The
rebellion against forced Hellenization is led by a group of non-Jerusalemites
loyal to the YHWHistic temple, a family of landed priests (Maccabean revolt,
168 or 167-165 or 164BCE). Because of its fervent effort to preserve the
Torah and to restore the Temple and the city of Jerusalem to its erstwhile
ritual purity, the Hasmoneans, as they are later called by the name of
their ancestor (House of Hasmon), are given the office of High Priesthood,
despite the fact that they are not from the lineage of Zadok. In the late
second century, when the Seleucids are decisively weakened on other fronts,
the Hasmoneans renew the national independence of Judah and greatly expand
its realm by conquest and forced conversion, establishing the second royal
dynasty in Judah.
Image: Hasmonean coin with the seven-armed candelabra, a symbol of the Temple in Jerusalem and its worship. Hasmonean coins minted in Jerusalem did not bear the image of a king or of an emperor.