International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

her-ka'-nus (Hurkanos): "Son of Tobias, a man of great dignity," who had a large sum of money deposited in the Temple of Jerusalem when Heliodorus was sent to confiscate it in 187 B.C. (2 Maccabees 3:11). Opinions differ as to the identity of this Hyrcanus. with the grandson of Tobias whose birth and history are related at considerable length by Josephus (Ant., XII, iv, 6), or with another of the same name mentioned in Ant, XIII, viii, 4.

See ASMONEANS; MACCABAEUS.