Maccabean Revolt

From 167 to around 160 BCE Jewish rebels led by the Maccabee family rose against the Seleucid Empire and its suppression of Jewish religious practice.

Overview

The Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes outlawed key Jewish practices and rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem to Zeus. The priest Mattathias and his sons, led militarily by Judah Maccabee, began a guerrilla war in the Judean hills and won a series of victories over larger Seleucid forces. In 164 BCE the rebels recaptured Jerusalem and rededicated the Temple, the event commemorated by the festival of Hanukkah. Fighting continued after the death of Judah in battle, but his brothers Jonathan and Simon gained growing autonomy. The revolt led to the Hasmonean dynasty, an independent Jewish state that lasted until Roman intervention in 63 BCE.