John Hyrcanus

John Hyrcanus /hərˈkeɪnəs/ (Hebrew: יוחנן הורקנוס‎‎ Yohanan Hurqanos; Greek: Ἰωάννης Ὑρκανός Iōánnēs Hurkānós) was a Hasmonean (Maccabeean) leader and Jewish High Priest of the 2nd century BCE (born 164 BCE, reigned from 134 BCE until his death in 104 BCE). In rabbinic literature he is often referred to by the epithet, Yoḥanan Cohen Gadol (Hebrew: יוחנן כהן גדול‎).

Josephus explains in The Jewish War that John was also known as "Hyrcanus", but does not explain the reason behind this name. The only other primary source, the Books of the Maccabees, never used this name with respect to John, with the single reference to Hyrcanus in 2 Maccabees 3:11 referring to a man to whom some of the money in the Temple belonged during the c. 178 BCE visit of Heliodorus.

The reason for the name is disputed amongst biblical scholars, with a variety of reasons proposed:

He was the son of Simon Maccabaeus and hence the nephew of Judas Maccabaeus, Jonathan Maccabaeus and their siblings, whose story is told in the deuterocanonical books of 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees, in the Talmud, and in Josephus. John was not present at a banquet at which his father and his two brothers were murdered, purportedly by his brother-in-law, Ptolemy, son of Abubus. He attained to his father's former offices, that of high priest and national leader (but not king). Josephus said that John Hyrcanus had five sons but named only four in his histories: Judah Aristobulus I, Antigonus I, Alexander Jannai, and Absalom.

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