Around a.d. 141, the three Maccabee brothers overthrew the Seleucids and established their own Hasmonean dynasty and an extensive empire which dominated Palestine as far as the Golan in the north and Gaza in the south.
The Hasmonean dynasty, led by the three Maccabee brothers, dominated from Golan to Gaza.
In the early centuries of the Christian era, the peninsula's advantageous position made it an ideal way-station for trade with Bengal and southern India, and attracted Indianized colonies from the Mekong valley of Indochina.