From Poetry to Historiography: the Image of the Hasmoneans in Targum Canticles and the Question of the Targum's Provenance and Date

M. Mid. 1.6; b. Yom. 16a; b.'Abod. Zar. 52b: the sons of the Hasmoneans hid away in a chamber on the Temple Mount the stones of the altar which the Greek kings had defiled (cf. 1 Macc. 4.44-46).

B. Ta'an. 18b: Judas and the Hasmoneans defeated the Greek general Nicanor. In y. Ta'an. 66a and y. Meg. 70c the same story is told about an unnamed Hasmonean, 'a member of the Hasmonean house' (cf. 1 Macc. 7.26-49; 2 Macc. 15.1-26; Josephus, Ant. 12.402-412).

B. Meg. 6a: the Hasmoneans capture the fortress of Shur.

B. Meg. 11 a: 'Neither did I abhor them (Lev. 26.44)—in the days of the Greeks, when I raised up for them Simeon the Just and Hashmonai and his sons, and Mattathias the High Priest' (textual variants).

B. Roš Haš. 18b: the Sages forbid the practice of using the name of God in commercial documents after the Hasmonean victory (cf. n. 15 below).

B. Qid. 70b: anyone claiming descent from 'the royal house of the Hasmoneans' is in reality a slave (implies some families in Babylonia were claiming to be of royal Hasmonean descent). Cf. b. B. Bat 3b-4a: the last female descendant of the Hasmonean house commited suicide rather than marry Herod.

B. Šab. 21 b: the Hasmoneans found an untainted cruse of oil which burned for eight days. B. Šab. 21a-22a is the major Babylonian text giving the regulations for Hanukkah. The major western texts are Pesiqta Rabbati, esp. 2 and 6 (2.1; 2.2; 2.6; 3.1; 4.1; 6.1; 6.5; 8.1; 15.25), and Soferim 20.

B. Men. 28b; Pes. R. 2.1; b. Roš Haš. 24b; b.'Abod. Zar. 43b: the Hasmoneans made a make-shift Menorah out of eight iron spits to replace the one stolen from the Temple by the Greeks.

Gen. R. 99.2: it was appropriate that the Greeks should have been humbled by the Hasmoneans of the House of Levi. Cf. Gen. R. 97: Moses pitted the tribe of Levi against the Greek empire, because the Hasmoneans were of the tribe of Levi; Gen. R. 99.2: By whose hand will the Greek kingdom fall? By the hand of the Hasmoneans, descended from Levi.

Exod. R. 15.6: comment on Ps. 19.7: Mattathias the priest and his sons stood firm against the Greeks (quotation of Joel 4.10).

M. Sot. 9.10; m. Ma'as. Š. 5.15; t. Sot. 13.9-10; b. Sot. 47b-48a: The enactments of Yohanan the High Priest: 'Yohanan the High Priest brought to an end the confession made at the presentation of the tithe; he also abolished the "wakers" and the "knockers"; up to his days the hammer used to be struck in Jerusalem; and in his days there was no need to inquire about demai'.

M. Par. 3.5: Yohanan the High Priest prepared the ashes of the red heifer.

T. Sot. 13.7; b. Sot. 33a; Cant. R. 8.9 §3: 'Yohanan the High Priest heard a Bat Qol issue from the Holy of Holies announcing, The young men whom you sent to wage war against Antioch have been victorious'. The same voice was heard by Simeon the Just.

b. Ber. 29a: 'Yohanan the High Priest served as high priest for 80 years and in the end became a min. Abaye said: Yohanan is the same as Yannai. Rava said: Yohanan and Yannai are different; Yannai was originally wicked and Yohanan was originally righteous'. Cf. b. Yom. 9a: Yohanan the High Priest served for 80 years.

b. Roš Haš. 18b: business documents were dated 'in the year so-and-so of Yohanan, High Priest of God Most High'.

M. Suk. 4.9; t. Suk. 3.16: unnamed priest who poured libation water on his feet was pelted by the people with citrons. Josephus, Ant. 13.372 tells the same story about Alexander Jannaeus.

B. Ber. 48a: after King Yannai had put the Sages to death he had no one to say grace for him and his queen. Cf. Gen. R. 91.3.

Y. Ber. 11b; y. Naz. 54b; Gen. R. 91.3; Eccl. R. 7.12 §1: Shim'on ben Shetah tricked King Yannai into supplying offerings for a company of Nazirites.

B. Sanh. 107b; b. Sot. 47a: when King Yannai put the Sages to death ... Joshua ben Perahiah fled to Egypt. Similar stories in y. Hag. 77d and y. Sanh. 23c make no mention of Yannai or of any murderous Hasmonean king.

B. Qid. 66a: Judah ben Gedidiah impugned King Yannai's right to be high priest. Yannai massacred the Sages. Josephus, Ant. 13.288-92, tells a similar story about John Hyrcanus (Yohanan the High Priest).

B. Yom. 18a; b. Yeb. 61a: Martha the daughter of Boethus bribed King Yannai to nominate Joshua ben Gamala as one of the high priests.

B. Sanh. 19a-b: King Yannai corrupted the judicial process when his slave was tried for murder before Shim'on ben Shetah.

B. Ber. 44a: King Yannai used to have a tree in the King's Mountain from which they used to take down 40 se'ahs of young pigeons from three broods every month.

B. Git. 57a: King Yannai had 60 myriads of cities in the King's Mountain. Y. Ta'an. 69a and Lam. R. 2.2 §4 also speak of 60 myriads of cities in the King's Mountain, but do not mention Yannai.

B. Sot. 22b: King Yannai said to his wife: Fear not the Pharisees nor the non-Pharisees, but fear the hypocrites who ape the Pharisees

Num. R. 22.1: 2000 towns belonging to King Yannai were destroyed because their people swore true oaths.

B. Sot. 49b; b. B. Qam. 82b; b. Men. 64b: when the kings of the Hasmonean house fought one another, Hyrcanus was outside Jerusalem and Aristobulus was within. The besiegers sent up a pig in a basket to serve as the daily offering in the Temple. Y. Ber. 7b and y. Ta'an. 68c tell basically the same story but place it 'in the days of the Greek kingdom', without any mention of the Hasmoneans.