person · P0442
Hyrcanus II הורקנוס השני
Elder son of Yannai and Shlomtzion: high priest under his mother, king for three months, then locked in the brothers' war with Aristobulus that brought Pompey to Jerusalem. Rome restored him as high priest and ethnarch — with Antipater's house rising beneath him — until the Parthians carried him off and Antigonus mutilated his ear to bar him from the priesthood. Herod, once his protégé, executed him at the end.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- הורקנוס השני
- Also known as
- John Hyrcanus II
- Era
- second-temple
- Parents
- Alexander Yannai, Shlomtzion
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 3650–3730 AM (kohen gadol 3684–3693 and 3697–3720; executed 3730)
- Academic
- c. 110–30 BCE; high priest 76–67 and 63–40 BCE, ethnarch from 47 BCE
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈80 years
- Precision
- approximate
III. Where
- Places
- Jerusalem
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Bavli remembers the brothers' war: "When the kings of the Hasmonean house besieged one another, Hyrcanus was outside and Aristobulus within," and the daily lamb was hoisted over the wall for coin — until a swine was sent up instead, and the land quaked. | rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| Josephus: deposed by his brother, restored by Pompey (63 BCE) as high priest, named ethnarch by Caesar (47 BCE); Antigonus bit or cut off his ear so that the blemish would disqualify him from the high priesthood; Herod later had the old man executed (30 BCE). | external | ★★★★☆ | |
| AM placement (kohen gadol 3684–3693 and 3697–3720) 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 | ★★☆☆☆ |