. vEgaean. Under Philip, through his organization of an army and his diplomatic skill, they became masters of Greece, and under his son Alexander conquered the East. The dynasties which they established in Syria and Egypt were Macedonian, but in the subsequent Hellenization of the East they took no larger part than other Greek races. In their original dominions they remained a hardy and vigorous race. After several wars with Bome, Macedonia was divided into four separate districts

MACHPELAH

with republican government, but it received the regular organization of a province in b.c. 146.

Macedonia was the scene of St. Paul's first work in Europe. See Philippi, Thessalonica, Bekcea. The province at that time included Thessaly, and stretched across to the Adriatic; but PhiUppi was a colony, not subject to the governor of the province, and Thessa-lonica was also a 'free city,' with the right of appointing its own magistrates. The Via Egnatia ran across the province from Dyrrhachium to Neapolls, and St. Paul's journey was along this from NeapoUs through Philippi, Amphipolis, Apollonia, to Thessalonica. A further visit is recorded in Ac 20'-«, and the Pastoral Epistles imply another after his first imprisonment (1 Ti 1').

A. E. HiLLARD.

MACHSRUS. — A place E. of the Dead Sea, fortified by Alexander Janngeus, and greatly enlarged and strengthened by Herod the Great (Jos. BJ vii. vi. 1). According to Josephus, the daughter of Aretas retired to this place when she left the bigamous Antipas. He describes it as 'in the borders of the dominions of Aretas and Herod,' and then 'subject to her father' (,Ant. XVIII. V. 1). He goes on to say that here John was imprisoned and beheaded (Mt I4i°"- etc.). If it was then subject to Aretas, this is at least curious. The fortress was one of the last taken by the Romans in the war of independence (BJ ii. xviii. 6, vii. vi.). It is identified with the ruin of Mukawer, on the height about half-way between Wady Zerka Ma' in and WOdy eU MBjib. W. EwiNG.

MACHBANNAI. — A Gadite who joined David at Ziklag (1 Ch 12i3).

MACHBENA.— Named in the genealogical list of Judah (I Ch 2"). Machbena is probably the same as Cabbon of Jos 15«°, which may perhaps be identified with el-Kubeibeh, situated about 3 miles south of Beit Jibrin.

MACHI. — The father of Geuel, the Gadite spy (Nu 13").

MACHIB, — 1. The eldest 'son' of Manasseh (Jos 17'), the only son (Nu 26^'). Machir was also the 'father of the Gilead.' These names are ethnographic, and their use suggests that the Machirites were either coterminous with the tribe of Manasseh (wh. see) or were its most warUke part. Settled on the W. of Jordan, they Invaded N. Gilead some time after the days of Deborah, and so became the 'father of the Gilead.' 2. Son of Aramiel of Lo-debar on the E. of Jordan. He clung to the house of Saul as long as possible, and afterwards victualled David's men when that king was fleeing from Absalom (2 S 9» 172'). W. F. Cobb.

MACHNADEBAI. — One of the sons of Bani, who had married a foreign wife (Ezr 10").

MACHPELAH. — The name of a locality in which, according to the Priestly narrative of the Hexateuch, were situated a field and a cave purchased by Abraham from Ephron the Hittite, to serve as a burial-place for him-self and his family (Gn 23"-"). Here Sarah was buried by her husband; and subsequently Abraham himself, Isaac, Rebekah, Leah, and Jacob were laid to rest in the same spot (Gn 49"). The appellation 'Machpelah,' which seems in strictness to designate the site com-prehensively, is also applied to the actual field and the cave within it, which are respectively called ' the field of Machpelah' (Gn 23" 495o 60'*) and the 'cave of Machpelah' (Gn 23' 25"). The place is described as being' Before Mamre' (Gn 25'), 'before' usually meaning 'east of (see Gn 25'», Jos 13=, 1 K 11'), just as 'behind' signifies 'west of (Nu S"'). Mamre, in Gn 23", is identified with Hebron, which is the modern eUKhalil ('the Friend,' i.e. Abraham, cf. Is 41', Ja 2''), a town built on the sides of a narrow valley, the main portion of it lying on the face of the E. slope. The traditional site of the cave of Machpelah is on the E. hill, so that it would appear that ancient Hebron was built

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