Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut

Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut (מוֹדִיעִין-מַכַּבִּים-רֵעוּת) is an Israeli city located in central Israel, about southeast of Tel Aviv and west of Jerusalem, and is connected to those two cities via Highway 443. In the population was . The population density in that year was 1,794 people per square kilometer. The modern city was named after the ancient Jewish town of Modi'in, which existed in the same area. Modi'in was the place of origin of the Maccabees, the Jewish rebels who freed Judea from the rule of the Seleucid Empire and established the Hasmonean dynasty, events commemorated by the holiday of Hanukkah. The modern city was built in the 20th century. A small part of the city (the Maccabim neighborhood) is not recognized by the European Union as being in Israel, as it lies in what the 1949 Armistice Agreement with Jordan left as a no man's land, and was occupied in 1967 by Israel after it was captured from Jordan together with the West Bank proper. The name "Modi'in" (מודיעין) derives from the village "Modi'im" of the high priest Mattathias and his five sons, which was located in the same area as the modern city. The name "Maccabim" is Hebrew for the Maccabees and is a common nickname given to Mattathias and his five sons. In Ancient Israel, a town named Modi'in (Μωδεειμ, Mōdeeim) existed in the general area the modern city is located in. It was the place of origin of the Maccabees, a group of Jewish rebel warriors who started and led the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid rule over Judea and the Hellenisation of its Jewish population. The revolt succeeded in driving out the Selucids, and the rededication of the Second Temple at the end of the revolt is commemorated by the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. After expelling the Selucids, the Maccabees formed the Hasmonean dynasty, which ruled Judea in the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. Ancient Jewish artifacts believed to date to the First Temple and Hasmonean periods have been found in the area. Umm el-Umdan in an archaeological hilltop site near the southern Moriah (Buchman) neighbourhood of Maccabim Reut, towards Latrun Junction.