Editing Hanukkah (section)

=== Background ===
{{Further|Coele-Syria}}
[[File:Jerusalem Modell BW 2.JPG|thumb|[[Holyland Model of Jerusalem|A model]] of [[Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period]]]]
After the [[death of Alexander the Great]] in 323 [[BCE]], [[Judea]] became part of the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]] of Egypt until 200 BCE, when King [[Antiochus III the Great]] of [[Coele-Syria|Syria]] defeated King [[Ptolemy V Epiphanes]] of Egypt at the [[Battle of Panium]]. Judea then became part of the [[Seleucid Empire]] of Syria.<ref name="auto">{{cite book|title=The History of the Second Temple Period|last=Sacchi|first=Paolo|year=2004|isbn=978-0-567-04450-1|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing}}</ref> King Antiochus III the Great, wanting to conciliate his new Jewish subjects, guaranteed their right to "live according to their ancestral customs" and to continue to practice their religion in the Temple of Jerusalem.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/liv.html|title=T. Livivs|website=TheLatinLibrary.com|access-date=6 October 2018}}</ref> The Seleucids, like the Ptolemies before them, held a [[suzerainty]] over Judea, where they respected Jewish culture and protected Jewish institutions. This policy was drastically reversed by [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]], the son of Antiochus III, seemingly after what was either a dispute over leadership of the Temple in Jerusalem and the office of [[High Priest of Israel|High Priest]], or possibly a revolt whose nature was lost to time after being crushed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hengel |first=Martin |title=Judaism and Hellenism. 1 |date=1974 |publisher=SCM Press |isbn=978-0-334-00788-3 |edition=1st engl. |location=London}}</ref> In 175 BCE, Antiochus IV invaded Judea at the request of the sons of Tobias.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0148:book=1:section=31&redirect=true|title=''The Wars of the Jews'' i. 31|last=Josephus|first=Flavius|access-date=6 October 2018}}</ref> The [[Tobiads]], who led the [[Hellenistic Judaism|Hellenizing Jewish faction]] in Jerusalem, were expelled to Syria around 170 BCE when the high priest [[Menelaus (High Priest)|Onias]] and his pro-Egyptian faction wrested control from them. The exiled Tobiads lobbied Antiochus IV Epiphanes to recapture Jerusalem. As Flavius Josephus relates:
{{blockquote|The king being thereto disposed beforehand, complied with them, and came upon the Jews with a great army, and took their city by force, and slew a great multitude of those that favored Ptolemy, and sent out his soldiers to plunder them without mercy. He also spoiled the temple, and put a stop to the constant practice of offering a daily sacrifice of expiation for three years and six months.|source=''[[The Jewish War]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_yxlDizrauwC&q=%22The+king+being+thereto+disposed+beforehand%22&pg=PA238|title=The Works of Flavius Josephus|first=Flavius|last=Josephus|date=1825|via=Google Books}}</ref>}}