The Hasmonean civil war between the brothers Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II handed Judea to a new master. Both sides, and a third party of Pharisees who wanted neither brother, appealed to the rising power in the east: Rome. In 63 BC the Roman general Pompey marched on Jerusalem, besieged it for three months, took it by storm, and did the unthinkable: he entered the Holy of Holies, the temple's innermost room, where only the high priest could go (ISBE, "Asmoneans"; Jewish Encyclopedia, "Hasmoneans"). He took nothing, and he left Hyrcanus as high priest, but Judea was now a tributary of Rome, and would remain under Rome's shadow through the entire New Testament. The ISBE marks the moment flatly: "This event marks the collapse of the Maccabean power."
That Roman takeover is the unspoken backdrop of the Gospels. It is why a "decree from Caesar Augustus" can send Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem (Luke 2:1), why the priests fear that "the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation" (John 11:48), and why the question of paying "tribute unto Caesar" is a trap (Luke 20:22). Pompey's siege is the beginning of the world Jesus was born into.