(Ἀριστόβουλος), princes of Judaea.

1. The eldest son of Johannes Hyrcanus. In B. C. 110 we find him, together with his second brother Antigonus, successfully prosecuting for his father the siege of Samaria, which was destroyed in the following year. (J. AJ 13.10. §§ 2, 3; Bell. Jud. 1.2.7.) Hyrcanus dying in 107, Aristobulus took the title of king, this being the first instance of the assumption of that name among the Jews since the Babylonish captivity (but comp. Strab. xvi. p.762), and secured his power by the imprisonment of all his brothers except his favourite Antigonus, and by the murder of his mother, to whom Hyrcanus had left the government by will. The life of Antigonus himself was soon sacrificed to his brother's suspicions through the intrigues of the queen and her party, and the remorse felt by Aristobulus for this deed increased the illness under which he was suffering at the time, and hastened his death. (B. C. 106.) In his reign the Ituraeans were subdued and compelled to adopt the observance of the Jewish law. He also received the name of Φιλέλλην from the favour which he shewed to the Greeks. (J. AJ 13.11 ; Bell. Jud. 1.3.)