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HASMONEANS

(Gk. Asamōnaios)

A prominent priestly, but non-Aaronic family from Modein. They began a revolt in 167 b.c.e. against their hegemon, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Seleucid king of Syria, and the Hellenized Jewish factions in Judah and Jerusalem. The latter included members of the high priestly orders and the aristocracy that supported and were supported by the Seleucids.

It is not clear whether religious persecution of non-Hellenized Jews resulted from or was the cause of the rebellion. The persecution consisted of an interdiction of sabbath keeping, feast keeping, and circumcision. It also consisted of the defilement of the temple and the priests, and the offering of sacrifices to Greek gods on a pagan altar in the Jerusalem temple as well as elsewhere in Judah and Jerusalem (Dan. 11:31-33; 12:11; 1 Macc. 1:1-64; 2 Macc. 6:1-6). Although the rebels viewed this as an attempt to suppress Judaism (1 Macc. 1-2; 2 Macc. 5:11–7:42), it was as much a sociopolitical action to sustain the pro-Syrian factions as a religious repression of those who were pro-Egyptian and/or anti-Syrian.

Mattathias killed Epiphanes’ official and the first Jew to sacrifice at the pagan altar at Modein. Then Mattathias and his sons, John “Gaddi,” Simon “Thassi,” Judas “Maccabeus,” Eleazar “Avaran,” and Jonathan “Apphus,” fled to the hill country, where an ever-increasing band of Jews, some of whom were Hasidim (1 Macc. 2:42-44; 7:13-14; 2 Macc. 14:6), joined them in their rebellion.

When Mattathias died, the leadership passed to Judas, surnamed Maccabeus (“the hammer”), from whence the popular name for the family derived. Although the Hasmoneans soon became sufficiently strong to fight more conventionally and to defeat the Syrian armies, they really succeeded because Epiphanes was fighting the Parthians at the same time.

Allegedly, some type of peace was declared (165) allowing Judas to enter Jerusalem, although it is more likely that after what seemed to be a miraculous victory (1 Macc. 4) he actually recaptured the city. He did not have access to the Akra, a Syrian fortress, although he tried to take it when Epiphanes died in 164/3. On returning to Jerusalem, Judas instituted an eight-day celebration as part of the rededication of the Jerusalem temple in 164 b.c.e. (1 Macc. 4:52-59), subsequently celebrated as Hanukkah (4:59; John 10:22).

Judas had not achieved independence, however. Even after Epiphanes’ death, Judas continued to fight against the successor, Antiochus V Eupator. Although Judas won a great victory over the Seleucid forces, led by Nicanor, at Beth-horon in 161, his troops were defeated and he died in a later battle in 161/160. At this time, the Hellenized Jews again became ascendant in Judah and Jerusalem.

Judas’ successor, Jonathan, then sided with Alexander Balas against Demetrius, each of whom having more or less overt support by different factions at Rome was vying for the Seleucid throne. Balas first appointed Jonathan high priest (153). After Demetrius’ death, Balas also appointed Jonathan provincial governor of Judea (150). Jonathan’s success was not long lasting. He was captured and ultimately murdered by the Syrian general Tryphon in 143 or 142.

Simon then took up the leadership, further expanding the state. In 141 he took the Akra in Jerusalem. The following year he became high priest of the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem, even though he was not of a high priestly order. He also became commander-in-chief and ethnarch of the Jews (1 Macc. 14:41-43), confirmed by the Seleucid king. Under Simon’s rule the state became autonomous and free from tribute (Josephus BJ 1.53; Ant. 13.211). This does not mean that it became independent of Syrian hegemony, as many believe, because autonomy and independence were not legally the same in the Hellenistic or the Roman world.

In 134 Simon and two of his sons, Judas and Mattathias, were murdered by Simon’s son-in-law Ptolemy (1 Macc. 16:11-17). When Ptolemy’s bid for power failed, Simon’s remaining son, John Hyrcanus, took power. After being confirmed as high priest, Hyrcanus ruled Judah and Jerusalem from 134 to 104. He extended the boundaries of his state to its greatest point since Solomon. He changed theo-political “parties,” giving allegiance to the Sadducees, even though the Pharisees allegedly had the support of the masses.

After Hyrcanus died in 104, his son Aristobulus became the first Hasmonean to take the title “king.” He ruled for one year, during which time he extended the kingdom. After his death in 103, Aristobulus’ widow Alexandra married one of his brothers, Alexander Janneus, who ruled from 103 to 76.

Janneus fought foreign wars, extending the kingdom greatly. He also dealt with internal, religiously-based conflict by supporting the Sadducees as had his father. At his death he advised Alexandra to make peace with the Pharisees so as to ensure her rule. When Alexandra became ruler of the kingdom (76) with the support of the Pharisees, she made her son Hyrcanus II high priest. This, however, did not insure his succession.

At the death of Alexandra (66), her sons Aristobulus II and Hyrcanus II engaged in civil war. Pompey the Great was invited to intervene and did so in 64, first sending his general Scaurus. A year later Pompey came himself, captured Jerusalem, and installed Hyrcanus as high priest and ethnarch, but not king, of the state whose territory he then reduced. He took Aristobulus to Rome, parading him in his triumph.

In light of Roman foreign policy, Pompey, whose assignment under the Gabinian Law was to pacify the Mediterranean world and who was given unlimited powers under the Manilian Law, had not acted precipitously or without right. Rome’s hegemony over the Hasmoneans had been established as a sort of protectorate, in accordance with Roman law, when Rome had granted Judas and his followers an amicitia (“friendship” or diplomatic agreement) in 161. Later, when the amicitia was changed into a suzerainty treaty (societas et amicitia, “alliance and friendship”) that was renewed at the ascension of each Hasmonean except for Aristobulus and Alexander Janneus, the “client kingdom” was subject to Rome’s iron-fisted rule.

Hyrcanus ruled as a Roman client from 63 to 40. After Hyrcanus’ death (40), Antigonus II became, with the support of the Parthian enemies of Rome, the last ruler of the Hasmonean family. He ruled for three years (40-37), at which time Rome placed a client king, Herod, who had ties by marriage to the Hasmoneans, on the throne of Judah and Jerusalem.

Bibliography. E. Bickerman, From Ezra to the Last of the Maccabees (New York, 1962); S. R. Mandell, “Did the Maccabees Believe That They Had a Valid Treaty with Rome?” CBQ 53 (1991): 202-20; “The Beginnings of Roman Hegemony over Judah and Jerusalem,” Approaches to Ancient Judaism n.s. 3 (Atlanta, 1991): 3-83; M. Rostovtzeff, The Social and Economic History of the Hellenistic World, 3 vols. (Oxford, 1941).

Sara R. Mandell

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HASMONEANS

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)