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MACCABEES

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 198 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MACCABEES , the name (in the plural) of a distinguished Jewish See also:

family dominant in See also:Jerusalem in the 2nd See also:century B.C. According to 1 Macc. ii. 4, the name Maccabaeus (Gr. MaicKa-(3aios—? Heb. 'p) was originally the distinctive surname of Judas, third son of the Jewish See also:priest Mattathias, who struck the first See also:blow for religious See also:liberty during the persecution under See also:Antiochus IV. (Epiphanes). Subsequently, however, it obtained a wider significance, having been applied first to the kinsmen of Judas, then to his adherents, and ultimately to all champions of See also:religion in the See also:Greek See also:period. Thus the See also:mother of the seven brethren, whose martyrdom is related in 2 Macc. vi., vii., is called by See also:early See also:Christian writers " the mother of the Maccabees." The name is used still more loosely in the titles of the so-called Third, See also:Fourth and Fifth Books of Maccabees. It is now customary to apply it only to the sons and descendants of Mattathias. As, however, according to See also:Josephus (See also:Ant. xii. 6.

I), this brave priest's See also:

great-great-grandfather was called J aamon (i.e. " See also:rich "=See also:magnate; cf. Ps. lxviii. 31 [32]), the family is more correctly designated by the name of Hasmonaeans or Asmoneans (q.v.). This name Jewish authors naturally prefer to that of Maccabees; they also See also:style 1 and 2 Macc. "Books of the Hasmonaeans." If Maccabee (maqqabi) is the See also:original See also:form of the name, the most probable. derivation is from the Aramaic magqaba (Heb. See also:rye?, Judg. iv. 21, &c.) " See also:hammer." The surname "hammerer" might have been applied to Judas either as a distinctive See also:title pure and See also:simple or symbolically as in the parallel See also:case of See also:Edward I., "Scotorum ,'malleus." Even if magqaba does denote the See also:ordinary workman's hammer, and not the great See also:smith's hammer which would more fitly symbolize the impetuosity of Judas, this is not a fatal objection. The doubled k of the Greek form is decisive against (1) the theory that the name Maccabee was made up of the See also:initials of the opening words of Exod. xv. 11; (2) the derivation from ';;Q = "extinguisher " (cf. Isa. xliii. 17), based by Curtiss (The Name Machabee, See also:Leipzig, 1876) on the Latin spelling Machabaeus = MaKKa0aios, which See also:Jerome probably adopted in accordance with the usage of the times. The Maccabaean revolt was caused by the See also:attempt of Antiochus IV.

(Epiphanes), See also:

king of See also:Syria (175—164 B.c.), to force See also:Hellenism upon See also:Judaea (see SELEUCID See also:DYNASTY; HELLENISM). Ever since the See also:campaigns of See also:Alexander the Great, Greek habits and ideas had been widely adopted in See also:Palestine. Over the higher classes especially Hellenism had See also:cast its spell. This called forth the organized opposition of the IJasidim (_ " the pious "), who constituted themselves champions of the See also:Law. See also:Joshua, who headed the Hellenistic See also:faction, graecized his name into See also:Jason, contrived to have the high-priesthood taken from his See also:brother Onias III., and conferred upon himself, and set up a gymnasium hard by the See also:Temple. After three years' See also:tenure of See also:office Jason was supplanted by the Benjamite See also:Menelaus, who disowned Judaism entirely. Antiochus punished an outburst of strife between the rivals by plundering the Temple and slaying many of the inhabitants (170 B.C.). Two years later Jerusalem was devastated by his See also:general See also:Apollonius, and a Syrian See also:garrison occupied the citadel (Akra). The See also:Jews were ordered under See also:pain of See also:death to substitute for their own observances the See also:Pagan See also:rites prescribed for the See also:empire generally. In See also:December 168 See also:sacrifice was offered to See also:Zeus upon an idol See also:altar (" the abominatior of desolation," See also:Dan. x. 27) erected over the great altar of burnt-offering. But Antiochus had miscalculated, and by his extreme See also:measures unwittingly saved Judaism from its See also:internal foes.

Many hellenizers raffled See also:

round those who were minded to See also:die rather than abjure their religion. The issue of an important See also:edict ordaining the erection of See also:heathen altars in every township of Palestine, and the See also:appointment of See also:officers to See also:deal with recusants, brought matters to a crisis. At Modin, Mattathias, an aged priest, not only refused to offer the first sacrifice, but slew an apostate See also:Jew who was about to step into the See also:breach. He also killed the king's See also:commissioner and pulled down the altar. Having thus given the See also:signal for See also:rebellion, he then with his five sons took to the mountains. In view of the ruthless slaughter of a thousand sabbatarians in the See also:wilderness, Mattathias and his See also:friends decided to resist attack even on the See also:sabbath. Many, including the IJasidim, thereupon flocked to his See also:standard, and set themselves to revive Jewish rites and to uproot Paganism from the See also:land. In 166 Mattathias died, after charging his sons to give their lives for their ancestral faith, and nominating Judas Maccabaeus as their See also:leader in the See also:holy See also:campaign. The military See also:genius of Judas made this the most stirring See also:chapter in Israelitish See also:history. In See also:quick See also:succession he over-threw the Syrian generals Apollonius, Seron and See also:Gorgias, and after the See also:regent See also:Lysias had shared the same See also:fate at his hands he restored the Temple See also:worship (165). These exploits dismayed his opponents and kindled the See also:enthusiasm of his friends. When, however, Lysias returned in force to renew the contest, Judas had to fall back upon the Temple See also:mount, and escaped defeat only because the Syrian leader was obliged to hasten back to See also:Antioch in See also:order to prevent a See also:rival from seizing the regency.

Under these circumstances Lysias unexpectedly guaranteed to the Jews their religious freedom (162). But though they had thus gained their end, the struggle did not cease; it merely assumed a new phase. The IJasidim indeed were satisfied, and declined to fight longer, but the Maccabees determined not to desist until their nation was politically as well as religiously See also:

free. In 161 Judas defeated See also:Nicanor at Adasa, but within a few See also:weeks thereafter, in a heroic struggle against See also:superior See also:numbers under Bacchides at Elasa, he was himself cut off. Even this, however, did not prove fatal to the cause which Judas had espoused. If in his brother See also:Jonathan it did not possess so brilliant a soldier, it had in him an astute diplomatist who knew how to exploit the internal troubles of Syria. In the contest between See also:Demetrius I. and Alexander Balas for the See also:throne, Jonathan supported the latter, who in 153 nominated him high priest, and conferred on him the order of " King's Friend," besides other honours. After the See also:accession of Demetrius II. (145) Jonathan contrived to win his favour, and helped him to crush a rebellion in Antioch on See also:condition that the Syrian garrisons should be withdrawn from Judaea. When, however, Demetrius failed to keep his word, Jonathan transferred his See also:allegiance to Antiochus VI., whom Tryphon had crowned as king. After subjugating the territory between Jerusalem and See also:Damascus, he routed the generals of Demetrius on the See also:plain of Hazor. But as the Maccabees had now in the name of the Syrians cleared the Syrians out of Palestine, Tryphon's See also:jealousy was aroused, and he resolved to be rid of Jonathan, who, with all his cunning, walked into a See also:trap at Ptolemais, was made prisoner and ultimately slain (143).

The leadership now devolved upon See also:

Simon, the last survivor of the sons of Mattathias. He soon got the better of Tryphon, who vainly tried to reach Jerusalem. Allying himself to Demetrius, Simon succeeded in negotiating a treaty whereby the See also:political See also:independence of Judaea was at length secured. The garrison in the Akra having been starved into submission, Simon triumphantly entered that fortress in May 142. In the following See also:year he was by popular See also:decree invested with See also:absolute See also:powers, being appointed leader, high priest and ethnarch. As these offices were declared hereditary in his family, he became the founder of the Hasmonaean dynasty. The first year of his reign (Seleucid year 170 = 143—142 B.c.) was made the beginning of a new era, and the issue of a Jewish coinage betokened the independence of his See also:sovereignty. Under Simon's See also:administration the See also:country enjoyed signal prosperity. Its internal resources were assiduously See also:developed; See also:trade, See also:agriculture, civic See also:justice and religion were fostered; while at no See also:epoch in its See also:post-exilic history did See also:Israel enjoy an equal measure of social happiness (1 Macc. xiv. 4 seq.). Simon's beneficent activities came, however, to a sudden and tragic end. In 135 he and two of his sons were murdered by See also:Ptolemy his son-in-law, who had an See also:eye to the supreme See also:power.

But Simon's third son, See also:

John See also:Hyrcanus, warned in See also:time, succeeded in asserting his rights as hereditary See also:head of the See also:state. All the sons of Mattathias had now. died for the See also:sake of " The Law "; and the result of their See also:work, so valorously prosecuted for over See also:thirty years, was a new-See also:born enthusiasm in Israel for the ancestral faith. The Maccabaean struggle thus gave fresh See also:life to the Jewish nation. After the death of Antiochus VII. Sidetes in 128 See also:left him a free See also:hand, Hyrcanus (135—105) soon carved out for himself a large and prosperous See also:kingdom, which, however, was See also:rent by internal discord owing to the antagonism developed between the rival parties of the See also:Pharisees and See also:Sadducees. Hyrcanus was succeeded by his son See also:Aristobulus, whose reign of but one year was followed by that of his brother, the warlike Alexander Jannaeus (104—78). The new king's Sadducean proclivities rendered him odious to the populace; which See also:rose in revolt, but only to bring upon itself a See also:savage revenge. The accession of his widow See also:Salome Alexandra (78-69) witnessed a See also:complete reversal of the policy pursued by Jannaeus, for she See also:chose to See also:rule in accordance with the ideals of the Pharisees. Her See also:elder son, Hyrcanus II., a pliable weakling, was appointed high priest; her younger son, the energetic Aristobulus, who chafed at his exclusion from office, seized some twenty strong-holds and with an See also:army See also:bore down upon Jerusalem. At this crisis Alexandra died, and Hyrcanus agreed to retire in favour of his masterful brother. A new and disturbing See also:element now entered into Jewish politics in the See also:person of the Idumaean See also:Antipater, who for selfish ends deliberately made-. See also:mischief between the See also:brothers. An See also:appeal to M.

Aeroilius See also:

Scaurus, who in 65 came into Syria as the See also:legate of See also:Pompey, led to the interference of the See also:Romans, the See also:siege of Jerusalem by Pompey, and the vassalage of the Jews (q.v.). Hyrcanus II. was appointed high priest and ethnarch, without the title of king (63). Repeated but fruitless attempts were made by the Hasmonaeans and their patriotic supporters to throw off the See also:Roman yoke. In 47 Antipater, who curried favour with See also:Rome, was' made See also:procurator of Judaea, and his sons Phasael and See also:Herod See also:governors of Jerusalem and See also:Galilee respectively. Six years later the Idumaean brothers were appointed tetrarchs of Judaea. At length, in 40, the ' Parthians set up as king Antigonus, See also:sole surviving son of Aristobulus. Thereupon Phasael committedsuicide in See also:prison, but Herod effected his See also:escape and with the help of the Romans seated himself on the throne of Judaea (37 B.C.). Through the See also:execution of Antigonus by M. See also:Antonius (See also:Mark Antony) the same year the Hasmonaean dynasty became See also:extinct. JEWS; SELEUCID DYNASTY. (W.

End of Article: MACCABEES

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