Expelling the Pharisees from the Sanhedrin, Jannæus triggered a civil war in which he made use of gentile mercenaries against the Pharisees. Josephus (The Jewish War 1, 4) reported fifty thousand casualties in this civil war, which only ended through mediation by Simeon ben Shetach who was both a Pharisaic leader, Chief of the Court of the Sanhedrin, and brother to queen Salome Alexandra, Jannæus' wife and successor. Under Salome some equilibrium was briefly restored between the monarchy and the Pharisees who controlled the Sanhedrin, but factional rifts reasserted themselves after her death, eventually leading to a state of constant civil war.