4.) _The rise of the sects._ About B. C. 100 the two sects, or schools of thought, the Pharisees and Sadducees, began to appear, though their principles had long been working. The Pharisees ("separatists") sought for absolute separation from the Gentile world and a strict construction of the law of Moses, while the Sadducees ("moralists") were liberal in their their theories and in their lives. 4. =The Roman period.= (B. C. 40-A. D. 70.) It is not easy to name a date for the beginning of the Roman supremacy in Palestine. It began in B. C. 63, when Pompey the Great (afterward the antagonist of Julius Cæsar) was asked to intervene between two claimants for the Jewish throne, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus. Pompey decided for Hyrcanus, and aided him by a Roman army. In his interest he besieged and took Jerusalem, and then placed Hyrcanus in power, but without the title of king. From this time the Romans were practically, though not nominally, in control of affairs. 1.) _Herod the Great._ We assign as the date of the Roman rule 40 B. C., when Herod (son of Antipater, an Edomite, who had been the general of Hyrcanus) received the title of king from the Roman Senate. From this time Palestine was regarded as a part of the Roman Empire. Herod was the ablest man of his age, and one of the most unscrupulous. He ruled over all Palestine, Idumea (ancient Edom), and the lands south of Damascus. [Illustration: PALESTINE IN THE TIME OF CHRIST] 2.) _Herod's temple._ Herod was thoroughly hated by the Jews, less for his character than for his foreign birth. To gain their favor he began rebuilding the temple upon a magnificent scale. It was not completed until long after his death, which took place at Jericho about the time when Jesus Christ, the true King of the Jews, was born (Matt. 2. 1, 2). 3.) _The tetrarchies._ By Herod's will his dominions were divided into four tetrarchies ("quarter-rulings," a title for a fourth part of a kingdom). Three of these were in Palestine--Archelaus receiving Judea, Idumea, and Samaria; Antipas (the Herod of Luke 4. 19, 20; 23. 7-11) receiving Galilee and Perea; and Philip (Luke 3. 1) having the district of Bashan. About A. D. 6 Archelaus was deposed, and a Roman, Coponius, was appointed the first Procurator of Judea, which was made a part of the prefecture of Syria. The rest of Jewish annals belongs properly to the New Testament history. II. Through these periods we notice the gradual =PREPARATION FOR THE GOSPEL=, which was steadily advancing.