Category
page 12nd-century BCE Jews

Judah Maccabee
2nd century BCE Jewish priest and leader of Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucids

Mattathias
Mattathias ben Johanan (, 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's story is related in the deuterocanonical book of 1 Maccabees and in the writings of Josephus. Mattathias is accorded a central role in the story of Hanukkah and, as a result, is named in the Al HaNissim prayer Jews add to the Birkat Hamazon (grace after meals) and the Amidah during the festival's eight days.

Salome Alexandra
Queen regnant of Hasmonean Judaea from c.76 to 67 BCE
Jonathan Apphus
Leader of the Hasmonean dynasty from 161 to 143 BCE
Eleazar Avaran
Maccabean revolutionary
Ben Sira
2nd-century BC Jewish scribe, author of Sirach
Aristobulus of Paneas
philosopher
Jason
High Priest in the Temple in Jerusalem
Jason of Cyrene
Hellenistic Jewish historian (fl. ca. 100 BCE)
John Gaddi
the oldest of the sons of Mattathias, and brother of Judas Maccabeus
Simeon ben Shetach
Jewish Pharisee scholar (c. 140–60 BCE)

Ezekiel the Tragedian
Jewish dramatist who wrote in Alexandria, Egypt circa 3rd century BCE