Скачать или смотреть The Ancient Greeks and Jews (Alexander the Great 330s BCE)

The Medo-Persian Empire under Cyrus overthrew the Babylonians, and later Persian kings allowed captive Jews to return from Babylonia to their native land to rebuild the Temple and the walls of Jerusalem (under Ezra and Nehemiah). The Jews remained under Persian protection from about 500 B.C. to 330 B.C., at which time Persia was taken by Alexander the Great and Judea came under Greek domination.

After the death of Alexander, Judea was ruled by the Greek families of the Ptolemies or the Seleucids, depending on which one was strongest in the area at the time. The Seleucid king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, attempted to force Greek culture upon Judea, including the worship of the gods of the Greek pantheon. In December of 168 B.C., a sacrifice to Zeus was offered on the altar of burnt offering in the Temple in Jerusalem. Furthermore, an edict was sent out that an altar to Greek gods was to be erected in every town in Palestine. Officers were appointed to enforce the worship of Greek gods by every Jewish family, and the disobedient were punished.

In the town of Modein, an old priest of the Lord, Mattathias, was presiding over the religious affairs of the community. When one of the Jewish people who had changed over to the Greek religion tried to offer the first sacrifice to Zeus, Mattathias killed him. Mattathias then took off for the mountains with his five sons and their families.

Many Jews flocked to the banner of Mattathias who became almost overnight the leader of rebellion against the Greeks under Antiochus IV. Among these were also the most pious sect of Jews, the HASIDIM (the "pious ones"), who counted themselves champions of the Law, even unto death. In 166 B.C., Mattathias died, having appointed his third son, Judas, to lead the rebellion.

According to Josephus, Mattathias great-great-grandfather was called Hasmon, so the family is known as the Hasmonean family.

According to 1 Maccabees 2, the surname of this now famous family was Maccabee, or Maccabaeus. The name is taken by many to mean "the hammer", from the Hebrew word maqqabi. And so Judas was called, even before he began his military career. At first the name Maccabees was applied to the kinfolk of Judas, then to his close followers, and ultimately to all those who were champions of liberty and Jewish religion in the Greek period. Strictly speaking, the name should be applied only to the descendants of Mattathias and his five sons.

The military genius of Judas Maccabaeus made the next years the most stirring in Israelite history. In quick succession the army of the Maccabees overthrew Syrian generals Appolonius, Seron, and Gorgias. After the regent Lysias, ruling for the Seleucid kings, had been defeated, he restored Temple worship in Jerusalem. Lysias, having retreated back to HQ in Antioch, returned with a new army, and Judas had to fall back into the Temple area. He escaped defeat then only because there was a Greek insurrection at Antioch and another Greek was threatening to take over Lysias' regency. Lysias granted the Jews religious freedom, but the Jews were still under Greek political rule.

Some of the Jews were satisfied with this and returned to their homes; but the hard core followers of the Maccabees wanted political freedom also. In 161 B.C., the Maccabees defeated a Greek army at Beth Horon, but they were defeated a few months later by a much superior force. Judas' brother Jonathan took over leadership of the Maccabees and made some progress through use of more diplomatic means; but he was made prisoner in 143 B.C. and executed. The leadership now fell to Simon, the last son of Mattathias still alive.

Simon succeeded in negotiating a treaty in May of 142 B.C., in which the political independence of Judea was secured. Simon was given absolute powers as both political leader and high priest of Judea. The first year of his reign was the first of a new era of prosperity. In 135 B.C., however, Simon and his two older sons were murdered by Ptolemy, who had married Simon's daughter. Simon's third son, Hyrcanus, who had been warned of the assassination plot, became the heir of Simon's kingship over the Jews, and he soon carved out for himself a large and prosperous kingdom. He ruled from 135 to 104 B.C., but during the later years the kingdom was split by rivalry between Pharisees and Sadducees.