obedient to Roman authority was given to the high priest in Jerusalem. For almost five hundred years before the Roman conquest of Palestine, the Jews were governed by a high priest. During the final eighty years of the Hasmonean Dynasty (ca. 140–63 BC), a king who was also the high priest ruled the Jewish nation. After Rome intervened in Judean affairs in 63 BC, Herod the Great became the client king who was responsible to Rome for the governance of the region, but he was not a high priest. After