Behind | Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabees

Before getting to Rome, let’s explore something that is recorded in the Books of the Maccabees. They are part of what are called apocryphal books. In Catholic Bibles, they are called the deuterocanonical books, and in the Orthodox Bibles they are the Greek additions to the Old Testament. These are Jewish books that record, in some cases, history between the Testaments. The Maccabees include the story of Hanukkah, the festival of dedication. In this time period, the Seleucids and the Ptolemies are fighting against each other in and around the Promised Land.