by 165 bce Judaea was ruled by one of Mattathias’s sons, the military leader Judas, nicknamed Maccabaeus or ‘the hammer’ either because of the physical form of his head or the ferocious temperament of the man. This nickname also became the epithet of his brothers, Jonathan Maccabee (161–143 bce) and Simon Maccabee (143–135 bce) who followed him in reigning over an independent Jewish state.
