Hyrcanus (YpKavoq, see Hircanus), the name of two of the high-priests and kings of the Maccabasan line of the Jews. See Maccabees.
1. John Hyrcanus, the son of Simon Maccabfeus, who sent him with his brother Judas to repel Cendebre- us, the general of Antiochus YII, B.C. 137. On the assassination of his father and two brothers, John as- cended the throne, B.C. 135. During the first year of his reign Jerusalem was besieged by Antiochus SideteSj
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and at length Hyrcanus was obliged to submit. The walls of Jerusalem were destroyed, and a tribute im- posed upon the city. Hyrcanus afterwards accompa- nied Antiochus in his expedition against the Parthians, but retiu-ncd to Jerusalem before the defeat of the Syr- ian army. After the defeat and death of Antiochus, B.C. 130", Hyrcanus took several cities belonging to the Syrian kingdom, and completely established his own independence. lie strengthened his power by an alli- ance with the Eonians, and extended his dominions by the conquest of the Idumreans, whom he compelled to submit to circumcision and to observe the ]Mosaic law ; and also by taking Samaria, which he levelled to the ground, and flooded the spot on which it had stood. The latter part of his reign was troubled by cUsputes between tlie Pharisees and Sadducees. Hyrcanus had originally belonged to the Pharisees, but had quitted their party in consequence of an insult he received at an entertainment from Eleazar, a person of importance among the Pharisees. By uniting himself to the Sad- ducees, Hyrcanu?!, notwithstanding the benefits he had conferred upon his country by his wise and vigorous government, became very unpopular with the common people, who were mostly attached to the Pharisees. H^-rcanus died B.C. IOC, and was succeeded by his son Aristobulus (Joseph. Ant. xiii, 7 sq. ; Wa?; i, 2; 1 Mace. XV, xvi ; Justin, xxxvi, 1 ; Diodorus, Exc. I/aesck, xxxiv, 1 ; Pint. Apophth. p. 184 sq. ; Eusebius, Chron. A rm. p. 94, 167). See Smith, Diet, of Classical Biography, s. V. See Antiochus.
2. Hyrcanus II, son of Alexander Jannseus, and grandson of the preceding. On the death of his father (B.C. 78) he was appointed high-priest by his mother Alexandra, who ruled Judrea herself for the next nine years. After her death (B.C. C9), his younger brother, Aristobulus, a braver and more energetic man, seized the government, and forced Hyrcanus to withdraw into private life. Induced by the Idum;Ban Antipater, and aided by Aretas, king of Arabia Petraja, he endeavored to win back his dominions, but was not successful until Pompey began to favor his cause. After some years of tumultuous lighting, Aristobulus was poisoned by the partisans of Ptolemy (B.C. -49), and HjTcauus, who had for some time possessed, if he had not enjoyed, the dig- nity of high-priest and ethnarch, was now deprived of the latter of these offices, for which, in truth, he was wholly incompetent. Caesar (B.C. 47), on account of the services rendered to him by Antipater, made the latter procurator of Judrea, and thus left in his hands all the real power, Hyrcanus busying himself only with the affairs of the priesthood and Temple. Troubles, however, were in store for him. Antipater was assassin- ated, and Antigonus, son of Aristobulus, with the help of the Parthian king, Orodes I, invaded the land, cap- tured Hyrcanus by treachery, cut otf his ears, and thus disqualitied him for the office of high-priest, and carried him off to Seleucia, on the Tigris. Some years later, Herod, son of his old friend Antipater, obtained supreme power in JudiBa, and invited the aged Hyrcanus home to Jerusalem. He was allowed to depart, and for some time li\'ed in ease and comfort, but, falUng under suspi- cion of intriguing against Herod, he was put to death (B.C. 30) (Josephus, Ant. xiii, IG ; xiv, 1-13 ; War, i, 5- 11; Dio Cass, xxxvii, 15, 16; xlviii, 26; Diod. xi, Ex. Vet. p. 128 ; Oros. vi, 6 ; Euseb. Chron. A rm. p. 94). See Smith, Diet, of Class. Biog. s. v. See Hekod.
Hyssop (31TX, ezuh', of uncertain etjTnology; Gr. vaijLOTroc), a plant difficiUt to define, especially as the similarity of the above terms has early led to their con- fusion. As the vaaiiyTTOQ of Greek authors is generally acknowledged to be the common hyssop {Hyssopus offi- cinalis of botanists), it has been inferred that it must also be the plant of the Old Testament, as well as that referred to in the New Testament. This inference has not, however, been universally acquiesced in; for Cel- sius enumerates no less than eighteen different plants which have been adduced by A'arious authors as the
hyssop of Scripture. Tlie chief difficuUy arises from the fact that in the Sept. the Greek vaauj-KOQ is the uniform rendering of the Hebrew czoh, and that this rendering is indorsed by the apostle in the Ejjistle to tlie Hebrews (ix, 19, 21), when speaking of the cere- monial observances of the Levitical law. Whether, therefore, the Sept. made use of the Greek iKraioTrog as the word most nearly resembling the Hebrew in sound, as Stanley suggests (S. and Pal. p. 21, note), or as the true representative of the plant indicated by the latter, is a point which, in all probability, will never be de- cided. Botanists differ widely even with regard to the identification of the voitwkoq of Dioscorides. The name has been given to the Satiirda Grceca and the (S". Juli- ana, to neither of which it is appropriate, and the hys- sop of Italy and South France is not met with in (ireece, Syria, or Egypt. Daubeny {Lcct. on Rom. Husbandry, p. 313), following Silitlidiiic. iilcntifies the mountain hyssop with the Thytnl .i s/ii,;ifii, but this conjectiu-e is disapproved of by Kidiu i^Coimn. in Diosc. iii, 27), who in the same passage gives it as his opinion that the He- brews used the Origanum JEgypticum in Egyjit, the 0. Syriacum in Palestine, and that the hyssop of Dioscor- ides was the 0. Smyrnwum. The Greek botanist de- scribes two kinds of hyssop, dpin>>) and KrjTTEVTi], and gives TiiaaXep, as the Egyptian equivalent. The Talmudists make the same distinction be- tween the wild hyssop and the garden -plant used for food. The hys- sop is of three species, but only one of these is cidtivated for use. The common hyssop is a shrub, with low bushy stalks, growing a foot and a half high ; small, pear-shaped, close-set- ting, opposite leaves, with several smaller ones rising from the same joint; and all the stalks and branches ter- minated by erect, whorl- ed spikes of flowers, of different colors in the varieties. They are very hardy plants, and may be propagated either by slips or cuttings, or. by seeds. The leaves have an aromatic smell, and a warm, pun- gent taste. It is a native of the South of Europe and the East.