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Historical Period

The Septuagint, the Maccabean Revolt, and the Hasmonean kingdom.

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Hellenistic Judea · 320-63 BC
The Ancient Levant

Hellenistic Judea & the Maccabees

Caught between the Greek kingdoms of Egypt and Syria, Judea wrestled with the seductive power of Greek culture. When a Seleucid king tried to stamp out the Jewish religion, the Maccabees rose in revolt, won back the Temple, and forged an independent Jewish kingdom for the first time in four centuries — until Rome arrived. Slide across the Hellenistic age of the Jews.

320 BC
Ptolemaic Rule
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320 BC

Ptolemaic Rule
  • Political

    Between the Greek kingdoms

    After Alexander's death, Judea falls to the Ptolemies of Egypt, one prize in the wars of his successors.

10 milestones

Meanwhile

Around 320 BC

Full Chronicle

Hellenistic Judea & the Maccabees

Caught between the Greek kingdoms of Egypt and Syria, Judea wrestled with the seductive power of Greek culture. When a Seleucid king tried to stamp out the Jewish religion, the Maccabees rose in revolt, won back the Temple, and forged an independent Jewish kingdom for the first time in four centuries — until Rome arrived. Slide across the Hellenistic age of the Jews.

  1. Ptolemaic Rule

    • Between the Greek kingdoms

      After Alexander's death, Judea falls to the Ptolemies of Egypt, one prize in the wars of his successors.

  2. Ptolemaic Rule

    • The Septuagint

      Jewish scholars in Alexandria translate the Torah into Greek for the great diaspora of Egypt.

  3. Seleucid Rule

    • The Seleucids win Judea

      Antiochus III defeats Egypt at Panium and brings Judea under Seleucid rule.

  4. Seleucid Rule

    • The Hellenizers of Jerusalem

      Ambitious priests buy the high priesthood and turn Jerusalem into a Greek city, splitting Jewish society.

  5. The Persecution

    • Antiochus IV and the persecution

      Antiochus IV outlaws the Jewish religion and desecrates the Temple, provoking open resistance.

  6. Maccabean Revolt

    • The Maccabean Revolt

      The priest Mattathias and his sons raise a guerrilla revolt against the Seleucids and the Hellenizers.

  7. Maccabean Revolt

    • The rededication of the Temple

      Judas Maccabeus retakes Jerusalem and purifies the Temple — the origin of the festival of Hanukkah.

  8. Hasmonean Kingdom

    • Hasmonean independence

      Under Simon, the last Maccabee brother, Judea wins full independence as the Hasmonean state.

  9. Hasmonean Kingdom

    • The Hasmonean kingdom and its sects

      The Hasmoneans expand their realm, while Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes divide Jewish society.

  10. Roman Intervention

    • Pompey takes Jerusalem

      The Roman general Pompey intervenes in a Hasmonean civil war and captures Jerusalem for Rome.