Kings of Israel and Judah

Aristobulus I
Hebrew Name: Judah
Hasmonean Kingdom
Judah, (Aristobulus) was eldest son of John Hyrcanus. He succeeded his father in the office of high priest, while his mother was, by the will of his father, to rule as queen. After the death of his father, Aristobulus threw his mother into prison where she was starved to death.

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Alexander Jannaeus
Hebrew Name: Alexander Yannai
Hasmonean Kingdom
Alexander Jannaeus was the Hasmonean ruler of Judea (103–76 B.C.). He was the son of John Hyrcanus and became high priest and king. According to Josephus, Alexander was hated by his father and for this reason was forced to spend his childhood in Galilee.

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Salome Alexandra
Hasmonean Kingdom
The only Jewish regnant queen of the Hasmoneans, she was a supporter of a religious reform that favored the early Pharisees against their rivals, the Sadducees. She is seen in Jewish tradition as having instituted a brief golden age that helped lay the foundations for the later emergence of rabbinical Judaism.

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The Jewish kings ruled over vastly different kingdoms in different periods of history. Starting in the early iron age with Saul, several kings ruled over an expanding, "United Kingdom." After the death of Solomon a fissure developed, with ten tribes separating into the Northern Kingdom of "Israel..."

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and the tribes of Benjamin and Judah continuing the Davidic line in the Southern Kingdom of "Judah."

( see table )

After the north was conquered by Assyria and the south by Babylon, a Jewish kingdom did not reappear until the second century BC with the establishment of the Hasmonean dynasty. The Hasmoneans were then followed in the first century BC by the Herodian rulers, this final group being clients of Rome, (and actually Idumean).