88 HISTOftT OF ARMENIA.
Bacur, through the medium of his friend Lysanias the prince of A8syria> that if they would dethrone Hyrcanus, the king and pontiff of Jerusalem, and place him in the goyemment talents of gold, and 500 handsome women. Barzaphran gladly accepted the offer, and diTid* ing his troops, sent Bacur with a portion albng the sea coasts to Judea, and he with the remainder inarched toward the Mediterranean. He drove the Romans before him, and advanced as far as Iconium, whence he returned to Assyria, for the purpose of joining his colleague Bacur in Jud^. Before their junction, however^ the latter, assisted by Antigonus, had laid siege to Jeru* salem. Hyrcanus, the king of this city, was assisted by Herod and his eldest brother PheeseluB, so that a strong resistance was made. Nothing was effected until the approach of the Pentecost, when Hyrcanus and Phasselus hearing that Barzaphran was on his march to Judea to join the besiegers, sent messengers to him suing for peace. He received them with much pretended respect, and dispatched to Jerusalem a body of horsei under the com«> mand of Gnelus, the butler of Tigranes, of the tribe of the Gnunians, with the avowed purpose of making a peace between Hyrcanus and Antigonus, but with the secret design of as^
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