The Nuttall Encyclopedia

1. Hyrcanus, John

   the son of Simon Maccabeus, king of Judea, as well as High-Priest of the Jews from 135 to 105 B.C.; achieved the independence of his country from the Syrian yoke, extended the borders of it, and compelled the Edomites to accept the Jewish faith at the point of the sword; in the strife then rampant between the Sadducees (q. v.) and the Pharisees (q. v.) he sided with the former.