We’ve always had the hint of the Levitical and priestly ancestry of Miriam, yet the full implications that she was a granddaughter of the high priest of Israel is only being realized. The implications on a realization of our understanding, that the God of Israel found it important that His Son that He sent to this earth would be of both Davidian bloodlines, blended with the authentic bloodlines of the descendants of Zadok the High Priest has yet to be discussed nor comprehended.

We have already hinted that the grandfather of Miriam was Yehoshua III, the high priest of Israel about twenty years before Miriam’s son Yehoshua HaNotzri (Jesus the Messiah) was born. Yehoshua III, the High Priest of Israel was one of the most mysterious of all the high priests in the era of King Herod the Great. He came to power as the High Priest of the Temple in Jerusalem in 36 BCE, one year after the Great Sanhedrin made the momentous vote to include the Davidian lineages of the Abuites and the Rhesaites whose descendants as the Princes of David, came from Jewish Persian Governor Zerubabbel’s first two wives, the Babylonian Princess bride, Amytis and the Persian Princess bride, Rhodogune.

Dome of the Rock, Old City, Temple Mount Who was the high priest that presided over the Sanhedrin when that vote was taken? We are not sure, but Yehoshua III’s grandfather, Boethus, is a good candidate. What we do know was that the Governor of Judea was Yosef (Joseph) V, the Herodian son of Yosef IV. The land of Judea was in turmoil. While Herod was away in Rome shoring up his Roman support in the year of 38 BCE, his brother, Yosef (Joseph) IV, who had usurped the position of the Governor of Judea and ruled from the years of 41 to 38 BCE the official post that only a Prince of David was suppose to hold, brought up from Masada the Roman troops and attacked the Jewish grain depots and Jewish garrison at Jericho. The results were disastrous. Herod’s brother was killed. To put an ignoble stamp upon his body, King Antigonas came from Jerusalem and cut the head of Joseph, Herod’s brother. Herod in his blind furious vowed to destroy the entire House of the Hasmoneans.

The Temple Mount at Nighttime

By the year of 37 BCE, the fate of the Hasmoneans was becoming even more perilous. The fortune of King Herod was in ascent. At the end of that year, the third year of his reign, King Antigonas was captured as he battled against the Roman General Sossius. This event came on the heels of the battle between King Antigonas with King Herod’s brother, Joseph, killed him and cut off his head at Jericho. In turn, General Sossius sent King Antigonas to Mark Antony, who promptly executed him early in the year of 36 BCE. Five months later, with King Herod now returning to Jerusalem from Rome, with the seal of approval for his kingship from Caesar Augustus, King Herod completed the assault of Jerusalem. He captured and imprisoned Queen Alexandra II, in her former Hasmonean palace.

These were tumultuous times also within the temple in Jerusalem. The reigning high priest was the Hasmonean Priest-King Antigonas and now Herod appealed to Rome who quickly sent the Roman General Sossius towards Jerusalem. There in battle he captured the last Hasmonean king of Judah, King Antigonas. The temple of God in Jerusalem was leaderless for the Maccabee king was serving also as the high priest in the Temple of the Lord. The Hasmonean kingdom was ruled for the last six months by Queen Alexandra II, now the wife of King Antigonas.

The Tower of David We are reminded that within the city of Jerusalem, there lived the young Heli, the future father of Miriam, the mother of Jesus (Yehoshua) who was observing these epic moments for he was the heir apparent to the throne of the Maccabee kingdom. Instead, he watched the bloody transition of the aging Hasmonean kingdom that would soon become the Herodian kingdom of Judea. Can you image what was going on in the mind of this young Prince of David who was also the Hasmonean Prince Alexander III Helios, as he watched, observed, and no doubt supported his mother, Queen Alexandra II, now the last Maccabee ruler of the fading Hasmonean kingdom of Judea.

The Citadel, the Tower of David and the Walls of Jerusalem

Upon the death of Joseph IV, the brother of King Herod the Great, Herod appointed Joseph’s son, Joseph V, as the new Governor of Judea. This was not a legitimate appointment, but this was King Herod, who was determined to destroy or put all forms of Jewish governance under this personal control. So Joseph V served as the Patriarch of Jerusalem between the years of 38-32 BCE. During this time, in 37 BCE, King Herod announced and convened the Great Sanhedrin. With no Nasi, no presiding Priest-King of the Maccabees, in the year of 37 BCE, while King Herod was preparing for the final assault upon the walls of Jerusalem, did the young Governor of Judea, Yosef (Joseph) V, became the presiding Nasi of the Great Sanhedrin? We cannot be so hasty in what appears to be an obvious answer, the Idumean nephew of King Herod, Yosef (Joseph) V.

The Return of the Priests of the House of Zadok

It is amazing that Yeshua III the High Priest’s grandfather, Boethus, was invited to return to the land of Judea by King Herod the Great about the year of 37 BCE. At this time, according to Davidic Dynasty genealogist, David Hughes, Boethus became the 56^th high priest in the Temple in Jerusalem. Was this a strategic political decision on the part of King Herod, in his bid to take over the governance of the entire land of Judea? It appears so.

When we reconsider, with Boethus the Zadokian now returning as the official high priest of Judea, with the divine blessings of its approval by the God of King David, King Herod was also invoking the blessings of God upon his reign and denying the rule of a priest-king to any further royal aspirants, whether Davidian or Hasmonean. So we ask, “Who was the high priest that presided over the Sanhedrin when that vote was taken? The Davidian genealogist, David Hughes considers seriously that it was the Governor of Judea, Yosef (Joseph) V. We are not fully convinced, for Yehoshua III’s grandfather, Boethus is a good candidate, for the decisions that came from that council meeting, that were designed to enhance the reputation of King Herod, would look like it was coming from an independent body, and not influenced by the overpowering will of King Herod the Great.

Let us look briefly at the genealogy as diagramed out by the Davidian genealogist, David Hughes on the return of the House of Zadok.

The House of Zadok Lineage

Onias II (42^nd HP, d. 226 BCE)

(10^th in descent from Seraiah, the last HP of Solomon’s Temple)

____________________________|____________________

| | |

Simon II (43^rd High Priest, d.198 BCE) Manasseh (41^st High Priest) Judah In descent from Eniachin, the

| | son of Seriah, the last HP of

| | Solomon’s Temple

___|____________ ______|_______ |

| | | |

Onias III Jason the Apostate Menelaus Lysimachus Alcimus

(44^th High Priest) (45^th High Priest) (Onias IV – 46A HP) (46B HP-killed by Jewish populous 171 BCE)

Onias V |

(Deprived as the 47th HP by Lysias, Viceroy of Syrian King Antiochus V Eupator, the 1^st ruler to depose a High

Priest – Onias V emigrated to Egypt-159 BCE and started a new Jewish Temple at Leontopolis, Egypt |

| _|

Ananias (Exiled in Egypt) |

| |

Hananeel the Egyptian (Ananelus) – (reputed as One of the HPs who sacrificed the Red Heifer)

| |

Boethus (56^th HP-37 BCE) Theophilus

______________________|___________________________________ |

| | | | | | | |

Ananelus Phabet (Fabi) Simon IV Joazar Eleazar Sethus Kantheras Matthias I

(57^th HP) | (60^th HP-23-19 BC) (Twice 62^nd HP) (III, 63^rd HP) (Sie) (Simon VI, 72^nd HP) (61^st HP)

___________ |________ | |

| | | | |

Yehoshua III Eliam Ishmael Joseph II |

(59^th HP-36-23 BCE) | (66^th HP) (“Cabi”-78^th HP) _____|_______

| Joseph Yehoshua IV Ananus, the High Priest

3 Daughters (HP 1 day) (64^th HP – 4 BCE) Patriarch of the Famed House of Ananus

Jane High Priest Who Instigated Yehoshua’s Death

Elizabeth With his son-in-law, the High Priest, Caiphas

(H)anna

(65^th HP-6-15CE)

As the newly reigning high priest, was it Boethus the Zadokian, who presided as the “Nasi” or the President of the Great Sanhedrin at this momentous moment of time in 37 BCE? We know so little of this priest called Boethus, except as the Patriarch of the House of Boethus, the descendants of his seven sons virtually controlled the office of the high priest in Jerusalem for almost a hundred and eighty years. Here was the testimony of Flavius Josephus when he wrote:

Flavius Josephus – “There was one Simon, a citizen of Jerusalem, the son of one Boethus, a citizen of Alexandria, and a priest of great note there

In the genealogies of the “High Priest of Israel” by Davidian genealogist, David Hughes, Boethus was a Zadokian descendant, the 31^st in descent from Zadok, the high priest of King David. This is of special note, because it was the Lord of hosts that specifically noted to King David and his son, King Solomon that it would be the High Priest Zadok and his descendants who would carry the hereditarial responsibility to be the chosen in descent of the House of Aaron to preside in the honored position as the High Priests of Israel. They were to represent the national consciousness of the Israelites and the Jewish people in the sacred services at Pesach (Passover and the Festival of First Fruits), Pentecost, Yom Kippur (Day of Judgment), and Succot (Festival of Tabernacles).

Lower Egypt Temple and Cult Centers

Yet, the family of Boethus the priest was living in exile at the international city of Alexandria Egypt, where the largest population of Jewish people lived in the Diaspora outside of Jerusalem. Not far away, at Leontopolis, was a Jewish temple built almost one hundred fifty years prior, by Boethus’ great grandfather, Onias IV/V, who was deprived of the office of the High Priest by either Judas Maccabees the, or Lysius, the Viceroy for the Syrian King Seleucus Epipator in 159 BCE.

Boethus returned to the land of Israel, possibly while his father, Hananeel the Egyptian was presiding as the hereditarial Zadokian high priest on the throne at the Temple of Onias at Leontopolis in Egypt. There they kept the true rituals of the temple that were kept according to the prescriptions of God, given to Moses on the Mount called Sinai.

Hananeel the Egyptian was also a priest of note, as in the traditions of the Red Heifer, he was one of the esteemed priests who was privileged to sacrifice the eighth Red Heifer in order to collect the “Ashes of the Red Heifer” in order to purify the holy sanctuary and the “purification water of ashes” used in all the purification rites within the temple.

Mishnah Tractate Parah 3:5 – “The first heifer that was burned was under the supervision of Moses on that 2^nd day of Nissan in the second year from the Exodus. The second heifer was burned under the supervision of Ezra; two were burned by Shimon Ha Tzaddik; two were burned by Yochanan, the High Priest, the seventh by Eliehoenai, the son of He-Kof, the eighth by Hanamel, the Egyptian, the ninth by Ishmael, son of Piabi and the tenth will be burned in the time of the Moschiach.”

This fact, with the knowledge that the high priest office at the temple of Jerusalem had been usurped by the Jewish Maccabee redeemers who arose from the victory over Syrian Emperor, Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the “abomination of desolation” fame. They drove out the Hellenizing rulers of Syria and restored the purity and sanctity of the temple on the 25^th day of Kislev, the first day of the Great Feast of Hanukkah. So, in Jerusalem, the last Hasmonean priest-king had been captured and executed, whose ancestors had usurped the office of the high priest at the Temple in Jerusalem. Suddenly there arrives the “true” Zadokian high priests fled and built the Temple of Onias in the “Land of Onias” at Leontopolis, Egypt and were now returning home.

According to the history of the “Davidic Dynasty” and the “Lineages of the High Priest”, David Hughes has outlined with great clarity this sacred lineage of high priests. What becomes apparent, a great entourage that included the entire family of the noted priest, Boethus, moved back to Jerusalem just prior to the year of 37 BCE.

Kotel View This dynastic priestly family included the Patriarch of the House of Boethus and his seven sons; Ananelus, Phabet (Fabi), Simon IV, Joazar, Eleazar, Sethus and Kantheras. No doubt this great entourage also included many grandchildren of which Jesus III, was a part of this large Jewish Levitical priestly family. If the dates are correct, Yehoshua III, Joshua III, Yeshua III, or Jesus III, would later become the high priest. For thirteen years, Yehoshua III (Jesus III) stood at the altar of incense and presented the holy offering on the Great Day of Judgment at Yom Kippur.

The Kotel, the Wailing Wall at Old Jerusalem

Since Boethus returned to Jerusalem at the invitation of King Herod the Great, the House of Zadok was in fact restored to their rightful role as the family of the high priests of Israel. Yet, in the manner of the always suspicious and paranoid King Herod, he denied two of the inalienable rights of the high priests; the right of heredity, for he and later the Roman procurators would choose who would sit on the throne of the high priest, and the right of holding office for one’s lifetime.

Yehoshua III (Jesus III) became the ancestral father of at least two subsequent high priests at the Temple of Herod. The first was Ishmael, son of Phiabi who ruled about 15-16 CE, between the ascension of Ananias the High Priest (6-15 CE HP) of the Trial of Jesus’ (Yehoshua’s) fame, and his Ananias’ son, Eleazar son of Ananias (16-17 CE HP). The second high priest was probably the same person at a much later age, Ishmael, son of Phiabi between the years of 59-61 CE. In fact, it was the Phiabi family that was one of four families that supplied almost all of the last twenty eight of the high priests in the Second Temple period.

We even detect a hint of Yehoshua III’s family origins in Egypt where a mid-second to first century stone epigraph was found in the cemetery at Leontopolis in Egypt. According to the translated words of the entombed deceased, Arsinoe, it stated, “For I was bereaved of my mother when I was a little girl; and when the flower of my youth dressed me as a bride, my father joined me in marriage with Phabeis and Fate led me to the end of life in the travail-pain of my first born child.” (William Horbury, and David Noy, Jewish Inscriptions of Graeco-Roman Egypt, Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1992, pg 69-70, quoted in James C Vanderkam, From Joshua to Caiphas, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, Minn, 2004, pg. 406)

The years when Yehoshua III was the high priest in Jerusalem were turbulent years in Roman and Jewish history. Just after the end of his tenure, King Herod the Great began the massive reconstruction of the ancient Jewish temple of Zerubabbel in the year about 20 BCE. No doubt, many years prior were spent in the drawings, the preliminary sightings, and the preparations for the enlargement of the temple mount platform that forms part of the “Temple Mount” in Jerusalem today. Part of this occurred during the later years of the reign of Yehoshua III, the high priest.

The End of the Maccabee Era and the Rise of King Herod the Great

Walls of Jerusalem Most Christians are content that Jesus, his parents and great grandparents were living a life of simple peasants in Galilee or Judea, ignored by the political forces in Judea, and the rest of the religious world today. This fact can only be accepted by taking the entire region of Judea and Galilee out of the historical context of the turbulent arena of that era. Our point of reference will be 37 BCE when the high priest family of Boethus was beckoned to return to the land of Israel and bring this official high priest family of Zadok back to the throne as head of the Temple of Zerubabbel.

The Walls of Jerusalem

Many Christians are only aware of the invasion of the Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes in the year of 167 BCE and the invasion of Vespasian, the Roman general soon to be Roman Emperor in the years of 65-69 CE. Yet the history of Judea, in the fifty years before the birth of Yehoshua HaNotzri (Jesus the Nazarene), could only be understood within the backdrop of the Triumvirate struggles between Pompey and Julius Caesar, and between Mark Antony and Octavian and against the assassinators of Julius Caesar, Brutus and Cassius.

The backdrop of these Roman imperial struggles also can only be understood between the ascending Roman Empire and the much older Parthian Empire. The land of Judea became the boiling point of many of these geo-political struggles for global power and control of the Euro-Asian world, as the Jewish leaders swung their alliance from one global party to another.

The Last King of the Hasmoneans and the Battle for Jerusalem

It was in the year of 37 BCE that the Jewish people saw as the culmination of a three year bloody war between the Maccabee king, Mattathias Antigonas, who had allied himself with the nearby Parthian nation, and the Idumean Governor of Galilee Herod, who had been installed earlier as the king of Judea by the Roman Senate in the year of 40 BCE.

The forces of the Idumean King Herod, who was driven out of Jerusalem by a Parthian invasions was now returning with the backing of two legions of Roman forces, under the command of the Roman governor in Syria, Sossius, who was appointed by Mark Antony. Together, they were now besieging the city of Jerusalem against Hasmonean King Antigonas, who was on the throne of Judea with the military assistance of the Parthians.

Herod’s brother, Joseph, who was in charge of the impregnable Masada royal palace and fortress, in the absence of his brother Herod, had made a disastrous raid against the Hasmonean grain storage depot at Jericho. It was there Joseph lost a total of six regimens that included his Jewish troops, the Roman forces accompanying him, and his own life. When King Antigonas went to inspect the battlefield, he violated the dead body of Herod’s brother and decapitated his head. This event became the final straw that drove King Herod to vow to topple the last Maccabee ruler from the throne of Judea.

Herod the Great, the Conqueror of the Battle for Jerusalem (36 BCE) – Painting by Jean Fouquet, late 15^th century

The temple of the Lord in Judea was now under assault. The two outer walls of the city had been breeched, and last of the Jewish defenders were holed up in the confines of the temple or scattered within the upper city. Even up to this moment, the returning King Herod had allowed the entry into the city, the necessary sacrificial animals so that the temple services would continue uninterrupted. The porticos of the temple were now aflame. From the flames emerged the last king of the Hasmonean age. His end was equally ignoble, begging for his life, his throne, even for any of his Maccabee nephews. As the antiquities scholar, M. Stern wrote concerning the fate of Antigonas at the hands of the Roman governor Sossius, “but Antigonus he bound to a cross and flogged – a punishment no other king had suffered at the hands of the Romans – and afterwards he slew him.” (Life of Antony 36.4 [Stern, Greek and Latin authors, 1.568-69], quoted by VanderKam, pg. 391). The final fate for Antigonas was at the hands of the Roman triumvir, Mark Antony.

Flavius Josephus – “Now when Antony had received Antigonus as his captive, he determined to keep him against his triumph, but when he heard that the nation grew seditious, and that, out of their hatred to Herod. They continued to bear good-will to Antigonus, he resolved to behead him at Antioch, for otherwise the Jews could no way be brought to quiet. And Strabo of Cappadocia attests to what I have said, when he thus speaks; - ‘Antony ordered Antigonus the Jew to be brought to Antioch, and there to be beheaded; and this Antony seems to me to have been the very first man who beheaded a king, as supposing he could no other way bend the minds of the Jew so as to receive Herod, whom he had made king in his stead.

It has been suggested, and David Hughes affirms, that King Antigonus was captured and sent to Mark Antony six months prior to the final assault of the city of Jerusalem. If this was true, Queen Alexandra II was the last Hasmonean ruler in Judea, for she alone commandeered the respect of the Jewish resistant movement that sought to defend the capital of the Hasmonean nation of Judea.

King Herod the Great

They were now in defense of the return of King Herod, who had already been crowned king of Judea by Octavian. He was now coming to establish his Herodian reign in the city of Jerusalem.

Did the death of King Antigonus occur prior to the marriage, or did Herod marry Mariamme I with the anticipation that he would win the Battle of Jerusalem (37 BCE) and the final fate of the Hasmonean rulers would be in his hands. The widowed Queen Alexandra II had remarried for the 3^rd time (1^st to Mattathias, the father of Heli (Alexander III Helios) as the young Elizabeth of Jerusalem, who became the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus, 2^nd to King Alexander II, (Queen Alexandra II’s father, King Hyrcanus II’s brother, King Aristobulus II’s, son), and 3^rd, King Mattathias Antigonas, her cousin.

During the interlude, before his marriage to the Hasmonean princess, Mariamme I, Herod the Idumaean Roman Governor set sail and traveled to Rome. It was there that Octavian, the future Augustus Caesar gave him the title of “king” of Judea and bade him to return and conquer his kingdom with the blessings and support of Rome. As soon as Mark Antony was able to transfer part of his Roman troops that were engaged in battle with the Parthians, the now King Herod returned to conquer the city of Jerusalem.

Prutah (small coin) of King Mattathias Antigonus (Mattatayah) from 4-37 BCE. – Obv. Double Cornucopia with Ribbons and Barley Ear – Rev. Hebrew, Mattatayah.

The city had been under siege for about five months. Queen Alexandra II, with her 3^rd and last husband, the Hasmonean King Antigonas executed, became the last remaining Hasmonean ruler, albeit Queen, to defend the kingdom of Judea. Within five months, with her forces defeated, Queen Alexander II was deposed, imprisoned, and kept under house arrest in the former Maccabee palace, now usurped by King Herod and used as the Palace of the Herodians.

Yet, of more interest for those researching the ancestors of Jesus the Nazarene (Yehoshua HaNotzri) is, what was the impact of the fall of Jerusalem, the death of the last ruler of the Hasmoneans upon this young Davidic prince, Heli, the grandfather of Yehoshua (Jesus) the future messiah of the Jews? Heli, the Prince of Israel, according to the new genealogy was Prince Alexander III “Helios”, the son of Queen Alexandra II, when she was just a princess bride. He no doubt was witness to the carnage of the siege and assault on Jerusalem and witness to the agony of his mother’s grief over the declining fortune of the Jewish Hasmonean rulers.

Was Prince Heli also a frequent quest at the Hasmonean Palace in Jerusalem during his youth? What was Prince Heli’s relationship with his half sister, Princess Mariamme, who was now the second wife of Herod? What did he think about Herod as the official king of Judea and the conqueror of the last ruler of the Maccabee dynasty?

May we also ask, what were the thoughts of the Davidian Prince Heli, who knew that he was a lawful heir to the throne of David, only to watch as the usurping family of priests, the Maccabees, his mother’s ancestors, who had unlawfully taken not only the throne of Judea, but the throne of the high priest? What were his emotions, as he observed his great grandfathers, as Hasmonean rulers, who had also usurped the throne of the high priest of Israel that was to be the hereditarial ruler by the descendants of the House of Zadok, the high priest of King David? What was his passionate urge as he heard the national news that his half-brother, Prince, now High Priest Aristobulus III had died by drowning in the swimming pool at the royal Hasmonean estate at Jericho?

Had not Aristobulus III been recently appointed only a few months prior to the office of the High Priest at the youthful age of seventeen? Had not Aristobulus III become the raving object of devotion of the Jewish pilgrims, as this tall and comely Hasmonean prince presided in his first official and glorious ceremonial duty as the High Priest at the Feast of Tabernacles?

What were Prince Heli’s thoughts as King Herod had to leave on official recall to the Roman triumvir, Mark Antony, to answer to the charges in killing the young high priest, by Queen Cleopatra VII, the veteran enemy of Herod, and the best of friends with his mother, Queen Alexandra II? The Bible and history are strangely silent on each of these questions.

Large Bronze Coins by King Herod featuring Metal Helmut with Crested Star

This year of calamity (37 BCE) of the siege and destruction to Jerusalem and the holy temple also occurred at the most vulnerable year of the Jewish religious and economic cycle; the seventh year of the Sabbatical week of years called the Sh’mittah year. Without the income from the harvests for two years, the economy was in distress. It was Josephus who pined concerning this end of an era:

Flavius Josephus – “The rule of the Asamonaean line came to an end after a hundred and twenty-six years. Theirs was a splendid and renowned house because of both their lineage and their priestly office, as well as the things which its founders achieved on behalf of the nation. But they lost their royal power through internal strife and it passed to Herod, the son of Antipater, who came from a house of common people and from a private family that was subject to the kings. Such, then, is the account we have received of the end of the Asamonaean line. (Josephus, Antiquities, XIV, xvi, 4)

In fact, just prior to the siege of Jerusalem, also in 37 BCE, and after all the military arrangements had been made with bulwarks and towers erected, King Herod went north to Samaria and there married the Hasmonean princess, Mariamme I, that he had been betrothed for over five years. Princess Mariamme was the “daughter of Alexandra (II), the son of Aristobulus (II)” (Antiquities XIV, xv, 14) and the niece of King Antigonas. While the Hasmonean Princess Mariamme I, was officially being united into marriage to King Herod, he also had her step-father, King Antigonus executed by Mark Antony, and her mother, Queen Alexandra II besieged as hostage behind the walls of Jerusalem. Let those emotions be considered by this new bride to be.

The Tower of David The marriage of King Herod to Princess Mariammne I, was an epic moment in the history of the Jewish people. Here, King Herod sealed the fate of the Hasmonean rule in Judea, for the bloodlines of the Maccabees could now flow through the veins of King Herod’s descendants. Herod, the governor of Galilee, and his father Antipater, as the Governor of Judea had shown themselves to be more astute in moving and protecting the fate of Judea as the imperial forces swung their troops through their region. But, Herod was not of Jewish blood, even though Josephus quotes Nicolaus of Damascus as affirming that the Idumean family of Antipater “belonged to the leading Jews who came to Judea from Babylon.” (Antiquities, XIV,i,3)

The Tower of David called the “Citadel” first built in the First Temple Period (960-586 BCE), rebuilt in the Hasmonean Period (1^st century BCE) and the base of the tower built by Herod the Great (37-34 BCE)

A confluence of several events surrounded the fall of Jerusalem to the military forces of Herod. As he entered the city to reclaim it as his own, Herod send a message to Egypt petitioning the family of the noted priest in the region of Alexandria to return to the land of Israel. It was VanderKam who suggests the motive for such an audacious request:

James C. VanderKam – “Herod was trying to accomplish something major: restoring the high priesthood to its rightful owners, the sons of Zadok who took precedence over the Hasmoneans in antiquity and rank. A priest with such an ancestral right Herod summoned from Babylon or Egypt: he had no roots in Israel or relatives in Jerusalem and thus would not endanger Herod.” (VanderKam, ibid, pg, 395)

This entry of the family of Boethus, according to Davidian genealogist David Hughes, ties the genealogical link to the scholarly quest of trying to determine, who was this Ananelus of Babylon, as quoted in the following Josephus’ passage:

Flavius Josephus – “He also did other things, in order to secure his government, which yet occasioned a sedition in his own family; for being cautious how he made any illustrious person the high priest of God, he sent for an obscure priest out of Babylon, whose name was Ananelus, and bestowed the high priesthood upon him.” (Josephus, Antiquities, XV, ii, 4)

The Marriages and Heirs of King Herod the Great

Old City, The Tower of David The Herodian rule of King Herod began almost one hundred years earlier, when the Hasmonean king, Hyrcanus I (134-104 BCE), the son of Simon Maccabaeus, ascended to the throne with the Jewish name of “Yohannes” (John) and the Greek regnal name of “Hyrcanus I”. His life was spared when his father, Simon, and his two brothers were assassinated by the suspected assassinator, their brother-in-law, Ptolemy, at a banquet. John Hyrcanus took the title of King of Judea and also the High Priest of Israel in the bid for total control to wield the politics of his country in line with the rest of the nation states that all shared a Hellenistic culture. During this time, he conquered Idumea, which Rome called Edom, and there forced the Idumeans (Edomites) to convert to Judaism.

The Tower of David at the Citadel at Nighttime

During the reign of Alexander Jannaeus, one of these converted Idumeans, Antipas was appointed as the governor of Edom. His son soon became the chief advisor to the Hasmonean king, Hyrcanus II and used his influence to curry favor with the Romans who by the year of 63 BCE had conquered Judea. Julius Caesar then appointed Antipater the Idumean to be the Procurator of Judea in 47 BCE. At the same time, Herod was made the governor of Galilee and his brother, Phasael, was made the governor of Jerusalem.

Four years later Antipater, the father of King Herod was murdered in the year of 43 BCE, yet, his sons were not only able to hold unto their governorships but in 41 BCE were elevated to the rank of Tetrarch by Mark Anthony. One year later (40 BCE), the Roman Senate conferred the office of the “King of Judea” to Herod, a title that was later given to him by Octavian the future Caesar Augustus. Herod now returned back to Jerusalem, this time to conquer the city of Jerusalem that had been taken away by the Hasmonean King Mattathias Antigonus, his wife, Queen Alexandra II with the support of the Parthian nation.

Now as the ruler of Judea, King Herod began to establish his dynastic empire with the addition of many wives, to sire many sons and insure his legacy and his dynastic endurance. King Herod had as many wives as King David did a thousand years prior. His first marriage was to what many scholars, not privy to the genealogical evidence, claimed was a young bride called Sara. In Hebrew, the word for Sara means “princess” so we see it was just a title, and not a real name. In the list of the wives of King Herod, the 1^st wife is “Doris of Jerusalem”, the Princess called “Sara”.

To many authors, the parentage of Doris of Jerusalem was unknown. Today the evidence is being established that “Sara”, was truly as princess of the House of David, called Doris. She was the daughter of the Prince of David, Jesus Bar-Panthera and his wife, Bianca. This “Jesus” has been many times confused with Jesus the Nazarene, and though he was also a Prince of David, he also became a Davidian rival claimant to the Hasmonean throne, thirteen years before the marriage of Doris with King Herod. In his hostile bid to take down the Maccabees, Jesus Bar-Panthera was executed in the year of 63 BCE.

This fact alone suggests that Doris of Jerusalem was at least thirteen years old at the time of her marriage and a child bride she more than likely was, and just past her bat Mitzvoth. Since Doris was probably a dynastic heiress to her father’s estate, if she had married a husband from the House of Judah, and of the House of David, she could have transferred not only the estate of her father but also the royal title as an heir to the House of David to her new husband, but instead, this Davidian line went extinct. The marriage occurred in 40 BCE.

The Palace of King Herod – The Holy Land Model of Jerusalem

Herod’s second marriage to the Hasmonean princess, Mariamme I, occurred in 37 BCE, just prior to his invasion and conquering the city of Jerusalem. Note that it was in the year of 37 BCE that the Great Sanhedrin officially approved the lineages of the descendants from the 1^st royal Babylonian wife, Amytis and the 2^nd royal Persian wife, Rhodah of the Jewish Persian Governor of Judea, Zerubabbel. The reason was because the official Jewish lineages from the 3^rd Jewish wife, Esthra, were on the verge of extinction.

The Patriarch of Israel at this time was Yosef V (Joseph V), the son of Joseph IV/II, the brother to King Herod who usurped the office of the Patriarch of Israel during the years of 41-38 BCE. Herod’s brother was later killed in the raid upon the granary of the Hasmoneans in Jericho and his head was later decapitated by King Antigonus in the year of 37 BCE. It was this same year that Boethus was recalled from Alexandria, Egypt after the official Zadokian priesthood had been in exile there for over one hundred twenty years.

As we begin to analyze the genealogical lineage of Sara, the “Princess” of David, called Doris of Jerusalem, let us trace her lineage back to the famous Queen Tamar in the days of King Jeconiah of Judah, the 1^st Exilarch of the Babylonian captivity.

A fifth cousin of Doris was another Davidian aspirant, Simon V of Perea, who was a prisoner in the Palace of King Herod. As a rival to the throne, he actually rebelled at King Herod’s death in 4 BCE, but was quickly captured and executed by Herod’s general, Gatus. Let us look a Queen Doris’ lineage starting with Queen Tamar.

The Lineage of Sara, called Doris of Jerusalem, the Wife of King Herod

Queen Tamar, Queen & Dynastic Heiress ¹⁹à

King Herod's tomb entrance Shealtiel (Salathiel) ²⁰, the son of Prince Neriah, was adopted in dynastic transfer by his mother, the dynastic princess of Crown Prince Johanan to King Jeconiah, whose only son, Prince Zedekiah, had died a premature death. Without this dynastic transfer, the last pure Davidic lineage from King Solomon, would have become extinct. Shaltiel succeeded King Jeconiah as the 2^nd Exilarch over the Babylonian Jews. He was the father of: à

King Herod’s Tomb at the Elaborate Herodium Complex about Nine Miles South of Jerusalem

Zerubabbel ²¹ the Governor of Judea sent to build the Temple of the Lord. He was the 3^rd Exilarch over the Babylonian Jews and became the father of; à

Meshullam ²² was the oldest son of the Jewish Princess wife, Esthra of Zerubabbel’s. Meshullam became the father of; à

Hashubah ²³ who became the father of; à

Hattush ²⁴the oldest of five brothers, and the royal heir of the House of Meshullam as approved by Ezra the Scribe. He became the father of; à

Anani (Hananiah) ²⁵, was the Prince and Patriarch (425 BCE), who became the father of twin sons: Tobit and Onaid. à

Tobit ^26A(400 BCE) and twin brother, Onaid ^26B, became the ancestor of the Two Senior Royal Lineages; the Tobaite Line and the Onaidite Line. à

Helias (Elijah) ²⁷became the father of; à

Simeon I the Just (Tzaddik) ²⁸became the father of; à

Antigone Soko ²⁹became the father of; à

Zuraida (Zeredah)³⁰became the father of; à

Joazar (Joezer) ³¹became the father of; à

Jose I (Yossei or Joseph) ^32A was co-ruler with his brother, and became the father of; à

Shetah ^33A became the father of; à

Simon II ^34A became the father of; à

Pantherah ³⁵, married Stada and became the father of; à

Jesus Bar-Panthera ³⁶, married Bianca, and was executed in 63 BCE. They became the parents of; à

Sarah ³⁷(aka Doris of Jerusalem) , who married King Herod the Great an Idumean à at this time the Royal Davidian lineage became Extinct because Doris of Jerusalem married outside of her family house and tribe; the House of David out of the Tribe of Judah.

Yet, this marriage was critical to King Herod in order to establish that he had married into the revered House of David. It appeared that Herod had a strategy in the women that he married, and it was not concerned with the laws of Torah. As genealogist David Hughes explained:

David Hughes – “Herod had a difference of opinion about the laws of succession. His first wife was a Davidide and his 2nd wife was a Maccabee, so he appears that he attempted to graft his pedigree into the family-tree of Israel's ancient kings & queens; which undoubtedly was this reason that Herod had his court scribe invent for him a descendant (list) from the Davidide Dynasty so as to qualify his offspring for the succession. This was a joke among the Jews at that time.”

The Wives and Children of King Herod the Great

1. Married Doris, a Davidic heiress in 40 BCE, was the daughter of Jesus Bar-Panthera in the marriage with Bianca. This Jesus bar Panthera has been confused by many scholars to be Jesus of Nazareth, except he was executed in 63 BCE.

The Marriages of King Herod

The lineage of Jesus Bar-Panthera became Extinct for Doris (aka Sarah) married outside of the House of David. à They became the parents of; à

Antipater III, was executed by King Herod in 4 BCE.

2. Married (37 BCE) the Hasmonean Princess Mariamne I, who was executed in 29/28 CE. She was the daughter of the King Alexander II, who was earlier executed in 49 BCE. Herod and Mariamme became the parents of; à

Alexandros was executed by his father, King Herod in 7 BCE.

Aristobulus IV was executed by his father, King Herod in 7 BCE.

Salampsio, a daughter;

Cypros, a daughter;

3. Married a Niece in 37 BCE, whose name is not known; à

No known heirs.

4. Married a Cousin about the years of 34/33 BCE, whose name is not known;

No known heirs.

5. Married Mariamne II, the daughter of the High Priest Simon Boethus and they became the parents of; à

Herod II Boethus, who was executed by his father, King Herod in 6 BCE.

Herod Philip I

6. Married Malthace and they became the parents of; à

Herod Archelaus became an Ethnarch.

Herod Antipas became a Tetrarch.

Olympias a daughter.

7. Married Cleopatra of Jerusalem in 28 BCE, the posthumous daughter of Cleopatra VII of Egypt with Julius Caesar of Rome. She was given to wife, a Jacob ben Mattan, a “Nasi” and a Prince of Israel that King Herod appointed as the Patriarch of Jerusalem between the years of 32-23 BCE. He was later executed in 23 BCE by King Herod who trumped up the charge of sedition. Jacob and Cleopatra heir was Joseph ben Jacob, the foster father of Jesus the Nazarene. Herod and Cleopatra of Jerusalem became the parents of; à

Herod Philip II became a Tetrarch;

Herod

8. Married Pallas, Herod and Pallas became the parents of; à

Phasael, a son.

9. Married Phaidra, Herod and Phaidra became the parents of; à

Roxane, a daughter

10. Married Elpis. Herod and Elpis became the parents of; à

Salome bat Herod, a daughter.

King Herod would continue to round out the dynastic influence of his royal wives. The 1^st wife was to marry into an official lineage of the House of David. The 2^nd wife was to marry a Maccabee princess and heiress to the throne of the Hasmonean Dynasty. The 3^rd and 4^th wives were married within the Herodian family, to help him to keep his family power support firm and intact.

The Hasmonean Palace – Holy Land Model of Jerusalem

Then King Herod had an infatuated love affair with the beautiful daughter of Simon I, the son of Boethus, that Zadok high priest that he asked to return to the land of Israel from the Land of Onias at Leontopolis in Egypt. It was there that a rival Jewish temple had been erected one hundred twenty years prior and presided over by descendants of their founder Onias V, who had been denied the post of the high priest in Jerusalem.

To elevate Mariamme’s status in society, Herod nominated her father, Simon I, to be the high priest of Israel at Jerusalem. This election effectively ended the appointment of High Priest Jesus III (Yehoshua III) in 23 BCE who had served as Jerusalem’s high priest for twelve years. It was High Priest Yehoshua III’s daughter, Hannah, who became the grandmother of the future Jewish messiah, Yehoshua HaMaschiach (Jesus the Messiah).

We shall learn later that King Herod’s 7^th wife that he married was to a young arrival into the international social circle of Jewish aristocracy, the daughter of the last Pharaoh of Egypt, Cleopatra VII of Egypt, when Herod took the 1^st wife of Jacob ben Mattan, the new Herodian appointed Patriarch of Jerusalem, who was the father of Prince Joseph the biblical foster father of Yehoshua ben Yosef (Jesus the son of Joseph).

The Family of Jesus’ (Yehoshua’s) Relationship with the Hasmoneans and the Herodians

Old City, The Tower of David As BibleSearchers have long affirmed, the role of the family of Jesus was more dynamically involved in the geo-political world surrounding Judea than most Christian historians have been willing to give credit. We appeal to the genealogical research as reported in the “Davidic Genealogies” by David Hughes and note his credentials in his book, “The British Chronicles” which came to print in 2007, has now made him world renown. As we look at the life of Miriam, the orphaned child of the Davidic prince, Heli (Prince Alexander III Helios), according to the genealogy of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of Luke, do we comprehend the involvement of this dynamic family in Jewish religious and Judean political history?

The Citadel and the Tower of David buttressed by the Walls of Old Jerusalem

If the genealogies are documented to the best of historical second temple scholarship, than the Maccabee or Hasmonean influence into the life the first century Jewish messiah, Jesus the son of Mary (Yehoshua ben Miriam), was significant. We can only begin to comprehend the force of the allegiance of the people of Judea and Galilee to the aura that surrounded even one who was recognized as a Prince of David. With the historical layering of the religious and political history over the genealogy of Jesus the Nazarene, we discover some amazing paths that crossed the worlds of the Hasmoneans, the Herodians, the Caesars of Rome, and the woman Pharaoh who coveted Judea.

The Hasmonean Kings of Judea

Mattathias, the Maccabee Priest

Died in the Battle with Antiochus IV Epiphanes during the “Abomination of Desolation”

Simon III (Thassi)

3^rd Ethnarch , 49^th High Priest 142-135 BCE

Yohanan (John) I Hyrcanus

1^st Hasmonean to Assume Title of Jewish King

King, 135-106 BCE

Aristobulus I ---1^st = 1^st --- Alexandra I --=- 2^nd Alexander I Jannaeus

1^st Priest-King 105/4 BCE_| Queen of Maccabees | King 104/3-76 BCE

| ______________________|_________

| | |

Salome Hyrcanus II, Aristobulus II, King, 67-63 BCE

Married 1^st Mattias “Nasi” King, the 2^nd time from 63-49 King, 67-63 BCE, Deposed, and Murdered in 49 BCE

Executed 30 BC by Herod by Brutus and Cassius while Prisoner in Rome

Married 3^rd Matthan “Nasi” | ________|________

Married 2^nd– 3^rd wife of Mattathiah -1^ST wife = 1^ST - Alexandra II- = - Alexander II Antigonas __

Biblical Matthat ben Levi, “Nasi”| Queen of Judah | Executed 49 BCE Last Maccabee King |

2^nd wife – Rachel of Arimathea | Sole ruler in 49 BCE | by Pompey Beheaded 36 BC by Antony|

________________ | __________________| |

| | | 1^st = 1^st Doris of Jerusalem __ |

Aristobulus III Alexander III “Helios” Mariamme I --- 1^st = 2^nd Herod the Great | |

Last High Priest, 1 Year Biblical Heli, father of Executed 29 BCE | King of Judea 37-4 BCE | |

Drowned 36 BCE Hus. of Hannah, dau, High Priest Yehoshua III (Jesus III) ___|_______________ | |

| | | | |

Princess Miriam, mother of Alexander IV Aristobulus IV | | |

| Executed 7/6 BCE Executed 7/6 BCE | |

Yehoshua HaMaschiach(Jesus the Messiah) _______________| |

| |

Antipater III ----- = ----- Antigone

We discover that the life of Heli ben Matthat in the Gospel of Luke runs parallel to the life of the Hasmonean Prince Alexander III “Helios”. Heli was the son of the Biblical Mattat ben Levi whose life runs parallel with the Mattathiah, who became the 1^st husband of Esther of Jerusalem. This “Esther”, the archetypical name of that ancient Jewess queen of the Persian Shah Ahasuerus, when her Hebrew name is transposed into the Greek regnal name, is now identified as the future and feisty Maccabee Queen, Alexandra II. Esther of Jerusalem, now called by her regnal name, Queen Alexandra II, when she was married for the 2^nd time to King Alexander II, became the Queen Mother of Mariamme I, the first love of King Herod’s life. It was King Herod, who rushed to their wedding in Samaria, after being betrothed to Mariamme I for five years. He then returned to breech the walls of Jerusalem, desecrate the temple of the Lord with the blood of the Jewish defenders, end the life of the last Maccabee king, Antigonas, in order to firmly establish the Herodians as the rulers of Judea, albeit with the backing of the Roman globalists, Mark Antony and Octavian.

The Citadel and the Tower of David –

Photo by Robert Mock

It was this same Alexandra II, as the child Hasmonean princess, who became the mother of the Biblical Heli, when she was 1^st married as a child bride to the “Nasi” or Prince of Israel, Mattathiah, or best known in the biblical gospels as Mattat ben Levi. He was a respected and revered Sion of the House of David while she was a daughter of the famed Maccabee rulers whose national fame was to wrestle Jewish independents from the clutches of the “abomination of desolation” by the Syrian Hellenist tyrant, Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

Adding the layering of human dynamics and relationships, we now have the Biblical Heli, resurrecting on the pages of history as the Hasmonean Prince Alexander III, who was called by his nickname, “Helios” (The Sun). He grew up watching his younger half sister, Princess Mariamme I and half-brother, Aristobulus III, grow up in the Hasmonean palace in Jerusalem and their palatial estate in Jericho. We also wonder, what was the relationship of the Davidian and Hasmonean Prince Heli with his Hasmonean grandfather, King Aristobulus? Whereas Prince Heli was the father of Princess Miriam, who was the mother of Prince Jesus (Yehoshua), the first century Davidian Jewish messiah, we again begin to layer the inter-generational ties from one generation to another.

We begin to wonder, did this young Jewish lad, who was conceived from His Father in heaven, know about his great-great grandfather King Aristobulus II, the Maccabee ruler of Judea between the years of 67-63 BCE, who was deposed and later murdered by Brutus and Cassius in 49 BCE while Aristobulus was a prisoner in Rome? Was it of any coincidence that these same two assassins, Brutus and Cassius, also assassinated Jesus’ foster great grandfather, Julius Caesar five years later in the year of 44 BCE? If we truly believe the Roman Christian Orthodox history that Jesus was but a peasant boy from Galilee, do we wonder if He knew about his grandfather King Alexander II, who was executed in 49 BCE by the Roman triumvir Pompey? Since Yehoshua’s mother, Miriam, was born about 20 BCE, she personally knew Jesus’ grandfather, Prince Alexander III, called “Helios” before he was executed by King Herod about 13 BCE. Yet, did Miriam know her maternal grandfather, the High Priest Yehoshua III? This is a fact, we do not know.

The Walls of Jerusalem – Photo by Robert Mock

The High Priest Yehoshua III was demoted, according to Josephus, not for personal reasons, but to accommodate the “love passion” of King Herod, who appointed Yeshua III’s father’s brother, Simon IV Boethus to the office of the high priest in the year of 23-22 BCE. The pretense was that by Herod’s elevation of Simon IV Boethus to the high priest, the Jewish Jerusalem aristocratic society would allow Herod to marry Simon’s daughter, Miriamne II.

According to Biblical Chronology researcher, Robert Killian of Monaco, he writes:

Robert Killian of Monaco – Joshua (Yeshua III, Jesus III) ben Fabius (Phabi) certainly was involved in the "opposition" to Herod the Great, as were so many of the "true Jewish blood-line families" that supported the promotion of the "real" Aaronic bloodline for High priesthood… 23 BC was the year of severe famine in the land. Herod needed a "scapegoat" for all of his troubles. 24 BC was the 29^th Jubilee from Exodus and 203^rd Sabbath (Sabbatical Sh’mittah Year) which "overlaps", by three months the Jubilee. That was exactly 1420 years (back) in 2448 AM=1444 BC. Herod was ruthless in his defense of his kingdom. He killed Jacob ben Matthan, the presiding "Patriarch" that he had "appointed" in 32 BC, and he killed Joshua ben Fabius (Phabi) for trumped-up "sedition" charges in that same year (of 23 BC).

This does not predispose that Yehoshua III the High Priest died at that time. We could even entertain the idea that when Miriam, now orphaned, by the execution of her father, Prince Alexander III “Helios” on the charges of sedition by King Herod the Great, that she was dedicated to the Temple of Herod as a temple virgin. Is it possible that her great grandfather, Yehoshua III was still serving in the capacity as the ex-officio high priest, became her spiritual mentor in the ways of Torah?

What did this young Sion of David, Yehoshua (Jesus) know about his great-great grandfather, King Hyracanus II, who was 1^st the priest-king of Israeli society, who was deposed and later restored a 2^nd time in the year of 63-49 BCE this time only as the high priest. Yet, Hyracanus II effectively called himself a “Priest-King of Judea”? What also did young Yehoshua (Jesus) know about his great grandmother, Queen Alexandra II, who as the Regent Queen mother, ruled for six months when her 3^rd husband, King Antigonus, was beheaded by Mark Antony in 37 BCE when King Herod shortly afterwards captured the city of Jerusalem? Queen Alexandra II became the last Hasmonean ruler over the Jewish people.

The Fate of Prince Aristobulus III, the last of the Hasmonean High Priests

Jericho view north from Cypros The ascension, deposing, and reconfirmation of Ananelus ben Boethus as the high priest came in the midst of incendiary family relationships that were brewing and erupting in the Palace of Herod the Great. For one year, King Herod was under pressure from his Hasmonean wife, Miriamme I, and her mother, Alexandra II, to nominate Miriamme’s brother, and Alexandra II’s son, Aristobulus III as the high priest.

The “City of Palms” where in the Foreground was Built the Hasmonean Palace, that was later rebuilt over by King Herod. – By BiblePlaces

Sensing the eventual extinction of the Hasmoneans, they both were incensed with the arrival of the family of the high priest, Boethus of the House of Zadok back to Jerusalem. To them, the appointment of Ananelus as the high priest was an “unbearable insult.” (Antiquities, XV, ii, 5). They also were threatened by the vote of the Sanhedrin in 37 BCE to reestablish the lineages of King David through the Persian governor’s Babylonian and Persian wives, the Abiudite and Rhesaite Lineages. These Princes of David would dilute the Jewish peoples interest in the Maccabee royal claims, as the royal roots of the descendants of King David to the throne of Judea was more ancient and divinely appointed.

Alexandra II would not be thwarted and sent a secret letter to her friend, Queen Cleopatra VII in Egypt, King Herod’s arch rival and nemesis. Cleopatra, in turn, sent a letter to Mark Antony seeking his assistance in the appointment of Alexandra’s son to the office of the high priest. When Antony’s lover, Dellius, was in Jerusalem, he saw the young prince, Aristobulus, and immediately admired both he and his sister, Miriamme I, now the wife of King Herod. He told Alexandra, to send paintings of her two children to the legendary Roman which she did. Herod, in his true style, with every servant reporting to him about everyone else, found out, but kept his peace till a future day. King Herod was in a bind. Herod had become king of Judea because of the favor to him by Mark Antony. He knew that Cleopatra would every moment she could, seek to influence Antony to remove the royal Jewish throne from the man, Herod, whom she hated.

In the meantime, the family accusations were firing between the Hasmoneans, Miramme I and her mother, Queen Alexandra II and the Herodians, Salome, Herod’s sister and his mother, Cyprus. Queen Alexandra II was put under palace arrest which she detested. First came the accusations that Alexandra II had sent a letter to her best friend, Queen Cleopatra VII in Egypt, the veteran enemy of King Herod. The tension was so great that Cleopatra plotted with Alexandra II so that she and her son, Aristobulus III, could escape out of Jerusalem in two coffins. Cleopatra would have a waiting ship to assist them in their escape to Egypt. A palace servant informant told Herod, and Herod at that time determined that Alexandra’s son, Prince Aristobulus III would have to be eliminated.

The Seam in the Wall of the Temple Mount depicts the Herodian Extension of the Wall to the left with the Hasmonean Stones on the Right.

On the seventeenth birthday of the Hasmonean prince, Aristobulus III, he was “honored” with the appointment as the high priest of Israel. This appointment was to be his curse. In a rare and precedent setting move, King Herod took away the office of the high priest from Ananelus and gave it to Aristobulus. Speaking of this time, Josephus even gives us further clues as to the origin of the High Priest Ananelus that Aristobulus replaced:

Flavius Josephus – “So King Herod immediately took the high priesthood away from Ananelus, who as we said before, was not of this country, but one of those Jews that had been carried captive beyond Euphrates…and dwelt in Babylon. He was one of the stock of the high priests, and had been of old a particular friend of Herod; and when he was first made king, , he conferred that dignity upon him, and now put him out of it again , in order to quiet the troubles in his family. (Josephus, Antiquities, XV, iii, 1)

Josephus goes on to admit to the illegal behavior of King Herod and the unprecedented action that he was taking.

Flavius Josephus – “What he did was plainly unlawful, for at no other time (of old) was any one that had once been in that dignity deprived of it. It was Antiochus Epiphanes who first broke that law, and deprived Jesus (Jason the Apostate), and made his brother Onias (IV) high priest in his stead. Aristobulus was the second that did so, and took that dignity from his brother (Hyrcanus) and this Herod was the third who took that high office away (from Ananelus), and gave it to this young man, Aristobulus, in his stead.” (Josephus, Antiquities, XV, iii, 1)

Aristobulus’ first public appearance was during Succot, the fall Feast of Tabernacles, one of the favorite festivals for the Jewish pilgrims that three times a year came to worship the God of Israel. The ceremonies were most impressive with the golden robe of the high priest, the moving and awe inspiriting ceremony of the water libations with the youthful high priest in his glorious official robes. The crowd went ecstatic with their new young high priest. Josephus captures this mood of the Jewish people.

Flavius Josephus – “And now upon the approach of the feast of tabernacles, which is a festival very much observed among us, he let those days pass over and both he and the rest of the people were therein very merry; yet did the envy which at this time arose in him, cause him to make hast to do what he was about, and provoke him to it; for when this youth, Aristobulus, who was now in the seventeenth year of his age, went up to the altar, according to the law, to offer the sacrifices, and this with the ornament of his high priesthood, and when he performed the sacred offices, he seemed to be exceedingly comely, and taller than men usually were at that age, and to exhibit in his countenance a great deal of that high family he was sprung from, - a warm zeal and affection towards him appeared among the people, and the memory of the action of his grandfather Aristobulus was fresh in their minds; and their affections got so far the mastery of them, that they could not forbear to shew their inclinations to him. They at once rejoiced and were confounded, and mingled with the good wishes their joyful acclamations which they made to him, till the goodwill of the multitude was made too evident; and they more rashly proclaimed the happiness they received from his family than was fit under a monarchy to have done. Upon all this, Herod resolved to complete what he had intended against this young man. (Josephus, Antiquities, XV, iii, 3)

The Hasmonean Palace of Queen Alexandra II in Jericho, later built over by King Herod the Great

The plot and the timing to enact it would soon come. Queen Alexandra II invited King
Herod to her personal palace at Jericho. The fall weather at Jericho was still unseasonable hot and the guests of Alexandra retired to the bathing pools that were surrounded by the fish ponds of that glorious estate.

There, on the northern bank of the Wadi Qelt were elegant rooms with colonnaded façades that included bathrooms with bathtubs, and mikva’ots used in religious ritual purification and cleansing. These were surrounded by beautiful frescoes designed like imitation marble with patterns of various geometric designs that were classic Hasmonean. The floors of the bathhouse were paved in red, black, and white geometric patterns. Included also were twin swimming pools where the lounging guests looked up to the palace that was built on a fifteen foot artificial mound that included towers, a 7 meter mote, and a protective glacis around it.

King Herod was in a lively and festive mood and the guests watched as the servants of Herod swam and played with ease in the quietness of the early evening. As the evening progressed, King Herod encouraged the young Aristobulus to get into the pool and enjoy the evening with his guests. Unbeknown to the young high priest, the servants had already been instructed. As the darkness progressed, the mood of the evening became livelier. The servants began to sport around pushing and shoving and holding the head of the young prince, as they “dipped him as he was swimming, and plunged him under water, in the dark of the evening, as if it had been done in sport only; nor did they desist till he was entirely suffocated.” (Josephus, Antiquities, XV, iii, 3)

Mount of Olives - Bell Tower - Convent of the Ascension (backgournd) The response and reaction was swift and immediate. Queen Alexandra II was extremely affected but remained aloof determined to exact her revenge in her own time. She immediately wrote of her grief to her friend, Queen Cleopatra VII in Egypt, who in turn began an intense campaign to discredit King Herod in the eyes of his Roman benefactor, Mark Antony. Soon, he was summoned to give explanation of the charges against him. Fearing that he would be eliminated, he put his uncle, Joseph, as the Herodian procurator of the Jewish realm. His secret instructions to him were, if Herod’s life were taken by Mark Antony, Joseph was instructed to “kill” his wife, Mariamme I.

The Church of the Ascension on top of the Mount of Olives, Jewish Cemetery and Arab Village at Nighttime

Herod was extremely jealous and protective, for he did not want Mark Antony, who was infatuated with the beauty of his wife, Mariamme. The pictures that her mother, Alexandra II, had sent to him only entice Mark Antony that he wanted Mariamme for his own wife. When the rumors came that Herod had been tortured and killed, it was Queen Alexandra II who plotted in her heart that the government would be given back to her family through the infatuation of Antony to her daughter, Miriamme I. Herod, instead, with his good nature, the ability to humor those around him, and with the offers of generous bribes was able to extract promises from Mark Antony to keep his kingdom. Cleopatra, instead of being given Judea for her royal estates, was given Coele-Syria, the land of her ancestors. In the aftermath, of the death of Prince Aristobulus, the now deceased high priest, Mariamme informed Herod that she knew of the instructions to kill her, and instead of raging against her, he was further acted as smitten and in turn executed his uncle, Joseph, for telling Mariamme of his plans to kill her.

The Return of High Priest Ananelus of the House of Boethus

It was now the winter of 35 BCE. The young Aristobulus, the High Priest was now dead. The city of Jerusalem was in intense mourning, and the office of the high priest of Israel was once again under the rule of Ananelus, the son of Boethus, or Hananeel the Egyptian, the father of Boethus throughout the year of 34 BCE. Strange as it may be, all the focus of the reign of the new high priest and the histories as recorded by Josephus concerning this high priest are non-existent. With the political element removed, the threat of the high priests seeking to topple the throne of Herod no longer existed. King Herod was correct, as least for now, returning house of Zadok who were intent on serving the God of Israel, the office of the high priest was no longer a political plum to possess.

The date of the transition of the office of the high priest from Ananelus in his reappointment in the winter of 35 BCE to the onset of the reign of Jesus III, the son of Phiabi is not known. According to the Davidic genealogist, David Hughes, Yeshua III, Yehoshua III or Jesus III, the high priest began his reign that same year.

The Kidron Valley below the Temple Mount Walls – Photo by Robert Mock

The office of the high priest was given to a son of Ananelus’ brother, Phiabi (Phabet), whose name was Yehoshua III. If he truly came to the throne of the high priest in 35 BCE, then Jesus III became one the longest reigning high priests in the last two hundred years of the history of the second temple period of the Jewish people. Only, Caiphas the High Priest served a longer term for 18 years. The only reference to this high priest, Jesus III, the great grandfather of Jesus the Nazarene, by Josephus, had nothing to do with his ascension; his tenure of office, but the day, the high priest office was taken from him in 23 BCE was surrounded by a domestic love affair in the life of King Herod the Great.

Who were Ananelus the Babylonian and Hananeel the Egyptian?

Unknown and without distinction in the Jerusalem aristocracy elite, Ananelus, or possibly Hananeel the Egyptian being one in the same, is reputed to have sacrificed the Red Heifer in order to get access to more “Ashes of the Red Heifer” that was critically needed to purify the desecrated temple and the blood contamination of dead warriors upon the “temple mount”. Was Hananeel the Egyptian the high priest in the Land of Onias? Did he preside as the high priest at the temple of the Jews at Leontopolis in Egypt? If so, did he stay at Leontopolis in Egypt as a high priest, while his son, Boethus returned to Jerusalem in the year of 37 BCE? May we suggest, in the aftermath of the desecration of the temple of Zerubabbel in Jerusalem at 167 BCE, that had been restored earlier in the days of Matthias the Maccabee priest (165 BCE), the aging temple was again in need of an extensive reconstruction. It had suffered from extensive damage by fire, plus the blood contamination of the Jewish “patriots” who were defending the sanctity of the temple against the Roman and Herodian forces of their former King Herod, in 38 BCE, who had been deposed earlier by the Hasmonean king Antigonus and his Parthian supporters?

Is it possible that Hananeel the Egyptian did not return with his son and family from Egypt to Jerusalem in 37 BCE, but was recalled later that same year, or the next year by King Herod? Whereas Hughes claims that Ananelus was the son of Boethus and served as the high priest for the 1^st time in 37-36 BCE and the 2^nd time in 36 CE between the ill-fated reign of the last Hasmonean prince as high priest, Aristobulus III in the year of 36 BCE? Was the Parah tractate reference to Hananeel the Egyptian sacrificing the Red Heifer on the Mount of Olives across the valley to the east, an indication that this “Analeus the Babylonian” was actually Hananeel the Egyptian?

Wealthy Residence in Upper City Jerusalem with Mosaic Floors and Mikvah Baths downstairs in Wohl Archaeological Museum in Jerusalem –

Photo by Robert Mock

Joseph Klausner in his five volume research on “The History of the Second Temple” suggests that he was a Babylonian Jew who lived in Egypt. (Joseph Klausner, “The History of the Second Temple, 5 vols., 6^th ed. [Jerusalem:Achiasaf, 1963), 4.12 (Hebrew] as cited by VanerKam, in pg. 397.) Some have suggested that Ananelus was living in Egypt, maybe recognized as being a Babylonian Jew in Egypt, or left Egypt and went to Babylon for a short period of time. It is even suggested that the recommendation of Hananeel the Egyptian for the office of the high priest was suggested to Herod by non other than the returning Maccabee King and High Priest Hyrcanus II who had returned from Babylon and was now living as a royal guest in the palace of Herod in Jerusalem.

The Mysterious One Day Reign of the High Priest Joseph ben Eliam

Boethus (56^th HP-37 BCE) Theophilus

______________________|___________________________________ |

| | | | | | | |

Ananelus Phabet (Fabi) Simon IV Joazar Eleazar Sethus Kantheras Matthias I

(57^th HP) | (60^th HP-23-19 BC) (Twice 62^nd HP) (III, 63^rd HP) (Sie) (Simon VI, 72^nd HP) (61^st HP)

___________ |________ | |

| | | | |

Yehoshua III Eliam Ishmael Joseph II |

(59^th HP-36-23 BCE) | (66^th HP) (“Cabi”-78^th HP) _____|_______

| Joseph Yehoshua IV Ananus, the High Priest

3 Daughters (HP 1 day) (64^th HP – 4 BCE) Patriarch of the Famed House of Ananus

It was in April, 2007, the Davidian genealogical researcher, Karen Kuehn wrote:

Karen Kuehn – “There are (besides the Josephus entry) several entries about Joseph ben Elim in the Talmud and Tosefta, including one in which he and Herod the Great have a tense conversation. Joseph served as sagan (vice-regent to the high priest) to Matthias the high priest in 6/5 BCE; on the Day of Atonement in 5 BCE (September 11th). Joseph took the place of the defiled priest Matthias. Three days later was a full eclipse of the moon.”

Let us first look at Josephus of this event that occurred within months of the death of King Herod the Great. Herod, now about the age of 70 years, was near the end of his life, in what was called “distemper”. He was beginning to divide his estate and to bequeath vast sums of money to those who were closest or most meaningful to him. Also during this time, the populous in Jerusalem was becoming more restless as “he grew fierce, and indulged the bitterest anger”. During this time, the stability of his throne was perilous and many were rising against him in anticipation of his soon demise. One of these incidents was surrounding the actions of two Jews, known for their eloquence of the Torah and their lectures that were widely attended upon the interpretations of the law. Their names were Judas the son of Saripheus and Matthias the son of Margalothus. When the rumor swept Jerusalem that King Herod had died, they quickly went into a predetermined action and pulled down and cut up the large golden eagle that King Herod had erected over the great gate that entered into the temple. This truly was against Torah law that forbad any Torah observant Jew from making any images, pictures, or representation of any living creatures.

Paneled Stucco Wall in Living Room of Wealthy Jewish Home in the Upper City Jerusalem during the Herodian Period – Wohl Archaeological Museum – Photo by Robert Mock

Flavius Josephus – “But the people, on account of Herod’s barbarous temper, and for fear he would be so cruel as to inflict punishment on them, said what was done, was done without approbation…But as for Herod, he dealt more mildly with others (of the assembly;) but he deprived Matthias of the high priesthood, as in part on occasion of this action, and made Joazar, who was Matthias’s wife’s brother, high priest in his stead. Now it happened, that during the time of the high priesthood of this Matthias, there was another person made high priest for a single day, that very day which the Jews observe as a fast.

The occasion was this:--this Matthias the high priest, on the night before that day when the fast was to be celebrated, seemed, in a dream, to have conversation with his wife; and became he could not officiate himself on that account, Joseph, the son of Ellemus, his kinsman, assisted him in that sacred office. But Herod deprived this Matthias of the high priesthood, and burnt the other Matthias (son of Margaluthus) who had raised the sedition, with his companions, alive. And that very night there was an eclipse of the moon.

This event of the disqualification of a priest by a dream, the officiating of his duties by another close relative were facts with their own mystery, was also critical to the timing of the death of King Herod for the eclipse of the moon, the only mention in the writings of Josephus give us clues to the date of Herod and Antipater’s death. While Researcher Karen Kuehn sees this eclipse as during the Day of Atonement on September 11, 5 BCE, William Whiston the translator of “The Complete Works of Josephus” claim that this eclipse of the moon occurred on the 13^th of March in the Julian year of 4710 in 4 BCE.

Davidian Researcher Karen Kuehn then quoted from the following paragraphs found in the Babylonian Yoma 12b, and the Jerusalem Yoma 38d:

Babylon and Jerusalem Yoma - "Why is another priest (kohen ‘aher) set aside in his (the regular High Priest’s) stead? (Answer:) Should he (the regular High Priest) be disqualified, he will serve instead. Rabbi Hananiah, the segan of the priests (kohanim) says, ‘For this reason a segan was appointed [i.e. Joseph was a sagan]; he was to serve instead of a (High) Priest who had been disqualified.’ (And afterwards) the (regular) High Priest returns to his position, and all the obligations of the high priesthood are incumbent upon the one who served in his stead, so, Rabbi Meir maintains.

Rabbi Yose says, ‘Even though they said that all of the obligations of the (high) priesthood (kehunah) are incumbent upon him, he is not fit to be a High Priest or an ordinary priest (kohen hedyot). ‘ Rabbi Yose says: ‘It happened that (ma’aseh hayah) Joseph ben Elim of Sepphoris served instead of the High Priest for one hour, and (afterwards) he was not fit to be a High Priest or an ordinary priest (kohen hedyot). Upon vacating (the position) he (Joseph) said to the king (King Herod the Great),

Ritual Mikvah Bath with Stairs Descending into the 720 liter Purification Bath in the

Basement of the Home –

Wohl Archaeological Museum –

Photo by Robert Mock

‘To whom did the bullock and goat which were sacrificed today belong, to me or to the (regular) High Priest?’ The king understood his question and replied, ‘What is this ben Elim? Is it not enough for you to have served instead of the High Priest for one hour before the One Who spoke and created the world? Rather you seek to obtain the high priesthood for yourself!’ At that moment ben Elim understood that he had been deposed from the priesthood (kehunah)" (B. Yoma 12b; J. Yoma 38d; Tosefta 1:4.)

"Said R. Jose, once it happened with Joseph the son of Ailem of Sepphoris that, a disqualification in the High Priest having occurred, he was appointed in his stead; and when the incident was submitted to the Sages they ruled that the first returns to his ministry while the second is rendered unfit either as a High Priest or as an ordinary priest. [He is unfit as] a High Priest owing to enmity [and he is unfit as] an ordinary priest, because, in the sphere of holiness, you may ascend, not descend." Ibid.

So we have to ask, who then was this Joseph ben Eliam? Joseph was a very common name in Jewish life, yet the name Eliam is quite unusual. It has been spelled, Eli, Eliam, Elim, and Ailem. We also note that Joseph the son of Ailem was from the city of Sepphoris in the regions to the west of the Sea of Galilee. About the year of 6 CE, we will later see that the city of Sepphoris was destroyed by the Roman military when they besieged the city under the control of the Jewish Resistant Movement. These Jewish freedom fighters were under control of the guerrilla leader, Judas of Galilee. He is famous for being named the official founder of the Jewish Zealots. The final path of the Jewish Zealots

Wealthy Jewish Home in Upper City Jerusalem no doubt similar to the Home of Patriarch Jacob ben Matthan, where Prince Joseph grew up with his mother, Cleopatra of Jerusalem –

Photo by Robert Mock

Judas of Galilee was the son of the famed Jewish Resistant militant, Hezekiah the Zealot, who was the brother to Judas of Gamala called “The Zealot” and the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Jacob ben Matthan. Then we notice that upon the execution and death of Jacob ben Matthan, the his children are immediately are immediately removed from the progressively hostile territory of Herodian country to the protective fortress of Gamala for safe custody in the Golan Mountain heights east of Lake Kinneret called Galilee. Yet, within years the sphere of influence of the House of Matthan by the two remaining brothers is transferred to the region of Sepphoris as they try to establish it as the capital for the eventual Jewish Theocratic State of Galilee? When we realize that Sepphoris is only three miles away from Nazareth, a city, town, hamlet or village not known from any Roman or Jewish source except the New Testament in the days of the 1^st century CE except possibly as a underground Essene commune, then we turn our attention to the most famous son of Nazareth, Jesus of Nazareth, whose fathers’ main identity is associated with that region. Is it not a coincidence that the circle continues to tighten around the family of Joseph the Carpenter, the foster father of Jesus the Jewish Messiah?

The family of Joseph was pretty much destroyed by the year of 6 CE. The oldest son, Jacob, the Patriarch of Jerusalem was executed under charges of sedition by King Herod in the year of 23 BCE. The next oldest brother, Hezekiah the Zealot was executed by the Romans under charges of sedition and treason for taking an entire Herodian Jewish military brigade in rebellion to the rule of Herod the Great in 4 BCE. The youngest son, Judas of Gamala was executed by the Romans when he assaulted and took control of a Roman military fortress in Sepphoris, confiscated the weapons and ammunition to be used in revolt against the Herodian State of Judea and his benefactor and protector, the Empire of Rome. He was captured, the town of Sepphoris was destroyed, the Jewish people sold in captivity and 2000 Jewish freedom fighters were killed on 2000 crosses that dotted the Galilean landscape.

The life of Joseph after his betrothal to the “temple virgin” the orphaned Miriam, whose father was also executed by Herod on charges of sedition against the Herodian state, was virtually as a member of the Jewish underground. He fled with his wife, Miriam, and now newborn son, Yehoshua (Jesus) to Egypt. He lived an obscure life in the backwater regions in the unknown village of Nazareth in the first to third decade of the new Roman era. Prince Joseph then virtually disappears from all historical record. That is not surprising for most of his family disappeared also, all with the appearance of being in rebellion to the Herodians and the Romans. And we are surprised that today that all Christendom thinks that it was unusual for Jesus to have been crucified on a Roman cross? His family it was expected it. The difference, the historical roots of the crucifixion and death of the Jewish messiah, Yehoshua was that he was betrayed, captured, illegally questioned, tried, and sentenced to death by his own Zadokian cousins, who had fallen under the spell of Hellenism and the lust of power, greed and control. Yehoshua was hated by the Pharisees of Shammai, whose founder, Shammai the Great, was the last pure blooded Jewish Prince of David. What is not known was that Prince of David Shammai was deposed as the Patriarch of Jerusalem by Herod the Great in favor of the “impure-blooded Jewish Princes of David of the “bastard” lineages of foreign ancestral mothers, Prince Jacob ben Matthan.

Wohl Archaeological Museum of Six Wealthy Jewish Homes in the Upper Herodian City of Jerusalem –

Photo by Robert Mock

How can the identity of Joseph ben Matthan become associated with the name of Joseph ben Eliam? When Joseph became the “husband” in a royal Davidian betrothal ceremony in the hopes of enhancing and preserving the House of David with a newborn son, he married a dynastic princess of the royal Rhesaite lineage of Davidian princes. They both were of the House of David, and both of the House of Judah.

Mary (Miriam) was the only child in a family with no male heirs of the family House of Heli in the Gospel of Luke in the Brit Hadassah (ReNewed Testament). In the Jewish laws of inheritance, Mary was able to transfer her royal Davidian heritage to Prince Joseph, including her Levitical heritage through her royal heritage. By Torah law, Prince Joseph ben Jacob, became the son of Heli and could be known as Prince Joseph ben Heli (Eli, Eliam, Elim, or even Ailem)

BibleSearchers suggests that the evidence is compelling that the Abuidite Prince of David, Joseph ben Jacob, as the heir to the House of Heli, and known as Joseph ben (H)Elim) who would one day become the foster father of Yehoshua HaMaschiach (Jesus the Messiah) was the Sagan for the High Priest Mattathias I ben Theophilus, the 61^st High Priest of Israel, sometime in the final year before the death of Herod the Great accepted by traditional historians to be in the year of 4 BCE. In that year, the High Priest became impure because of unclean thinking, and was unfit to preside in the temple during a festival that required a fast day. Researcher Karen Kuehn felt that it was Yom Kipper, the Day of Atonement. Translator William Whiston for the “The Complete Works of Josephus” felt that it was in the month of Passover. Whenever the time, Joseph ben Eliam (Joseph ben Heli) became the High Priest of Israel for one day.

If this is true, the Joseph the father of Jesus was in first name communication with King Herod the Great, noted as a Davidian Prince, and he and his family was a target for the long arm of execution of King Herod. There appeared to be no love lost for Joseph by King Herod. Did the Magi of the East arrive into Jerusalem about this time? Within days, with the warnings of divine omens, the Prince of David Joseph, along with the twelve to thirteen year old Princess bride and newborn son, Yehoshua were fleeing to Egypt just ahead of the Herodian commando forces that launched a midnight raid upon the hamlet of Bethlehem and killed every son under the age of three.

How Simon IV Boethus became High Priest because a Love Affair by King Herod

As we have documented the end of the reign of Yehoshua III’s (Jesus III’s) as high priest came in the year of 23 BCE. This dynastic change in the office of the high priest was only a shift in the religious responsibilities of Jesus III, to Simon IV, his uncle, for Jesus III’s father, Phaibi ben Boethis was the brother to the incoming high priest, Simon IV ben Boethus. King Herod, true to the nature of his national rule, had now total control the office of the high priest, that sacred office that was to have been hereditarial and for life.

Wedding Dreams by the Walls of Jerusalem –

Photo by Robert Mock

Yet it is with some amusement that the dramatic change in the high priest’s throne was over a domestic affair in the life of King Herod, the infatuated love of this impetuous king for the dazzling beauty of the Zadokian daughter, Mariamme II, of Simon IV, the son of Boethus. Not only was King Herod lusting (“I must have it now”), but “he (Herod) was smitten for her beauty, for the young damsel, who was “esteemed the most beautiful woman of that time.” Let us read Josephus’ account of this fascinating love affair.

Flavius Josephus – “When, therefore, his (Herod the Great’s) affairs were thus improved, and were again in a flourishing condition, he built himself a palace in the upper city, raising the rooms to a very great height, and adorning them with the most costly furniture of gold, and marble seats, and beds; and these were so large that they could contain very many companies of men. These apartments were also of distinct magnitudes, and had particular names given them; for one apartment was called Caesar’s, another Agrippa’s.

He also fell in love again, and married another wife, not suffering his reason to hinder him from living as he pleased. The occasion of this his marriage was as follows: - There was one Simon, a citizen of Jerusalem, the son of one Boethus, a citizen of Alexandria, and a priest of great note there: this man had a daughter ,who was esteemed the most beautiful woman of that time; and when the people of Jerusalem began to speak much in her commendation, it happened that Herod was much affected with what was said of her: and when he saw the damsel, he was smitten with her beauty, yet did he entirely reject the thoughts of using his authority to abuse her; as believing, what was the truth, that by so doing he should be stigmatized for violence and tyranny: so he thought it best to take the damsel to wife.

And while Simon was of a dignity too inferior to be allied to him, but still too considerable to be despised, he governed his inclinations after the most prudent manner, by augmenting the dignity of the family, and making them more honourable; so he immediately deprived Jesus the son of Phabet of the high priesthood, and conferred that dignity on Simon, and so joined an affinity with him (by marrying his daughter.)

Walking the Walls of Jerusalem –

Photo by Robert Mock

Simon IV Boethus became the high priest, his daughter, Mariamme II, became the 5^th wife of King Herod, and Simon IV in turn was given a new wife, another dazzling Jerusalem socialite, the wife of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Jacob ben Mattan, the “Nasi” and Prince of Israel, in the year of 23 BCE. From the historical perspective, Herod the Great was shuffling wives around his political appointees that he was providing high offices in order to suit his own passions and desires. The wife of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Jacob ben Mattan, Cleopatra of Jerusalem was given to Simon IV Boethus to be his bride, and Rachel of Arimathea was given to Jacob the Patriarch of Jerusalem in Cleopatra’s stead. There were motivations in these transitions of many wives by King Herod the Great.

Yeshua III (Jesus III), the high priest of the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, had serviced with quiet distinction for twelve years. Simon IV Boethus, his uncle, was the father of a dazzling Jewish woman, who was of the same generation, and a cousin of the High Priest Jesus III. Yet, Simon the High Priest was now to be the new husband of the dynastic heiress of Egypt and Rome, Cleopatra of Jerusalem. Did Cleopatra of Jerusalem’s son, Joseph the son of Jacob (Yosef ben Yacov) now have half brothers and sisters that were from the Zakokian priestly family of Simon IV Boethus? That documentation has not yet been revealed.

The appointment of Jesus III to the high priest began a couple of years after the “Aristobulus III High Priest Affair” in 35 BCE. This was the date when the seventeen year old son of Queen Alexandra II was appointed to the office of the high priest and served to the joy and “adoration” of the Jewish populous. Within days, he was suddenly dead by drowning in his family estates pool, while playing with the servants of King Herod. The rumors were swirling around Jerusalem that King Herod was implicated. Yehoshua III ben Phaibi ben Boethus was appointed as the new high priest and twelve years later (23 BCE) King Herod would appoint a new Davidian Patriarch of Jerusalem, the office that was vacated by Prince Shammai, who would later start the School of Shammai.

The esteemed office of the Patriarch of Jerusalem became an extension of the earlier Exilarch of Babylon, the Davidian ruler in exile that began with King Jeconiah, the 1^st Exilarch, his son, Shealtial, the 2^nd, and finally the Persian Governor Zerubabbel, the 3^rd. This office gradually reassumed new identities as Governor or Patriarch of Jerusalem. Beginning with 53th Governor or Patriarch of Jerusalem since King Jeconiah, we find the following:

The Governors and Patriarchs of Jerusalem from 50 BCE to 10 CE

53. Joachim, the Governor from 50 to 25 BCE à to his son;

54. Joseph III became the Patriarch of Jerusalem from 45-41BCE, of the Tobaidite Dynastic family, who was deposed in 41 BCE, put in prison and executed in 35 BCE. à

55. Joseph IV/II was the brother to King Herod, who usurped the office of the Patriarch of Jerusalem between the years of 41 to 38 BCE. He was killed in the ill-fated “Jericho Raid” of the Hasmonean granary when King Antigonus beheaded him on the battlefield. à

56. Joseph V, the nephew of Herod the Great, succeeded his father as the Patriarch of Jerusalem between the years of 38 to 32 BCE when he died childless.

The Patriarchate remained vacant for a few years due to Davidian party politics in the waning years of the royal Davidian descendants of the all Jewish descendants of Zerubabbel’s 3^rd Jewish wife, Amytis, that became the official Tobaidite and Onaidite Line of Davidian descendants. In the wake of the new 37 BCE ruling of the Sanhedrin that officially recognized the Davidian descendants of Zerubabbel’s Babylonian and Persian wives, the last of the Tobaidites, Prince Shammai, ruled for one year, 32 BCE.

57. Shammai, the Prince of Israel and the last of the Tobaidite Princes, ruled in 32BCE. He was followed by:

58. Yaakov (Jacob) ben Mattat was the first Abuidite Prince of Israel, as a descendant of Zerubabbel’s 1^st Babylonian wife who became the “Nasi” and Patriarch of Jerusalem by the appointment of King Herod and served between the years of 32 to 23 BCE. He represented King Herod in transporting Jewish troops sent to Egypt for service to Octavian in his war against Mark Antony and Queen Cleopatra VII in Egypt in the year of 31 BCE.

The brothers of Jacob ben Mattat were the Jewish right wing Zealots, Hizkiah "The Zealot" and Judas "of Gamala" that were executed in 23 BCE by the Roman and Herodian forces. Patriarch Yaakov ben Mattat was executed in that same year by King Herod, in trumped up charges of sedition, no doubt for being the brother of the Hizkiah and Judas. Patriarch Jacob ben Mattat’s oldest son was the Prince of David Joseph (Yosef), who was betrothed to Miriam, the orphaned grand-daughter of the High Priest Jesus III (35-23 BCE) about the year of 7 BCE. Within months of the betrothal, this young Davidian maiden was conceived of the Ruach HaKodesh on the 25^th day of Kislev, the eve of the Festival of Hanukkah. Her son, Yehoshua HaMaschiach (Jesus the Messiah) was the product of that conception and became the “only begotten” Son of His Father in heaven. Yaakov’s office of the Patriarchate, upon his execution, was replaced by Judah ben-Bathyra.

59. Judah ben-Bathyra became the Patriarch of Jerusalem between the years of 23-20 BCE. He was also a Davidic descendant but represented a non-royal branch of the House of David. After three years in office, he resigned in the year 20 BCE.

60. Hillel III the Great was a Prince of a collateral non-royal Davidic descent line. (Levi, in "R.E.J." xxxi. 202-211, xxxiii. 143) He was brought to Jerusalem from Babylon by the invitation of King Herod upon the resignation of Judah ben-Bathyra. Hillel the Great served as the Nasi or President of the Great Sanhedrin between the years of 20 BCE to 10 CE. There in Jerusalem, he founded the famed School (Beit) of Hillel). The House of Hillel held the office of the Jerusalem Patriarchate with few exceptions for the next four centuries.

Prince Shammai would later challenge and oust the reigning Beis Av Din (Vice-President) of the Great Sanhedrin, Menahem the Essene in 20 BCE, who had served with Hillel the Great, the “Nasi” and President of the Sanhedrin for ten years, from the years of 30 to 20 BCE. This religious political and theological struggle that became deadly to some of the disciples of Hillel, prompted the evacuation or flight of seventy of the disciples of Hillel and seventy disciples of Menahem the Essene to Damascus, the city of the apocalyptic Essene inspired Damascus Scroll.

The last year of the reign of Jesus III (Yehoshua III) as the high priest was 23 BCE. The year of the Zealot’s revolt against Rome and the execution of Hizkiah the Zealot and Judas of Gamala was 23 BCE. The last year of the reign of the last royal descendant of David to serve as the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Governor Jacob (Yaakov) ben Mattat, ended upon his execution in the year of 23 BCE. Was there a coincidence?

In David Tower museum As we shall soon see in the next chapter, the wife of the Jerusalem Patriarch Jacob ben Mattat, was a young well-bred and beautiful princess from Egypt called Cleopatra of Jerusalem. She was brought by Prince Yaakov (Jacob) from the land of the ancient Pyramids of Giza in 31 BCE. This mysterious young maiden was the talk of the Jerusalem social elite. She came surrounded by the strong circumstantial relationships with the identity as the posthumous daughter of Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt, who was conceived in Rome by Julius Caesar in his official estate in Rome just prior to his assassination in 44 BCE by Brutus and Cassius. Cleopatra of Jerusalem was about 13 years of age when her mother, Queen Cleopatra VII and her lover, the Roman Triumvir Mark Antony both died by suicide in 31 BCE. As the dynastic heiress of Egypt and Rome, the last of the Egyptian Pharaohs faded into history.

The Tower of David at the Jerusalem Citadel overlooking the city of Jerusalem

It is interesting as history comes in full circle for we are again in the year of 23 BCE at the inauguration of the new high priest of the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, Simon IV Boethus. This rapid and swift ascension of Simon IV came at the demotion of Jesus III who served in that office since 35 BCE. At this same year, 23 BCE, the Jewish right wing revolutionary Zealots, Hizkiah "The Zealot" and Judas "of Gamala" were captured and executed by Rome. This was also the same year 23 BCE, that the grandfather of Jesus the Nazarene, the Patriarch of Israel Jacob ben Mattat, was executed. Was Jacob the Patriarch also implicated in the right wing revolutionary activities of his brothers in Galilee? Scholars have now suggested that the daughters of the high priest of Israel, Jesus III, were also taken into protective custody by the family of Hizkiah the Zealot and Judas of Gamala? Was Jesus III the high priest also executed on charges of sedition at the time of the elevation of Simon V Boethus to the office of the high priest?

While the swirling of the mystery, intrigue, executions, office promotions, elevations, revolutionary raids on Herodian troop installations, assassinations, all surrounded the “love affair” of King Herod for the daughter of the now high priest, Simon IV Boethus. Fulfilling the lusting desire of Herod the king, the “most beautiful woman of the time” become King Herod’s his 5^th wife. Was it a coincidence or a mystery not fully understood that now as the son-in-law of the High Priest, Simon IV Boethus (23-19 BCE), King Herod the Great took the widow, Cleopatra of Jerusalem, of the now executed and deceased Patriarch of Jerusalem Jacob, the son of Mattat, and gave her to be the new wife of the new high priest, Simon IV Boethus to be his second wife.

The Ancestors of the High Priest Yehoshua III (Jesus III)

Exiled in the Land of Egypt

Over 150 years prior, the great, great, great grandfather of the High Priest Yeshua III, the high priest designate, Onias V, escaped from Jerusalem and took his family to Egypt. For the first time in Hebrew history, a foreign ruler had intervened in the hereditarial succession of the high priest of Israel, and denied the accession of the Onias V, to rule in his father, Onias III’s place.

View of the Temple Mount from the Dominus Flevit Chapel at the Site where Jesus Wept –Photo by Robert Mock

Onias III, the great grandson of Simon I the Just (Tzaddik), was the last legitimate non-Hellenist high priest, that was the documented descendant of the High Priest of the Israelites, Aaron, through the lineage of Zadok. By the next generation, Onias V (not Menelaus as Onias IV) was the first high priest that was denied the office of the high priest by an outside imperial ruler. Lysias, the Imperial Vice-Regent for the Syrian king, Antiochus V Eupator (164-162 BCE), deprived Onias V the esteemed post. He gave the role of the high priest to Alcimus (163-159 BCE), a descendant of Eniachim, the brother of Jozadak, the exiled priest in Babylon and father of Yehoshua II, (Jesus II), the first high priest of the Temple of Zerubabbel.

The House of Zadok

Onias II (42^nd HP, d. 226 BCE)

(10^th in descent from Seraiah, the last HP of Solomon’s Temple)

____________________________|____________________

| | |

Simon II (43^rd High Priest, d.198 BCE) Manasseh (41^st High Priest) Judah In descent from Eniachin, the

| | son of Seriah, the last HP of

| | Solomon’s Temple

___|____________ ______|_______ |

| | | |

Onias III Jason the Apostate Menelaus Lysimachus Alcimus

(44^th High Priest) (45^th High Priest) (Onias IV – 46A HP) (46B HP-killed by Jewish populous 171 BCE)

Onias V |

(Deprived as the 47th HP by Lysias, Viceroy of Syrian King Antiochus V Eupator, the 1^st ruler to depose a High

Priest – Onias V emigrated to Egypt-159 BCE and started a new Jewish Temple at Leontopolis, Egypt |

| _|

Ananias (Exiled in Egypt) |

| |

Hananeel the Egyptian (Ananelus) – (reputed as One of the HPs who sacrificed the Red Heifer)

| |

Boethus (56^th HP-37 BCE) Theophilus

______________________|___________________________________ |

| | | | | | | |

Ananelus Phabet (Fabi) Simon IV Joazar Eleazar Sethus Kantheras Matthias I

(57^th HP) | (60^th HP-23-19 BC) (Twice 62^nd HP) (III, 63^rd HP) (Sie) (Simon VI, 72^nd HP) (61^st HP)

___________ |________ | |

| | | | |

Yehoshua III Eliam Ishmael Joseph II |

(59^th HP-36-23 BCE) | (66^th HP) (“Cabi”-78^th HP) _____|_______

| Joseph Yehoshua IV Ananus, the High Priest

3 Daughters (HP 1 day) (64^th HP – 4 BCE) Patriarch of the Famed House of Ananus

Jane High Priest Who Instigated Yehoshua’s Death

Elizabeth With his son-in-law, the High Priest, Caiphas

(H)anna (65^th HP-6-15CE)

It is assumed that Onias V also took with himself the regalia, the “crown jewels” of the holy order of high priest; the Breastplate, for in Egypt, the sacrificial system was reestablished in a new rival temple to the God of Israel in the land of Egypt where they could be free to worship according to the Torah.

*****

Note – The genealogies and historical overlays of the family of Jesus are a project of continuing research. For any researchers with additional historical insight and genealogical information are welcome to contact any of the following researchers.

David Hughes – RdavidH218@AOL.com – Davidian Genealogy

Robert Mock – robertmock@biblesearchers.com – Biblical History

Robert Killian - rkillian@libello.com – Biblical Chronology

Go to Book One –

Chapter Four

“The Jewish Temples in Egypt and the Zadokian High Priest Influence of the Ancestors of Jesus”

Topics

The Jewish Temple in the Land of Onias at Leontopolis

The Lineage of High Priests in Exile at Leontopolis Egypt

Elephantine Colony of Jews in the Days of Prince Anani

The Lineage of the House of Boethus to Yehoshua (Jesus)

The Religious and Political World of Mary’s Ancestors

The Priestly Lineage from Eli to Zadok, the High Priest

Lineage from Aaron through the High Priest Simon the Just to Jesus the Messiah

Lineage of the High Priests of Zadok, from Simon the Just to Jesus III

The Finger of the Almighty One of Israel

The Lineages of the Last Generations of all-Jewish Davidians

Lineages

The Lineage of High Priests in Exile at Leontopolis Egypt

The Lineage of the House of Boethus to Yehoshua (Jesus)

The Priestly Lineage from Eli to Zadok, the High Priest

Lineage from Aaron through the High Priest Simon the Just to Jesus the Messiah

Lineage of the High Priests of Zadok, from Simon the Just to Jesus III

The Lineages of the Last Generations of all-Jewish Davidians

Return to Beginning

Book One

The Ancestors of Jesus in First and Second Century Judea BCE

Go to Chapter One –

“The Royal Davidian, Maccabee, and Levitical Ancestors of Jesus (Yehoshua)”

Go to Chapter Two –

“The Political and Royal Heritage of Miriam, the Chosen Princess, as the Mother of the Jewish Messiah”

Go to Chapter Three –

“The Religious Heritage of Miriam, the Chosen Princess, as the Granddaughter of a High Priest”

Go to Chapter Four –

“The Jewish Temples in Egypt and the Zadokian High Priest Influence of the Ancestors of Jesus”

Go to Chapter Five –

“‘Out of Egypt, I will Bring My Son’ - The Family of Prince Joseph”

Go to Chapter Six –

“The Davidian Princes in the Days of Herod the Great”

Go to Chapter Seven –

“The Legacy of the Jewish Freedom Fighters in the Ancestors of Jesus”

Book Two

The History of the Jews surrounding the Princes of David

Go to Chapter One –

“The Maccabees and the Abomination of Desolation”

Go to Chapter Two –

“The Fulfillment of the Covenant of King David and Solomon by King Josiah and the Prophet Jeremiah”

Go to Chapter Three –

“Princess Tamar - the Dynastic Merging of the Lineages of Solomon and Nathan”

Book Three

“The Princes of David from Zerubabbel to the Messiah”

Go to Chapter One –

“A New Beginning – The Princes of Israel and Ezra the Scribe”

Go to Chapter Two –

“Zerubabbel, the Prince of Israel and the Patriarch of the Jews”

Go to Chapter Three –

“The Governors of Judea from the Persian to the Herodian Eras”

Go to Chapter Four –

“The Messiah, the son of David”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

for

Israel's Davidic Dynasty

http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/davidicdynasty.html

by David Hughes

The British Chronicles

Book

The British Chronicles

LIST OF ARTICLES
by David Hughes

This Page,

http://hometown.aol.com/rdavidh218/myhomepage/index.html

Is updated whenever a New Article is Posted to the Net
----------------------------------------
Note: Some of the hyperlinks for some reason don't work, thus,

it may be necessary to copy & paste some of the web addresses
-----------------------------------------------

1. Five descent-lines from Roman Emperors to British Kings
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/empire2britain.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/empire2britain.wps.htm

2. Ancestors & descendants of Britain's King Arthur, & the Anwyl Family
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/arthurian_genealogies.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/arthurian_genealogies.wps.htm

3. Israel: From Moses, its first judge, to [H]Oshea, its last king
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/israel.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/israel.wps.htm

4. Israel's Davidic Dynasty
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/davidicdynasty.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/davidicdynasty.wps.htm

5. Descent from Christianity's Holy Family to Britain's Royal Family: the Jesus Dynasty
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/holyfamily2royalfamily.htmlor

mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/holyfamily2royalfamily.wps.htm

6. The Grail-Kings
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/grail_kings.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/grail_kings.wps.htm

7. Five Descent-Lines from Israeli Royalty to British Royalty
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/israel2britain.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/israel2britain.wps.htm

8. Old British Royal House
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/oldbritishroyalhouse.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/oldbritishroyalhouse.wps.htm

9. Genealogy of the Lougher Family: male-line descendants of Britain's Iron Age Kings
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/LougherPedigree.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/LougherPedigree.wps.htm

10. The Jacobites: The Stuart King James II & His Heirs
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/jacobites.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/jacobites.wps.htm

11. Kings & Princes of Wales
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/welshkings.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/welshkings.wps.htm

12. Kings of Scotland
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/scottishkings.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/scottishkings.wps.htm

13. Kings of Ulster: independent Irish kingdom
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/ulsterkings.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/ulsterkings.wps.htm

14. Kings of Ireland
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/irishkings.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/irishkings.wps.htm

15. The Picts
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/picts.html

16. Early Frankish kings & the Merovingians
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/earlyfrankishkings.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/earlyfrankishkings.wps.htm

17. Some descent-lines from Africa to Europe
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/africa2europe.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/africa2europe.wps.htm

18. Some descent-lines from Arabic Royalty to European Royalty
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/arabia2europe.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/arabia2europe.wps.htm

19. Some descent-lines from Asia to Europe
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/asia2europe.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/asia2europe.wps.htm

20. Ancestors & descendants of Central America's Aztec Emperors
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/azteckings.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/azteckings.wps.htm

21. Ancestors & descendants of South America's Inca Emperors
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/incas.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/incas.wps.htm

22. Egyptian Pharaohs
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/egyptianpharaohs.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/egyptianpharaohs.wps.htm

23. Descent-line from Ancient Egypt to Modern Britain
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/egypt2britain.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/egypt2britain.wps.htm

24. Descent-line from Ancient Greece to Modern Greece
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/ancient2moderngreece.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/ancient2moderngreece.wps.htm

25. Ancient Sumeria
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/ancient_sumeria.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/ancient_sumeria.wps.htm

26. The Babylonian Emperors
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/babylonianemperors.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/babylonianemperors.wps.htm

27. The Assyrian Kings
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/assyriankings.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/assyriankings.wps.htm

28. The Balthae Dynasty: Gothic Kings
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/balthae_dynasty.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/balthae_dynasty.wps.htm

29. Lombard Kings
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/lombards.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/lombards.wps.htm

30. Male-line ancestry of the Plantagenets of England & the Capetians of France
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/plantagenets.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/plantagenets.wps.htm

31. Early Danish kings
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/earlydanishkings.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/earlydanishkings.wps.htm

32. Cerdic of Wessex
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/cerdic_of_wessex.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/cerdic_of_wessex.wps.htm

33. The "Beli Mawr Pedigree"
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/beli_mawr_pedigree.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/beli_mawr_pedigree.wps.htm

34. The "Aedd Mawr Pedigree"
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/aedd_mawr_pedigree.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/aedd_mawr_pedigree.wps.htm

35. The "Beli & Anne Pedigree"
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/beli_anne_pedigree.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/beli_anne_pedigree.wps.htm

36. Heirs-Male of the Old British Royal House
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/caratacus_descent-lines.html

37. Story of the First Christmas
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/first_christmas.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/first_christmas.wps.htm

38. Jesus & His Passion
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/JESUS.html
or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/JESUS.wps.htm

39. Christianity
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/christianity.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/christianity.wps.htm

40. Atlantis: the "Lost Continent"
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/atlantis.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/atlantis.wps.htm

41. Who was Geoffrey of Monmouth's Brutus?
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/brutus.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/brutus.wps.htm

42. The Mamikonids [genealogy]
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/mamikonids.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/mamikonids.wps.htm

43. Complete list of British Monarchs
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/british_monarchs.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/british_monarchs.wps.htm

44. The Habsburg Dynasty's origin
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/hapsburgs.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/hapsburgs.wps.htm

45. Carolingian Dynasty
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/carolingians.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/carolingians.wps.htm

46. Early Kings & later Dukes of Brittany, now the French province of Bretagne
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/brittany.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/brittany.wps.htm

47. Tamar-Tephi [&, a Jewish kingdom in Ancient Ireland]
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/Tamar-Tephi.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/Tamar-Tephi.wps.htm

48. House of Dracula
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/dracula.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/dracula.wps.htm

49. Various Royal Families which have Inherited England's throne
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/royal_houses.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/royal_houses.wps.htm

50. Descent of Emperors of India to Kings of Britain
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/india2britain.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/india2britain.wps.htm

51. Descent-line from Turkish Khans to British Kings
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/turkey2europe.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/turkey2europe.wps.htm

52. Descent of Chinese Empress Wu to Queen Elizabeth II of Britain, etc
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/china2britain.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/china2britain.wps.htm

53. Regnal-list & Genealogy of the Indo-Greek Kings of Bactria
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/bactria.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/bactria.wps.htm

54. Descent from Russian Royalty to British Royalty
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/russia2britain.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/russia2britain.wps.htm

55. The Maccabee Dynasty, House of Judas Maccabeus
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/maccabee.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/maccabee.wps.htm

56. The Herodians, House of Herod The Great
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/herodians.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/herodians.wps.htm

57. The Aaronic High-Priests of Israel & Judah/Judea
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/highpriests.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/highpriests.wps.htm

58. Kings of Pontus, list & genealogy
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/pontus.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/pontus.wps.htm

59. Kings of Thrace, genealogy
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/thrace.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/thrace.wps.htm

60. Kings of Bosphore, now Ukraine
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/bosphore.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/bosphore.wps.htm

61. Tamerlane & the Tartars
http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/tamerlane.html

or mirror site
http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/tamerlane.wps.htm

David Hughes,

RdavidH218@AOL.com,

Genealogical charts available upon request; Comments Welcome
------------------------------------------------
note: FORTHCOMING BOOK!, "BRITISH CHRONICLES"
See Table of Contents at

http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/britishroyalty.htm
or mirror site

http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/britishroyalty.wps.htm

------------------------------------------------

Message from BibleSearchers

BibleSearchers scans the world for information that has relevance on the time of the end. It is our prayer that this will allow the believers in the Almighty One of Israel to “watch and be ready”. Our readiness has nothing to do trying to halt the progression of evil on our planet earth. In our readiness, we seek to be prepared for the coming of the Messiah of Israel so that goodness and evil will be manifested in its fullest. Our preparation is a pathway of spiritual readiness for a world of peace. Our defender is the Lord of hosts. The time of the end suggests that the Eternal One of Israel’s intent is to close out this chapter of earth’s history so that the perpetrators of evil, those that seek power, greed and control, will be eliminated from this planet earth. The wars of the heavens are being played out on this planet earth and humans will live through it to testify of the might, power, justice and the love of the God of Israel. In a world of corruption and disinformation, we cannot always know what the historical truth is and who is promoting evil or mis-information. We cannot guarantee our sources but we will always seek to portray trends that can be validated in the Torah and the testimony of the prophets of the Old and the New Testament.

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