person · P0440
Alexander Yannai אלכסנדר ינאי
Warrior-king and high priest for twenty-seven years, and the Talmud's archetypal persecutor-king: after the break with the sages "the world was desolate" until his brother-in-law Shimon ben Shatach (Shimon ben Shatach) restored the Torah. Josephus adds civil war with the Pharisees and the crucifixion of eight hundred opponents. His bilingual coins — "Yehonatan the king" / "of King Alexander" — name him in both his worlds.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- אלכסנדר ינאי
- Also known as
- Alexander Jannaeus, Yannai HaMelech, Yehonatan
- Era
- second-temple
- Parents
- Yochanan Hyrcanus
- Spouses
- Shlomtzion
- Children
- Hyrcanus II, Aristobulus II
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 3635–3684 AM (ruled 3657–3684)
- Academic
- c. 125–76 BCE; ruled 103–76 BCE
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈49 years
- Precision
- approximate
III. Where
- Places
- Jerusalem
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Bavli's account of the rupture: at the feast after his desert conquests, the incident of Elazar ben Poirah turned King Yannai against the sages — "and all the sages of Israel were massacred, and the world was desolate until Shimon ben Shatach came and restored the Torah to its former state."
The Bavli's own narrative; Josephus (Antiquities 13.372–383) tells a parallel of revolt and the crucifixion of 800. The sugya itself debates whether Yannai and Yochanan are one king.
|
rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| King Yannai and the queen were dining with no one to say the blessing after the meal, the sages being dead; the queen brought in her brother Shimon ben Shatach, seated between the royal couple — the Bavli's picture of the court and of the queen's kinship to the sage. | rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| His coins carry "Yehonatan HaMelech" in paleo-Hebrew and "of King Alexander" (ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ) in Greek — the king naming himself in both languages; hoards of them blanket the country. | external archaeology | ★★★★★ | |
| AM placement (ruled 3657–3684) 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 | ★★☆☆☆ |