Editing Second Temple (section)

=== Rededication by the Maccabees ===
Following the conquest of [[Judea]] by [[Alexander the Great]], it became part of the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]] of Egypt until 200 BCE, when the Seleucid king [[Antiochus III the Great]] of Syria defeated Pharaoh [[Ptolemy V Epiphanes]] at the [[Battle of Panium|Battle of Paneion]].

In 167 BCE, [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]] ordered an altar to [[Zeus]] erected in the Temple. He also, according to [[Josephus]], "compelled Jews to dissolve the laws of the country, to keep their infants un-[[Religious male circumcision|circumcised]], and to sacrifice swine's flesh upon the altar; against which they all opposed themselves, and the most approved among them were put to death."<ref>{{cite web |last=Josephus |first=Flavius |date=2012-06-29 |title=The Wars of the Jews |url=http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0148:book=1:section=31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120629063533/http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0148:book=1:section=31 |archive-date=2012-06-29 |access-date=2019-01-26 |page=i. 34}}</ref>

These anti-Jewish persecutions provoked the [[Maccabean Revolt]], led by [[Judas Maccabeus]] and his brothers from the priestly [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonean family]]. After several years of guerrilla warfare, the [[Maccabees]] succeeded in driving out the Seleucid forces from Jerusalem. In 164 BCE, they recaptured the Temple Mount, removed the pagan altar, and undertook the purification and rededication of the Second Temple.{{Sfn|Doering|2012|p=582}} This event is the origin of the Jewish festival of [[Hanukkah]], which begins on the 25th of [[Kislev]].<ref>{{Jewish Encyclopedia|title=Ḥanukkah|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7233-hanukkah|first=Kohler|last=Kaufmann|inline=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Goldman |first=Ari L. |url=https://archive.org/details/beingjewishspiri00gold/page/141 |title=Being Jewish: The Spiritual and Cultural Practice of Judaism Today |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-684-82389-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/beingjewishspiri00gold/page/141 141]}}</ref> The earliest accounts of the holiday appear in the Books of the Maccabees, which both associate it with the 25th of Kislev—either as the date when sacrifices resumed following the cleansing of the Temple (according to ''[[1 Maccabees]]''),<ref>''[[1 Maccabees]]'', 4:36–59</ref> or as the date of the cleansing itself (according to ''[[2 Maccabees]]'').<ref>''[[2 Maccabees]]'', 10:5–6</ref>{{Sfn|Doering|2012|p=582}}