Hasmonean dynasty
Hasmonean Kingdom ממלכת החשמונאים Mamleḵeṯ hāḤašmonaʾim | |||||||||
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| 140–37 BC | |||||||||
| Status |
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| Capital | Jerusalem | ||||||||
| Common languages |
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| Religion | Second Temple Judaism | ||||||||
| Government | Theocratic monarchy | ||||||||
| Monarch | |||||||||
• 140–134 BC | Simon Thassi | ||||||||
• 134 (110)–104 BC | John Hyrcanus | ||||||||
• 104–103 BC | Aristobulus I | ||||||||
• 103–76 BC | Alexander Jannaeus | ||||||||
• 76–67 BC | Salome Alexandra | ||||||||
• 67–66 BC | Hyrcanus II | ||||||||
• 66–63 BC | Aristobulus II | ||||||||
• 63–40 BC | Hyrcanus II | ||||||||
• 40–37 BC | Antigonus | ||||||||
| Legislature | Early Sanhedrin | ||||||||
| Historical era | Hellenistic Age | ||||||||
| 167 BC | |||||||||
• Dynasty established | 140 BC | ||||||||
• Full independence | 110 BC | ||||||||
| 63 BC | |||||||||
| 40 BC | |||||||||
• Overthrown by Herod | 37 BC | ||||||||
| Currency | Hasmonean coinage | ||||||||
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| Today part of | |||||||||
The Hasmonean dynasty (/hæzməˈniːən/; Hebrew: חַשְׁמוֹנָאִים Ḥašmōnāʾīm; Greek: Ασμοναϊκή δυναστεία) was a ruling dynasty of Judea and surrounding regions during the Hellenistic times of the Second Temple period (part of classical antiquity), from c. 140 BC to 37 BC. Between c. 140 and c. 116 BC the dynasty ruled Judea semi-autonomously within the Seleucid Empire, and from roughly 110 BC, with the empire disintegrating, gained further autonomy and expanded into the neighboring regions of Perea, Samaria, Idumea, Galilee, and Iturea. The Hasmonean rulers took the Greek title basileus ("king") and the kingdom attained regional power status for several decades. Forces of the Roman Republic intervened in the Hasmonean Civil War in 63 BC, turning the kingdom into a client state and marking an irreversible decline of Hasmonean power; Herod the Great displaced the last reigning Hasmonean client-ruler in 37 BC.
Simon Thassi established the dynasty in 141 BC, two decades after his brother Judas Maccabeus (יהודה המכבי Yehudah HaMakabi) had defeated the Seleucid army during the Maccabean Revolt of 167 to 141 BC. According to 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, and the first book of The Jewish War by historian Josephus (37 – c. 100 AD), the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (r. 175–164) moved to assert strict control over the Seleucid satrapy of Coele Syria and Phoenicia after his successful invasion of Ptolemaic Egypt (170–168 BC) was turned back by the intervention of the Roman Republic. He sacked Jerusalem and its Temple, suppressing Jewish and Samaritan religious and cultural observances, and imposed Hellenistic practices (c. 168–167 BC). The steady collapse of the Seleucid Empire under attacks from the rising powers of the Roman Republic and the Parthian Empire allowed Judea to regain some autonomy; however, in 63 BC, the kingdom was invaded by the Roman Republic, broken up and set up as a Roman client state.
Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, Simon's great-grandsons, became pawns in a proxy war between Julius Caesar and Pompey. The deaths of Pompey (48 BC) and Caesar (44 BC), and the related Roman civil wars, temporarily relaxed Rome's grip on the Hasmonean kingdom, allowing a brief reassertion of autonomy backed by the Parthian Empire, rapidly crushed by the Romans under Mark Antony and Augustus.
The Hasmonean dynasty had survived for 103 years before yielding to the Herodian dynasty in 37 BC. The installation of Herod the Great (an Idumean) as king in 37 BC made Judea a Roman client state and marked the end of the Hasmonean dynasty. Even then, Herod tried to bolster the legitimacy of his reign by marrying a Hasmonean princess, Mariamne, and planning to drown the last male Hasmonean heir at his Jericho palace. In 6 AD, Rome joined Judea proper, Samaria and Idumea into the Roman province of Judaea. In 44 AD, Rome installed the rule of a procurator side by side with the rule of the Herodian kings (specifically Agrippa I 41–44 and Agrippa II 50–100).