Thewoman with seven sons was aJewishmartyr described in thedeuterocanonical2 Maccabees 7. She and her seven sons were arrested during the persecution of Judaism initiated by KingAntiochus IV Epiphanes. They were ordered to consumepork and thus violate Jewish law as part of the campaign. They repeatedly refused, and Antiochus tortured and killed the sons one by one in front of the unflinching and stout-hearted mother before eventually killing her as well.
The historical setting of the story is around the beginning of the persecution of Jews by Antiochus IV (c. 167/166 BCE) that led to theMaccabean Revolt.[1] Although unnamed in 2 Maccabees, the mother is known variously as Hannah,[2] Miriam,[3] Solomonia,[4] and Shmouni.[5]
Other versions of the story appear in Jewish sources such as theTalmud andJosippon.
The book2 Maccabees depicts events during the turbulent period of the 170s and 160s BCE. KingAntiochus IV Epiphanes of theSeleucid Empire which then ruledJudea departs on a campaign in theSixth Syrian War, but becomes enraged after what he interprets as a Jewish revolt. He issues decrees forbidding various traditional Jewish practices, such as keepingkosher and circumcision of sons. The mother and seven sons are swept up in this persecution and are arrested. They are brought directly before Antiochus, tortured, and ordered to eatpork or die. One of the brothers said, on behalf of everyone, that even if they were all to die, they would not break the law. The angry king ordered to heat up the pans andcauldrons, and he ordered the first brother to have his tongue cut off, the skin to beremoved from the head and the ends of thelimbs cut off – All this was happening in front of the rest of the brothers and mother, who, in the meantime, encouraged each other to resist the tormentors' demands passively. When the first martyr was inert and still breathing, Epiphanes ordered him to be thrown into ahot frying pan. When he died, the next one was brought in and theskin was stripped from his head along with his hair. Each of the seven brothers endured the same torture. The torment of the sons was watched by their tenacious and rather stoic mother, who had lost all her sons.
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The narrator mentions that the mother "was the most remarkable of all, and deserves to be remembered with special honour. She watched her seven sons die in the space of a single day, yet she bore it bravely because she put her trust in the Lord."[6] Each of the sons makes a speech as he dies, and the last one says that his brothers are "dead under God's covenant of everlasting life".[7] The narrator ends by saying that the mother died, without saying whether she was executed, or died in some other way.
TheTalmud tells a similar story, but with refusal to worship an idol replacing refusal to eat pork. TractateGittin 57b citesRabbi Judah as saying that "this refers to the woman and her seven sons". The woman is not named and the king is referred to as the "Caesar". In this version of the story, each son goes to his death while citing a different verse from theTorah prohibiting idolatry. The Caesar takes pity on the seventh son and offers to drop his royal seal on the ground so that the son can pick it up and thus accept his royal authority. He refuses, proclaiming that the glory of heaven is more important to him than the glory of a mortal king. As he is being led off to be killed, his mother tells him: "My son, go and say to your fatherAbraham,you bound [a son] to one altar; I bound [sons] to seven altars." The story concludes with the woman's suicide: she "went up on to a roof and threw herself down and was killed." A heavenly voice then proclaims, "A joyful mother of children (Psalms 113:9)."[8]
A similar version of the tale occurs in themidrashic textLamentations Rabbah (Chapter 1). In this version the woman is named Miriam bat Nahtom (Miriam, the Baker's Daughter). The story concludes similarly to the version in the Talmud, but in this version the youngest son holds a long conversation with the Caesar, proving from Biblical verses the superiority of his God and the system of reward and punishment. When the moment arrives for him to be executed, the mother insists that she be killed first. The Caesar refuses on account that the Torah prohibits killing an animal and its offspring on the same day (see Leviticus 22:28). The mother retorts "Fool! Have you already fulfilled all the commandments and only this one remains?"[9]
Other versions of the story are found in4 Maccabees (which suggests that the woman might have thrown herself into the flames, 17:1) andJosippon (which says she fell dead on her sons' corpses[2]). The Josippon version of the story probably was paraphrased from a Latin version of 2 Maccabees, and was notable as the first major exposure of medieval Jewish audiences to the story.[10][11]
Various sources have proposed names for this woman. InLamentations Rabbah she is called Miriam bat Nahtom,[3] in theEastern Orthodox tradition she is known as Solomonia,[4] while in theArmenian Apostolic Church she is called Shamuna,[12] and inSyriac Christianity she is known as Shmuni.[13] She is called "Hannah" (or "Chana") inJosippon, perhaps as a result of connecting her withHannah in theBook of Samuel, who says that the "barren woman bears seven", (1 Samuel 2:5). Gerson Cohen notes that this occurs only in the longer Spanish version of Josippon (1510), while the shorter Mantuan version (c. 1480) continues to refer to her anonymously.[2]
In the Syriac6 Maccabees, the sons are named Gadday, Maqqbay, Tarsay, Hebron, Hebson, Bakkos and Yonadab.[14]
The woman with seven sons is remembered with high regard for her religious steadfastness, teaching her sons to keep to their faith, even if it meant execution. The Maccabees story reflects a theme of the book, that "the strength of the Jews lies in the fulfillment of the practicalmitzvot".[15]
Jewish tradition has de-emphasised the books of Maccabees as non-canonical texts, particularly after the rise ofChristianity and the catastrophic death and destruction that followed the failure of the JewishGreat Revolt and theBar Kochba Revolt. Thus Jewish tradition has primarily recalled this story through the versions recorded in the Talmud and the Lamentations Rabbah.
For the Christians, the books of Maccabees stayed as part of scripture due to their place in the Septuagint, at least until theProtestant Reformation. As such, much there is a substantial amount of Christian medieval art and literature honoring the woman and her seven sons. However, the emphasis in the Maaccabees version of the story on the sons' refusal to break the Biblical dietary laws was problematic for medieval Christianity, which was characterised by its view that the ritual laws in the Bible had beensuperseded. The result was that Christian literature and art revered the martyrs, but downplayed their Jewishness.[16][17]
It is probable thatHilary of Poitiers refers to this woman as a prophet. Hilary says "For all things, as the Prophet says, were madeout of nothing,"[18] and, according to Patrick Henry Reardon, he is quoting2 Maccabees 7:28.[19]
According to Antiochene Christian tradition, the relics of the mother and sons were interred on the site of a synagogue (later converted into a church) in theKerateion quarter ofAntioch.[2] On the other hand, tombs believed to be those of these martyrs were discovered inSan Pietro in Vincoli in 1876.[20] An additional tomb believed to be that of the woman with her seven sons is located in the Jewish cemetery ofSafed.
She is called Mart Shmune in theChaldean Catholic Church, and is the patron saint of theAssyrian village ofSharanish where a parish is named for her. Especially in Northern Iraque multiple churches are dedicated to her and her sons.
The Holy Maccabees | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Martyrs | |
| Born | 2nd century BC Judea (modern-dayIsrael) |
| Died | 167-160 BC Judea |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church[21][22] Oriental Orthodox Church |
| Canonized | Pre-Congregation |
| Feast | 1 AugustEastern Orthodox Church,Traditional Catholics1st Tuesday in MayChaldean Catholic Church,Church of the East[23] |
Although they are not the same as the Hasmonean rulers calledMaccabees, the woman and her sons, along with theEleazar described in 2 Maccabees 6, are known as the "Holy Machabees" or "Holy Maccabean Martyrs" in theCatholic Church and theEastern Orthodox Church.
The Orthodox Church celebrates the Holy Maccabean Martyrs onAugust 1. The Catholic Church also includes them in its official list of saints that have August 1 as their feast day. From before the time of theTridentine calendar, the Holy Maccabees had acommemoration in theRoman Rite liturgy within the feast ofSaint Peter in Chains. This commemoration remained within the weekday liturgy when in 1960Pope John XXIII suppressed this particular feast of Saint Peter. Nine years later, 1 August became the feast of SaintAlphonsus Maria de' Liguori and the mention of the Maccabee martyrs was omitted from theGeneral Roman Calendar, since in its1969 revision it no longer admitted commemorations.[24] It is still currently celebrated in theTraditional Latin MassTridentine calendar on August 1. Since they are among the saints and martyrs recognized in theRoman Martyrology,[25] they may be venerated by all Catholics everywhere.
According toEastern Orthodox tradition, the sons are called Abim, Antonius, Gurias, Eleazar, Eusebonus, Alimus and Marcellus,[4] though the names differ slightly among different authorities.[26] They are celebrated yearly during theHoney Feast of the Saviour.
The name Shmouni in the Syriac tradition is first known to us by the report ofAphrahat. In one source, the name Maria appears alongside the name Shmouni. In the chronicle ofMichael the Syrian ʿAbd-Shalom is identified as the father of the seven sons and is introduced as the brother ofMattathias.[27] As a place of MartyrdomAntioch sometimes is mentioned instead of Jerusalem.[28]
According to theSyriac Fenqitho (book of festal offices), the name of the mother is Shmooni while her sons are Habroun, Hebsoun, Bakhous, Adai, Tarsai, Maqbai and Yawnothon. Their teacher was name Eleazar and was martyred along with them.[29][30]
The three Ethiopian books ofMeqabyan (canonical in theEthiopian Orthodox Church, but distinct works from the other four books of Maccabees) refer to an unrelated group of "Maccabean Martyrs", five brothers including 'Abya, Seela, and Fentos, sons of a Benjamite named Maccabeus, who were captured and martyred for leading a guerrilla war against Antiochus Epiphanes.[31]
Variousmystery plays in theMiddle Ages portrayed the Maccabean martyrs, and depictions of their martyrdom possibly gave rise to the term "macabre", perhaps derived from the LatinMachabaeorum.[32]
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