THE FAMILY OF THE ASMONEANS, OR MACCABEES.
The name "Maccabee," probably derived from a Hebrew word signifying a"Hammer," was originally given to Judas, and afterwards extended to hisfour brothers. They came of a priestly family, belonging to the first andnoblest of the twenty-four "courses," taking its name from a certain Asmonor Chasmon, great-grandfather of Mattathias, father of Judas. The fiveheroic brothers all met with a violent death.
That of Judas and Eleazar has been already described.
John, the eldest, was killed in a skirmish, shortly after the death ofJudas.
Jonathan maintained himself in power by a clever policy of leaning onRome, and taking part with various claimants to the Syrian crown. Hebecame High-priest at some time after the year 153, and perished in 144 bythe treachery of a certain Tryphon, who usurped for a time the throne ofSyria.
Simon succeeded to the High-priesthood, and governed the Jewish people fora period of eight years with great success. In B.C. 143 he obtained fromthe Syrian king a formal recognition of the independence of the Jews, andin the following year he got possession of the fortress in Jerusalemoccupied by the Syrian faction. In 135 he was treacherously murdered byhis son-in-law, Ptolemaeus.
Simon, who had maintained the alliance with Rome, was succeeded by his sonJohn Hyrcanus, who followed the same policy, and he again by his sonAristobulus, who assumed the title of King in 107.
Mariamne, the unhappy wife of Herod the Great, belonged to the MaccabeanHouse. With the death of her two sons it became extinct.
The Gresham Press, UNWIN BROTHERS, CHILWORTH AND LONDON.