Mattathias ben Johanan (dies 165 BCE) is a Jewish priest whose role in the Jewish revolt against the Syrian Greeks is related in the Books of the Maccabees.
Mattathias is accorded a central role in the story of Hanukkah and, as a result, is named in the Al Hanissim prayer Jews add to Grace after meals and the Amidah, the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy, during the festival's eight days.
