Hi there, you're listening to the Hellenistic Age podcast. Episode 106, Jewish Literature in the Hellenistic Age. I'm

I'm literature in the Hellenistic Age. The story of Judas Maccabeus and his brothers, and the purification of the great temple,

and the dedication of the altar, and further the wars against Antiochus' Empiphonies and his son Eupator, and the appearances that came

from heaven to those who fought bravely for Judaism, so that though in few and number, they seized

the whole land and pursued the barbarian horde, and regained possession of the temple, famous

throughout the world, and liberated the city and re-established the laws

that were about to be abolished, while the Lord with great kindness became gracious to them."

So begins the book of Second Maccabees, which tells the story of the Maccabeean revolt

and the festival of Hanukkah, celebrated each year

by millions of Jews worldwide. It is perhaps the most famous event associated with the Salukid

dynasty and led the way to an independent Judean kingdom under the Hasmanian family. Paradoxically,

it was a relatively insignificant event at the time, but in the broader history

of Judaism and much of the Greco-Roman near east, its effects would be felt for centuries

afterwards.

While we will be covering the revolt as part of the larger story of the Seleucan Empire,

I think it is also worth dedicating a few episodes to give context to the history of the

Jews living in the Hellenistic Age. Among the various peoples outside of the Greco-Roman tradition,

there is an astonishing amount of literary material written from the Jewish point of view

about the events that transpired following the death of Alexander the Great. Many of these works,

written both during and after the Hellenistic period, are often categorized within the broader

field of biblical studies, but scholars and classicists have increasingly relied upon them as valuable

resources. While there is always a myriad of complications using any ancient text to reconstruct

...