This state of affairs continued into the second century BCE, when the Jewish people gained their independence from the Hellenistic empire of Antiochus Epiphanes around 164 BCE. The successful revolt was led by a Jewish family known as the Maccabees. Also known as the Hasmoneans, they ruled the Jewish homeland from Jerusalem for about a hundred years, until it fell under the control of Rome in 63 BCE. After abolishing the Jewish monarchy, Rome initially ruled through the high priest, the temple, and a local aristocracy centered in the temple.
