Maccabees

The Maccabees also spelled Machabees (Hebrew: מכבים‎ or Maqabim, מקבים, Machabi (Latin) or Machado from Latin (marculatum) that means "Hammer" (Greek: Μακκαβαῖοι, /makav'εï/) were a Jewish rebel army that took control of Judea, which had been a client state of the Seleucid Empire. They founded the Hasmonean dynasty, which ruled from 164 BCE to 63 BCE, reasserting the Jewish religion, expanding the boundaries of the Land of Israel, by conquest, which included instances of forced conversion, reducing the influence of Hellenism and Hellenistic Judaism.