The real power behind the Jewish throne in the first century BCE was not a Jew at all. Antipater, an Idumean whose family had converted to Judaism only a generation or two earlier, maneuvered himself into a position that would reshape Jewish history forever.

After Pompey conquered Jerusalem in 63 BCE, he carved up the Hasmonean kingdom. Judea shrank. Hyrcanus kept the high priesthood but lost the title of king. His brother Aristobulus was dragged off to Rome in chains, paraded through the streets as a trophy of Roman conquest. But Aristobulus's sons refused to accept defeat. His son Alexander escaped captivity and raised a rebellion, gathering ten thousand infantry and fifteen hundred cavalry before the Roman general Gabinius crushed him.

Through all of this chaos, Antipater thrived. Josephus describes him in the <i>Antiquities</i> as "active and seditious" by nature, a man who understood that real power in this new era belonged to whoever Rome trusted most. When Aristobulus escaped from Rome and tried to reclaim Judea, Antipater helped the Romans hunt him down. When Gabinius reorganized the country into five administrative districts, Antipater positioned himself as the indispensable intermediary.

His greatest gamble came during the Roman civil war. When Julius Caesar fought Pompey, Antipater immediately switched his allegiance. He marched three thousand Jewish soldiers to Egypt to support Caesar's campaign, personally breaching the walls of Pelusium. He persuaded the Egyptian Jewish community to support Caesar. He fought and bled for Rome's new master.

Caesar rewarded him generously. Antipater was named procurator of all Judea, granted Roman citizenship, and given tax exemptions. He had become, as Josephus records, the effective ruler of the Jewish homeland, while Hyrcanus held the title in name only. Antipater then installed his sons in positions of power. Phasael governed Jerusalem. His younger son, a twenty-five-year-old named Herod, received Galilee.

Nobody knew it yet, but the dynasty that would dominate Jewish life for the next century had just begun.