en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharisees
2 corrections found
After defeating the Seleucid forces, Judas Maccabaeus's nephew, John Hyrcanus, established a new monarchy in the form of the priestly Hasmonean dynasty in 152 BC, thus establishing priests as both political and religious authorities.
This sentence conflates John Hyrcanus with earlier Hasmonean rulers. John Hyrcanus succeeded Simon around 135/134 BCE; 152 BCE refers to Jonathan’s appointment as high priest, not Hyrcanus’s rise to power.
Full reasoning
The date and person are mixed up here.
- John Hyrcanus did not establish Hasmonean rule in 152 BCE. The Jewish Encyclopedia states that when Simon Maccabeus was assassinated, John Hyrcanus succeeded him in 135 BCE and became high priest then.
- 152 BCE belongs to Jonathan, not John Hyrcanus. Livius’s overview of the Hasmonaeans states that in 152 BCE Alexander Balas appointed Jonathan as high priest, while John Hyrcanus I ruled later, from 134–104 BCE.
So the sentence incorrectly attributes a 152 BCE development to John Hyrcanus. A historically accurate version would place John Hyrcanus’s accession in 135/134 BCE, while noting that 152 BCE marks the earlier elevation of Jonathan Apphus within the Hasmonean rise to power.
2 sources
- HYRCANUS, JOHN (JOHANAN) I. - JewishEncyclopedia.com
When his father, Simon Maccabeus, was assassinated at Jericho ... John hastened to Jerusalem, where the people gladly received him as Simon's successor (135). He never assumed the title of king, being content with that of high priest.
- Hasmonaeans - Livius
In 152, the Seleucid pretender Alexander Balas appointed Jonathan as high priest... This policy was continued by his son John Hyrcanus... John Hyrcanus I 134-104.
When the Romans finally broke the entrance to Jerusalem's Temple, the Pharisees killed the priests who were officiating the Temple services on Sabbath.
Josephus says the officiating priests were killed by the Roman attackers, not by Pharisees. This sentence misidentifies who carried out the killings during Pompey’s capture of the Temple.
Full reasoning
The surviving accounts of Pompey’s capture of Jerusalem do not say Pharisees killed the priests at the altar.
- In Josephus’s Antiquities account of the siege, once the enemy entered the Temple area, "the enemy then fell upon them, and cut the throats of those that were in the temple" while the priests continued their sacrifices.
- In Josephus’s parallel War account, the priests are described as continuing their worship while surrounded; then Roman forces entered and slew them.
- The Jewish Encyclopedia’s summary of Pompey likewise says that the priests were massacred by the Roman soldiers.
So even if Hyrcanus’s party or Pharisaic sympathizers aided Pompey politically, the specific claim that Pharisees killed the officiating priests is contradicted by the sources, which attribute the killings to the Romans / the attacking enemy.
3 sources
- How Pompey when the Citizens of Jerusalem Shut their Gates against Him Besieged the City and Took it by Force; as Also what Other Things He
although the city was taken... and the enemy then fell upon them, and cut the throats of those that were in the temple; yet could not those that offered the sacrifices be compelled to run away
- Flavius Josephus: Josephus: The Complete Works - Christian Classics Ethereal Library
many of the priests... go on with their Divine worship, and were slain while they were offering their drink-offerings... Now of the Jews were slain twelve thousand; but of the Romans very few were slain
- POMPEY THE GREAT - JewishEncyclopedia.com
The priests who were officiating despite the battle were massacred by the Roman soldiers, and many committed suicide; while 12,000 people besides were killed.