Flavius Hyrcanus

Titus Flavius Hyrcanus (Greek: Τίτος Φλάβιος Ὑρκανός, flourished second half of the 1st century & first half of the 2nd century, born 73) was an aristocratic, wealthy Roman Jew.

Hyrcanus was born and raised in Rome. He was the oldest son born to the Roman Jewish historian Josephus, and from his third wife, an unnamed Alexandrian Jewish woman.[1] Hyrcanus was the only child to have survived as his two other brothers had died.[2][3]

His paternal uncle was Matthias, while his paternal grandparents were Matthias and his wife, an unnamed Jewish noblewoman. His paternal grandmother was an aristocratic woman descended from the former ruling Hasmonean Dynasty.[4] His paternal grandfather had descended from the priestly order of the Jehoiarib, which was the first of the twenty four-orders of Priests in the Temple in Jerusalem[5] and was a descendant of the High Priest Jonathon. Jonathon may have been Alexander Jannaeus, the High Priest and Hasmonean ruler who governed Judea from 103 BC-76 BC.[6]

The name Hyrcanus means one from Hyrcania.[7] The Hyrcania Sea was the ancient Greek name for the Caspian Sea. Hyrcanus’ name reveals his father’s favourite monarch from the Hasmonean Dynasty and his lineage from the dynasty.[8] Perhaps his father, named him in honor of the Herodian Prince Julius Hyrcanus, one of the sons Herod of Chalcis and Berenice.[9]

As a young child his parents had divorced, because Josephus was displeased with his mother’s habits.[10] His father married as his fourth and final wife, a distinguished Greek Jewish noblewoman from Crete. With his father’s fourth wife, he had two half-brothers: Flavius Justus and Flavius Simonides Agrippa.[11][12]

Hyrcanus was a contemporary of the ruling Flavian dynasty and Nerva–Antonine dynasty of the Roman Empire. He was alive when Josephus was compiling his historical writings and when his father died about 100. Little is known on his remaining life.

References
  1. Fergus, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C. - A.D. 135) p.p.45-6
  2. Fergus, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C. - A.D. 135) p.p.45-6
  3. Josephus, Flavius Josephus: translation and commentary p.170
  4. Nodet, A search for the origins of Judaism: from Joshua to the Mishnah p.250
  5. Fergus, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C. - A.D. 135) p.p.45-6
  6. Fergus, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C. - A.D. 135) p.p.45-6
  7. Josephus, Flavius Josephus: translation and commentary p.10
  8. Josephus, Flavius Josephus: translation and commentary p.10
  9. Josephus, Flavius Josephus: translation and commentary p.10
  10. Josephus, Flavius Josephus: translation and commentary p.170
  11. Fergus, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C. - A.D. 135) p.p.45-6
  12. Josephus, Flavius Josephus: translation and commentary p.170

Sources
  • M. Fergus, S. Emil & V. Geza, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C. - A.D. 135), Continuum International Publishing Group, 1973
  • É. Nodet, A search for the origins of Judaism: from Joshua to the Mishnah, Continuum International Publishing Group, 1997
  • F. Josephus & S. Mason, Flavius Josephus: translation and commentary, BRILL, 2001
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