Author(s):
Bringmann, Klaus (Frankfurt/Main)
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Domhardt, Yvonne (Zürich)
[German version] [1] J. Maccabaeus Son of Mattathias, leader of rebels in the 2nd cent. BC (The epithet probably from Hebrew
maqqaebaet, ‘the hammer’, owing to military success). Third son of the priest Mattathias ( Hasmonean), in 167/166 BC he took over leadership of the Jewish rebels who rose against the desecration of the Temple in Jerusalem, the ban on the Jewish religion and the pressure of taxation under Antiochus IV [6]. J. proved himself to be a master of guerrilla tactics and politics as well as a charismatic leader. His military success made Antiochus IV hold out the prospect of an amnesty and the restoration of the old religious order, under the condition that the rebels should lay down their arms. J. thwarted the respective negotiations by recapturing Jerusalem, where the Jewish cult was resumed in December 165 (the day of the reconsecration of the Temple, the 25th of Kislew, is remembered the feast of Chanukka), and by extending the war to encompass the rescue and resettlement of Jewish minorities. This caused Lysias, the ‘chancellor’ of Antiochus [7] V, to force peace with a large army: in the summer of 163, J. was defeated at Beth-Sacharja, the Jewish fortress of Beth-Zur was captured, and a High Priest named Alcimus [4] was installed in Jerusalem with the agreement of the Ḥasidim, who broke off the alliance with J. J. went underground with his supporters. The uprising regained ground under the new Seleucid supreme lord Demetrius [7] I. In March 161, J. defeated a Seleucid army under Nicanor at Adasa (on the 13th of Adar, which as Nikanor day became a …