Judah Maccabee

(160 B.C.E.) Second leader of the Judean revolt against the Greco-Syrian Empire [166 BCE]. Westerners have traditionally referred to the third son of Mattathias of Modi’in by the Latinate form of his name: Judas Maccabeus. A Judean priest, he assumed command of Judean resistance to Greek forces after his father’s death [165 BCE]. His defeat of the Greek governor of Samaria led to even more stunning victories over larger Greek armies at Beth-Horon & Emmaus. After this, Judah captured Mt. Zion, purged the temple of Hellenistic cult paraphernalia, reconstructed the sanctuary according to Torah prescriptions and reconsecrated it to the worship of God. The festival of Channukah was later instituted to commemorate this triumph. Judah was repelled, however, in his attempt to drive the Syrian garrison from the rest of Jerusalem and was defeated near the village of Beth Zechariah, southwest of Jerusalem [162 BCE]. He died in the battle of Elasa (north of Jerusalem). Though Judah himself never held an official political position other than ad hoc general of the Jewish rebellion, he had a major influence on the direction of later history by initiating an alliance with the republic of Rome against the Greek Syrian empire. He was succeeded by his youngest brother Jonathan who, like him, left no male heirs. But the descendents of his older brother Simon became the Hasmonean dynasty of Judean rulers.