Traditional spot where Maccabees/Hasmoneans are believed to be buried. When Syrian King Antiochus IV (175-164 BC) persecuted Jews and erected for himself a statue of Zeus inside the Jerusalem Temple, the Maccabean brothers under the leadership of Judah Maccabeus overthrew the Syrian rule and established Hasmonean Kingdom. For next one century (164 BCE to 63 BC), Jews were politically, religiously, and economically free. It was the last time Jews had an independent Kingdom in Israel. They had to wait another 2011 years to establish an independent Jewish sovereign state!
According to the Book of Maccabbees, "Simon sent for the remains of his brother Jonathan, and buried him in Modein, the city of his fathers. All Israel bewailed him with solemn lamentation, mourning over him for many days. Then Simon erected over the tomb of his father and his brothers a monument of stones, polished front and back, and raised high enough to be seen at a distance. He set up seven pyramids facing one another for his father and his mother and his four brothers. For the pyramids he devised a setting of big columns, on which he carved suits of armor as a perpetual memorial, and next to the armor he placed carved ships, which could be seen by all who sailed the sea. This tomb which he built at Modein is there to the present day" (I Maccabee 13:25-30).
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