Judas Maccabeus

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 November 2011

⏱️ 43 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the revolutionary Jewish leader Judas Maccabeus. Born in the second century BC, Judas led his followers, the Maccabees, in a rebellion against the Seleucid Empire, which was attempting to impose the Greek culture and religion on the Jews. After a succession of battles he succeeded and the Seleucid king granted the Jews religious freedom. But even after that freedom was granted the struggle for political independence continued, and it was not until twenty years after Judas's death that Judaea finally became an independent state. Thanks to an extensive, if often confused, historical record of these events, the story of the Maccabees is well known. Judas Maccabeus has become a celebrated folk hero, and one of his achievements, the restoration and purification of the Temple of Jerusalem after its desecration by the Seleucids, is commemorated every year at the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.With: Helen Bond, Senior Lecturer in the New Testament at Edinburgh University Tessa Rajak, Emeritus Professor of Ancient History at the University of ReadingPhilip Alexander, Emeritus Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of ManchesterProducer: Natalia Fernandez.

Transcript

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0:46.5	the program.
0:47.5	Hello so he got his people great honor and put on a breastplate as a giant and girt his warlike harness about him,
0:55.9	and he made battles protecting the host with his sword.
0:58.8	In his acts he was like a lion and like a lion's whelp roaring for his prey.
1:03.0	This is how Judas Maccabaeus, the revolutionary Jewish leader from the second century
1:07.3	BC, is described in the first book of the Maccabees written a century so later.
1:12.0	In the book, Judas Maccabaeus, written a century so later.
1:12.8	In the book, Judas Maccabias is every inch the conquering hero, the dedicated fighter, whose
1:17.2	quest for religious freedom drives him to take up arms against the oppressors of the Jewish
1:21.6	people, the Syrian-silucid empire. against the Who was the man behind the legend and how did he and his guerrilla forces the Maccabees
1:33.8	managed to triumph over such military might?
1:36.7	And how reliable are the biblical versions of Judas and his actions.
1:40.2	We'll meet to discuss Judas Maccabiers, Sir Helen Bond, senior lecturer in the New Testament at Edinburgh University,
1:46.1	Tessa Rejak, emeritus professor of ancient history at the University of Reading,
	...

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