Author of the Judean revolt against the
Greco-Syrian empire (166
BCE) & patriarch of the Hasmonean dynasty of Judean
rulers. By birth Mattathias was a lesser priest of the line of
Jehoiarib & the family of Hasmon. A fervent religious
conservative, he moved his family to Modein,
a village northwest of Jerusalem,
to escape Hellenization of the temple cult. After
Antiochus IV pillaged the temple & replaced Judean religious tradition with
Greek worship & culture (167
CE), Mattathias led Judeans to
rebel against Syrian domination. He died within a year but his
revolt was continued by his sons, three of whom -- Judah
Maccabee, Jonathan & Simon
-- became de facto
rulers of Judea.
His descendents (through the offspring of
Aristobulus
IV) remained prominent in the
politics of the Near East until almost 100
CE. He himself was
celebrated in later rabbinic Judaism as a champion of religious
freedom.
References:
Josephus,
Antiquities
12.265-285,
305,
433.
_____, War
1.36.
1 Maccabees
2:1-70
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