The History of the Ancient Hebrews: The Hellenistic Period and the Revolt of Judas Maccabeus

Persian rule was overthrown by the invasion of the Macedonian armies of Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. Helen Chapin Metz relates that "Alexander destroyed the Persian Empire but largely ignored Judah. After Alexander's death, his generals divided-- and subsequently fought over-- his empire."

The squabble held as its two chief participants the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, which was apathetic toward Jewish religious practices and tolerant of them, and the Seleucid dynasty of Syria/Mesopotamia, which desired to impose the Greek polytheism upon the Jewish people, and, more importantly, to rob them of the religion that formed their cultural identity in order to create tributaries less capable of organized resistance.

King Antiochus IV, in the year 175 B.C., invaded Palestine from Syria, overthrew the scattered and inefficient Egyptian administration, and destroyed the Second Temple eight years into the war. This, contrary to the ruler's expectations of panic, sparked a massive outrage among the Hebrews, who rose in revolt, headed by the nobleman Judas Maccabeus.

To retaliate, Antiochus mandated sacrifices of swine's flesh in all the standing Jewish shrines, which further sparked the antagonism of the Hebrews. For some twenty years, a guerilla war was waged until Seleucid rule became thoroughly undermined and Jerusalem was regained.

Allegedly, upon rebuilding the Temple and igniting the sacred Menorah, Judas and his followers witnessed an inexplicable occurrence as the oil with which they had supported the lights endured for seven more nights than expected. This evolved into the tradition of Hanukkah, a sacred holiday aimed to celebrate the supposed devotion of God to the plight of the Hebrews.

Maccabeus ascended to power and alongside his brother, Simon, organized the Hasmonean dynasty, which was a theocratic order rather than a monarchy, the ruler possessing a vast majority of his powers in the realm of worship, fulfilling the role of High Priest. The Hasmonean dynasty had as its first ruler a priest by the name of Mattathias, from the settlement of Modin to the northwest of Jerusalem.