The Parthians captured Phaselus and Hyrcanus, but Herod was suspicious, avoided the trap laid by Antigonus that had netted Hyrcanus and Phaselus, and escaped, first to Masada, then to Petra, and then to Rome. The Parthians mutilated Hyrcanus so that he would no longer be eligible to serve as high priest. Josephus tells how Phaselus bravely attempted suicide by smashing his own head.
Meanwhile, Herod found himself persona non grata in Arabia and proceeded from there to Egypt and eventually to Rome, where both Mark Antony, previous recipient of certain bribes that had contributed to his willingness to appoint Herod tetrarch, and Octavian, who had benefited, in Egypt, from the help of Herod's father Antipater, welcomed him. They appointed him king of Judaea (on the hundred and eighty-fourth Olympiad, when Caius Domitius Calvinus and Caius Asinius Pollio were consuls -- 40 B.C.) and the Senate declared Antigonus an enemy.
Herod left Rome with an army that kept growing. Before he could march against Antigonus, he needed to rescue Masada where his relatives were. They then proceeded to Jerusalem where Herod announced he would forgive the offenses of his enemies. Antigonus was not ready to surrender. Instead he declared that Herod had no right to be king and that he wasn't even a Jew, but only half-Jewish, with an Arab mother, and from Idumea, whereas he was of a royal family, the Hasmoneans.
Herod could not take Jerusalem at this point. Instead, when Mark Antony was at the siege of Samosata, on the Euphrates, Herod took his troops and joined him, a political move earning him further Roman gratitude. Antiochus gave up the fortress to Antony, and the war ended. Mark Antony left Sosius in charge but with orders to assist Herod, which he did by sending two legions to Judaea and taking his own army with him in the train of Herod's army.
Herod met the enemy army at Galilee, defeated it, and marched on to Jericho. He proceeded to take cities and after a rest for the winter, proceeded to Jerusalem, where he set up as Pompey had, to break down the walls. Before attacking, however, he went to Samaria to marry the woman to whom he had been betrothed years earlier.
After the wedding, Sosius' troops joined his at Jerusalem. Under two generals, Sosius and Herod, there were 11 legions and 6000 horsemen. The men inside the city fought hard, and so it took 40 days to break through the first wall. In another fifteen days, they took the second wall. Then, the Jews inside the city fled to the inner court of the temple and still held out. When Jerusalem was finally taken, no mercy was shown. Sosius took Antigonus as prisoner and took him to Rome. Herod bribed Antony to have him slain lest his claim to the throne be considered more legitimate than his own.
Herod, having regained his city did not want the Romans to look upon the religious articles that it would be sacrilege for them to see and also didn't want them to destroy his city. Since the soldiers considered pillage their just reward, Herod had to promise to pay each of the soldiers from his own money. Josephus says the taking of Jerusalem by Herod occurred exactly twenty-seven years after Pompey had done the same.
Herod the Great then ruled Judaea as basileus, which Jona Lendering says was the highest possible title.
Source: Flavius Josephus Antiquities of the Jews - Book XIV
From N.S. Gill 2006
