Editing Mark Antony (section)

====Reconquest of Judea====
With [[Publius Ventidius Bassus]] returned to Rome in triumph for his defensive campaign against the Parthians, Antony appointed [[Gaius Sosius]] as the new governor of Syria and Cilicia in early 38 BC. Antony, still in the West negotiating with Octavian, ordered Sosius to depose [[Antigonus II Mattathias|Antigonus]], who had been installed in the recent Parthian invasion as the ruler of [[Hasmonean Judea]], and to make [[Herod the Great|Herod]] the new Roman client king in the region. Years before in 40 BC, the Roman senate had proclaimed Herod "King of the Jews" because Herod had been a loyal supporter of [[Hyrcanus II]], Rome's previous client king before the Parthian invasion, and was from a [[Herodian dynasty|family with long standing connections to Rome]].<ref>Armstrong, p. 126</ref> The Romans hoped to use Herod as a bulwark against the Parthians in the coming campaign.<ref>Josephus, ''The Wars of the Jews'', 1.14.4</ref>

Advancing south, Sosius captured the island-city of [[Arwad|Aradus]] on the coast of [[Phoenicia]] by the end of 38 BC. The following year, the Romans [[Siege of Jerusalem (37 BC)|besieged Jerusalem]]. After a forty-day siege, the Roman soldiers stormed the city and, despite Herod's pleas for restraint, acted without mercy, pillaging and killing all in their path, prompting Herod to complain to Antony.<ref>Rocca, 2008, pp. 45–47</ref> Herod finally resorted to bribing Sosius and his troops in order that they would not leave him "king of a desert".<ref>Josephus, The Jewish Wars, 1:355</ref> Antigonus was forced to surrender to Sosius, and was sent to Antony for the [[Roman triumph|triumphal procession]] in Rome. Herod, however, fearing that Antigonus would win backing in Rome, bribed Antony to execute Antigonus. Antony, who recognized that Antigonus would remain a permanent threat to Herod, ordered him beheaded in [[Antioch]]. Now secure on his throne, Herod would rule the [[Herodian Kingdom]] until his death in 4 BC, and would be an ever-faithful client king of Rome.