Life and Work
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 only named three in his histories--Judah Aristobulus I, Antigonus I, and Alexander Jannai.
Read more about this topic: John Hyrcanus
Famous quotes containing the words life and/or work:
““From those constellations turn
Your eyes, and sleep; for every man
Is living; and for peace upon
His life should rest;
This must everybody learn
For mutual happiness; that trust
Alone is best.””
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“Meanwhile, if the fear of falling into error sets up a mistrust of Science, which in the absence of such scruples gets on with the work itself, and actually cognizes something, it is hard to see why we should not turn round and mistrust this very mistrust.... What calls itself fear of error reveals itself rather as fear of the truth.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)