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Mattathias ben Johanan (Hebrew: מַתִּתְיָהוּ הַכֹּהֵן בֶּן יוֹחָנָן, Mattīṯyāhū haKōhēn ben Yōḥānān; died 166–165 BCE) was a Kohen (Jewish priest) who helped spark the Maccabean Revolt against the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire.
Mattathias was a Jewish priest and landowner of Modein, near Jerusalem, who in 167 defied the decree of Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Syria to Hellenize the Jews; he fled to the Judaean hills with his five sons and waged a guerrilla war against the Syrians, being succeeded by his son Judas Maccabeus.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The originator of the Maccabean rebellion. His genealogy is given as follows in the First Book of Maccabees, the most authentic source: "Mattathias, the son of John, the son of Simeon, a priest of the sons of Joiarib, from Jerusalem; and he dwelt at Modin" (I Macc. ii. 1).
The Maccabees ( / ˈmækəbiːz / ), also spelled Machabees ( Hebrew: מַכַּבִּים, Makkabbīm or מַקַבִּים, Maqabbīm; Latin: Machabaei or Maccabaei; Ancient Greek: Μακκαβαῖοι, Makkabaioi ), were a group of Jewish rebel warriors who took control of Judea, which at the time was part of the Seleucid Empire.
A rural Jewish priest from Modein, Mattathias (Hebrew: Matityahu) of the Hasmonean family, sparked the revolt against the Seleucid Empire by refusing to worship the Greek gods at Modein's new altar. Mattathias killed a Jew who had stepped forward to take Mattathias' place in sacrificing to an idol as well as the Greek officer who was sent to ...
May 17, 2024 · Maccabees - Jewish Resistance, Revolt, Dynasty: The home of Mattathias, a priest in the village of Modiʿim (now Modiʿin), 17 miles (27 km) northwest of Jerusalem, quickly became the centre of resistance.
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The revolt launched by the priest Mattathias and later led by his third son, Judah Maccabee, was both a civil war and a war against an outside enemy.
