Maccabees
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The Maccabees, also spelled Machabees, were a group of Jewish rebel warriors who re-took control of Judea, which at the time was occupied by the Seleucid Empire. Its leaders, the Hasmoneans, founded t
Wojciech Stattler's "Machabeusze" ("The Maccabees"), 1844
What are believed to be the Maccabees' relics – kept in the Maccabees Shrine – are venerated in St. Andrew's Church, Cologne, Germany.
Chanukia
Hasmonean dynasty
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The Hasmonean dynasty was the Jewish ruling dynasty of Judea during the Hellenistic times of the Second Temple period, from c. 141 BC to 37 BC.
Maccabees
…of Jewish rebel warriors who re-took control of Judea, which at the time was occupied by the Seleucid Empire. Its leaders, the Hasmoneans, founded the Hasmonean dynasty, which ruled from 167 BC (after the Maccabean Revolt) to 37 BC, being a fully independent kingdom from 104 to 63 BC. They reasserted the Jewish religion…
Coin of Antigonus II Mattathias, the last Hasmonean king of Judea (r. 40–37 BC)
Tetradrachm with portrait of Antiochus IV. Reverse shows Zeus seated on a throne. The Greek inscription reads ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΟΥ (of King Antiochus, God Manifest, Bringer of Victory).
Mattathias of Modi'in killing a Jewish apostate, engraving by Gustave Doré