a priestly family who led a Jewish revolt against Seleucid rule and reigned over Palestine from 142 to 63 bc
(treated as sing.) either of two narrative and historical books included in the Roman Catholic canon of the Old Testament and in the Protestant Apocrypha
Maccabean /-ʹbee·ən/ adj
[Greek Makkabaioi, pl of Makkabaios, surname of Judas Maccabaeus, Jewish patriot of the second cent. bc]