Formation of the three sects: =Pharisees=, =Sadducees=, =Essenes=; outbreak of hostilities between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. 106. Accession of Aristobulus I. Discord in the family of the king. War with the Ituræans and Trachonites; Judæa enlarged. 105. Accession of _Alexander (I) Jannæus_. 98-96. The seaport towns taken by Ptolemy VIII Lathurus regained with the help of the Egyptian king’s mother. 94-89. Contentions between the Pharisees and the Sadducees; Alexander Jannæus opposed to the Pharisees. 800 Pharisees executed. Alexander Jannæus adds trans-Jordanic territory to Judæa. 79. _Salome Alexandra_, wife of Alexander Jannæus, ascends the throne. SIMON BEN SHETACH and JUDAH BEN TABBAI, Pharisee leaders, reorganize the Synhedrion, and exclude the Sadducæans. The queen favors the Pharisees. 70. Accession of _Hyrcanus II_. 69. Aristobulus II co-regent; quarrels between the brothers. _Antipater the Idumæan_ becomes the counselor of Hyrcanus II. 66. Aretas, king of the Nabathæans, ally of Hyrcanus II against Aristobulus II, takes Jerusalem. Scaurus, the Roman legate, at the instance of Aristobulus II, forces Aretas to raise the siege of Jerusalem. 63. _Pompey captures Jerusalem_; Hyrcanus II made Ethnarch; Aristobulus II a prisoner. Alexander (II), son of Aristobulus II, enters Jerusalem; subdued by Aulus Gabinius, Roman governor of Syria. 60. _Shemaya_ and _Abtalion_ presidents of the Synhedrion. 56. Aristobulus II escapes from Rome, opposes the Romans in Judæa, and is taken captive a second time. 55. Alexander (II) routed by the Romans at Mount Tabor. 53. CRASSUS PLUNDERS THE TEMPLE. Aristobulus II, set free by Julius Cæsar, is poisoned by the followers of Pompey; Alexander (II) decapitated. 47. At the petition of Antipater, Cæsar proclaims Hyrcanus II high priest and Ethnarch. The _Judæans of Alexandria_ governed by their own Ethnarch, or _Alabarch_.