v49_0312 - JUDAEA - HASMOAEAN KINGDOM - ALEXANDER JANNAEUS Prutah, (PB, Æ 15)

JUDAEA - HASMOAEAN KINGDOM - ALEXANDER JANNAEUS

(103-76 BC)

John Hyrcanus I is the grandson of Matthias (+ 166 AC.), the son of Judah (+ 160 AC.), the nephew of Jonathan (+ 143 AC.) and of Simon (+ 134 AC.). He belongs to the Maccabees or Macabees (the), family of Jewish patriots which is at the origin of a national uprising (167 BC) against the Hellenization policy of the Seleucid king Antiochos IV Epiphanes (175-164 BC.). Mathias died at the start of the revolt and his sons perished in their turn. Simon obtained the independence of Judea in 142 BC. John I Hyrcan is the founder of the Hasmonean dynasty. The story of the Maccabean revolt is traced in the four biblical Books of the Maccabees, composed between the 1st century BC. and the 2nd century AD. Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 AC.) is the son of John Hyrcan. He succeeds his brother Aristobulus I (104-103 AC) to whom he disputes the throne. At his death, the Jewish state is powerful and geographically significant.