Hasmonean

[ haz-muh-nee-uhn ]

noun

1. a member of a priestly family of Jewish rulers and leaders in Judea in the 1st and 2nd centuries b.c.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Hasmonean¹

First recorded in 1610–20; variant (with h-, from Hebrew kh- ) of Asmonean, from Late Latin Asmōnae(us) of Hasmōn (from Greek Asmṓnaios ) + -an

Example Sentences

One Talmudic story describes a certain Hasmonean king murdering every rabbi in the kingdom, and then desperately seeking someone who could recite the blessing after meals for himself and his wife.

From Slate

In another, a young girl descended from the Hasmonean line jumps from a roof rather than marry King Herod, described as an illegitimate heir to the dynasty.

From Slate

At the same time, as both ancient and modern rabbis have understood, one cannot write the Maccabees, the military battle, or the Hasmonean dynasty entirely out of the Chanukah story.

From Slate

It wants Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to guarantee Israeli control over sites such as the remnants of hilltop Hasmonean and Herodian forts dating back two millennia, and hundreds of ruins from earlier Jewish rule.

From Reuters

The first close sequence of coins commences with the Seleucid Antiochus VII, in 136 B.C., and runs through the Hasmonean rulers to 37 B.C.—that is, it covers the period of Jewish independence and extends to the accession of Herod the Great.

From The New Yorker