<P> Caesar was assassinated in 44 BCE and unrest and confusion spread throughout the Roman world, including Judaea . Antipater the Idumean was assassinated by a rival, Malichus, in 43 BCE, but Antipater's sons managed to kill Malichus and maintain their control over Judea and their father's puppet Hasmonean, Hyrcanus . </P> <P> After Julius Caesar was murdered in 44 BCE, Quintus Labienus, a Roman republican general and ambassador to the Parthians, sided with Brutus and Cassius in the Liberators' civil war; after their defeat Labienus joined the Parthians and assisted them in invading Roman territories in 40 BCE . The Parthian army crossed the Euphrates and Labienus was able to entice Mark Antony's Roman garrisons around Syria to rally to his cause . The Parthians split their army, and under Pacorus conquered the Levant from the Phoenician coast through the Land of Israel: </P> <P> "Antigonus...roused the Parthians to invade Syria and Palestine, (and) the Jews eagerly rose in support of the scion of the Maccabean house, and drove out the hated Idumeans with their puppet Jewish king . The struggle between the people and the Romans had begun in earnest, and though Antigonus, when placed on the throne by the Parthians, proceeded to spoil and harry the Jews, rejoicing at the restoration of the Hasmonean line, thought a new era of independence had come . </P> <P> When Phasael and Hyrcanus II set out on an embassy to the Parthians, the Parthians instead captured them . Antigonus, who was present, cut off Hyrcanus's ears to make him unsuitable for the High Priesthood, while Phasael was put to death . Antigonus, whose Hebrew name was Mattathias, bore the double title of king and High Priest for only three years, as he had not disposed of Herod, the most dangerous of his enemies . Herod fled into exile and sought the support of Mark Antony . Herod was designated "King of the Jews" by the Roman Senate in 40 BCE: Antony </P>

Who were the hasmonaeans and for what are they noteworthy