Maccabees and Hasmonean Kings

Jerusalem: In Search of the Maccabees by By Jacqueline Schaalje. As is well known, the Jewish holiday of Chanukah is based on historic events. From the year 180 BCE until 161 BCE the Maccabees rebelled against the Syrian king Antiochus IV who persecuted the Jews. At the end of the period, after the rebels had conquered Judah and Jerusalem, the Temple was re-inaugurated.Generations-long struggles against the Syrian hegemony followed, at the end of which emerged the first Israeli kings, the Hasmonean dynasty (2ndto 1st Century BCE). They were the descendants of the Maccabees.