person · P0438
Yochanan Hyrcanus יוחנן הורקנוס
Son of Shimon, high priest and ruler for thirty years: conqueror of Idumea and destroyer of the Samaritan temple on Gerizim. The Bavli remembers a Yochanan Kohen Gadol who served eighty years in the high priesthood and in the end became a Sadducee — traditionally linked to his late break with the Pharisees, which Josephus narrates at length.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- יוחנן הורקנוס
- Also known as
- John Hyrcanus, Yochanan Kohen Gadol
- Era
- second-temple
- Parents
- Shimon HaMakabi
- Children
- Aristobulus I, Alexander Yannai
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 3596–3656 AM (ruled 3625–3656)
- Academic
- ruled 134–104 BCE
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈60 years
- Precision
- approximate
III. Where
- Places
- Jerusalem
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Yochanan Kohen Gadol served in the high priesthood eighty years, and in the end became a Sadducee" — the Bavli's warning not to trust oneself until one's dying day, commonly identified with Hyrcanus's break with the Pharisees.
The identification is the common traditional and scholarly view (Josephus, Antiquities 13.288–296 tells the parallel story); the same sugya debates whether this Yochanan is Yannai, so the match is recorded with reserve.
|
rabbinic tradition | ★★★☆☆ | |
| Josephus records his thirty-one-year rule: he conquered Idumea and bound it to Judaism, destroyed the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim, and renewed the alliance with Rome. | external | ★★★★☆ | |
| His bronze coinage — "Yehochanan the kohen gadol and the chever of the Yehudim" in paleo-Hebrew script — is the first sustained Jewish coin series, naming him by title exactly as ruler-priest, not king. | external archaeology | ★★★★☆ | |
| AM placement (ruled 3625–3656) is schematic: conventional Josephus- based dates mapped onto the atlas timeline at AM ≈ 3760 − BCE / 3760 + CE, consistent with the Second Temple's destruction at 3828 AM. The lifespan band is widened around the attested career. | reconstruction | ★★☆☆☆ |