Dr. Helen Bond

I mean, there's no evidence for that whatsoever.

The first evidence we have for the Pharisees is in the late 2nd century BCE.

And I think the most likely time for the emergence of many of these groups and different sects within Judaism is the Hasmonean takeover.

The thing about the Hasmoneans is that they're kings, but they're also high priests.

And so they're combining religious and political power in one person.

And this was unheard of until now.

And some people don't care.

Some people are happy.

Other people find this really too much and they're against this.

And I think it's at this period, just as in a way they get a certain stability and home rule is established, that you get all this sort of squabbling and infighting about who has the right idea for Israel?

What's the way that we should organize ourselves?

Yes, exactly.

They are the Maccabees, actually.

Maccabee is just a nickname.

Their family name is Assyminia, so they become the Hasmonean dynasty.

Maybe not so much thriving.

We're dependent on Josephus for this.

They're strangely sort of absent from the books of Maccabees.

But Josephus tells us, and it has a legendary sound to it.

So one of the greatest Maccabean kings was John Hykenus.