MACCABEES, the name (in the plural) of a distinguished Jewish family dominant iii Jerusalem in the 2nd century B.C. Ac cording to I Macc. ii. 4, the name Maccabaeus (Gr.MaKicaOcios, Heb. 'zi?0 was originally the distinctive surname of Judas, third son of the Jewish priest Mattathias, who struck the first blow for religious liberty during the persecution under Antiochus IV. (Epiphanes). Subsequently, however, it obtained a wider signifi cance, having been applied first to the kinsmen of Judas, then to his adherents, and ultimately to all champions of religion in the Greek period. It is now customary to apply it only to the sons and descendants of Mattathias. As, however, according to Jose phus (Ant. xii. 6.1), this brave priest's great-great-grandfather was called Hasmon, the family is more correctly designated by the name of the Hasmonaeans or Asmoneans. If Maccabee (maqqabi) is the original form of the name, the most probable derivation is from the Aramaic maqqaba (Heb. rci,p Judg. iv. 21, etc.) ="hammer." The surname "hammerer" might have been applied to Judas either as a distinctive title pure and simple or symbolically as in the parallel case of Edward I., "Scotorum malleus." The Maccabaean revolt was caused by the attempt of Anti ochus IV. (Epiphanes), king of Syria (175-164 B.c.), to force Hellenism upon Judaea (see SELEUCID DYNASTY HELLENISM ). In Dec. 168 sacrifice was offered to Zeus upon an idol altar ("the abomination of desolation," Dan. x. 27) erected over the great altar of burnt-offering. The issue of an important edict ordaining the erection of heathen altars in every township of Palestine, and the appointment of officers to 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 Jew who was about to step into the breach. Having thus given the signal for rebellion, he then with his five sons took to the mountains. Many, includ ing the Hasidim ( ---=the pious), who had constituted themselves champions of the Law, thereupon flocked to his standard, and set themselves to revive Jewish rites and to uproot Paganism from the land. In 166 Mattathias died, after charging his sons to give their lives for their ancestral faith, and nominating Judas Macca baeus as their leader in the holy campaign.
The military genius of Judas made this the most stirring chap ter in Israelitish history. In quick succession he overthrew the Syrian generals Apollonius, Seron and Gorgias, and after the regent Lysias had shared the same fate at his hands he restored the Temple worship (165). These exploits dismayed his oppo nents and kindled the enthusiasm of his friends. When, however, Lysias returned in force to renew the contest, Judas had to fall back upon the Temple mount, and escaped defeat only because the Syrian leader was obliged to hasten back to Antioch in order to prevent a rival from seizing the regency. Under these circum stances 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 Hasidim indeed were satisfied, and declined to fight longer, but the Maccabees determined not to desist until their nation was politically as well as religiously free. In 161 Judas defeated
Nicanor at Adasa, but within a few weeks thereafter, in a heroic struggle against superior numbers under Bacchides at Elasa, he was himself cut off. If in his brother Jonathan the cause which Judas had espoused did not possess so brilliant a soldier, it had in him an astute diplomatist who knew how to exploit the internal troubles of Syria. With all his cunning, Jonathan walked into a trap at Ptolemais, was made prisoner and ultimately slain The leadership now devolved upon Simon, the last survivor of the sons of Mattathias, who succeeded in negotiating a treaty whereby the political independence of Judaea was at length secured in May 142. In the following year he was by popular decree in vested with absolute 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 sovereignty. Under Simon's administration the country enjoyed signal prosperity, but in 135 he and two of his sons were murdered by Ptolemy his son-in-law, who had an eye on the supreme power. Simon's third son, John Hyrcanus, warned in time, succeeded in asserting his rights as hereditary head of the state. The Maccabaean struggle thus gave fresh life to the Jewish nation.
After the death of Antiochus VII. Sidetes in 128 left him a free hand, Hyrcanus (135-105) soon carved out for himself a large and prosperous kingdom, which, however, was rent by inter nal discord owing to the antagonism developed between the rival parties of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Hyrcanus was succeeded by his son 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 rose in revolt, but only to bring upon itself a savage revenge. The accession of his widow Salome Alexandra (78-69) witnessed a complete reversal of the policy pursued by Jannaeus, for she chose to rule in accordance with the ideals of the Pharisees. Her elder son, Hyrcanus II., a pliable weakling, was appointed high priest; her younger son, the energetic Aris tobulus, who chafed at his exclusion from office, seized some 20 strongholds and with an army bore down upon Jerusalem. At this crisis Alexandra died, and Hyrcanus agreed to retire in favour of his masterful brother. A new and disturbing element now entered into Jewish politics in the person of the Idumaean Anti pater, who for selfish ends deliberately made mischief between the brothers. An appeal to M. Aemilius Scaurus, who in 65 came into Syria at the legate of Pompey, led to the interference of the Romans, the siege of Jerusalem by Pompey and the vassalage of the Jews (q.v.). Repeated but fruitless attempts were made by the Hasmonaeans and their patriotic supporters to throw off the Roman yoke. At length, in 4o, the Parthians set up as king Antigonus, sole surviving son of Aristobulus. Through the execu tion of Antigonus by M. Antonius (Mark Antony) in 37 B.C. the Hasmonaean dynasty became extinct.