Editing Antiochus IV Epiphanes (section)

===Jewish tradition===
[[File:Georg Pencz - Tyrants of the Old Testament- Antiochus - 1923.398 - Cleveland Museum of Art.jpg|thumb|Woodcut depicting Antiochus by [[Georg Pencz]]]]
Antiochus IV is remembered as a major villain and persecutor in the Jewish traditions associated with [[Hanukkah]], including the [[Books of the Maccabees]] and the "[[Megillat Antiochus|Scroll of Antiochus]]".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vedibarta Bam – And You Shall Speak of Them: Megilat Antiochus The Scroll of the Hasmoneans<!-- Bot generated title --> |url=http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/vedibarta-bam/155.htm |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201162529/http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/vedibarta-bam/155.htm |archivedate=1 February 2008 |accessdate=4 December 2022}}</ref> Rabbinical sources refer to him as הרשע ''harasha'' ("the wicked"). ''[[The Jewish Encyclopedia]]'' concluded that "[s]ince Jewish and heathen sources agree in their characterization of him, their portrayal is evidently correct", summarizing this portrayal as one of a cruel and vainglorious ruler who tried to force on all the peoples of his realm a [[Hellenization|Hellenic culture]], "the true essence of which he can scarcely be said to have appreciated".<ref name="je">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Antiochus IV., Epiphanes |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Encyclopedia]] |publisher=Funk and Wagnalls |volume=I: Aach–Apocalyptic literature |year=1925 |pages=634–635 |url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.49015002282318;view=1up;seq=690}}</ref> [[Josephus]] writing in [[Antiquities of the Jews]] describes Antiochus IV desecrating the [[Second Jewish Temple]] and renaming it "The Temple of Jupiter Hellenius." Antiochus IV is also described by Josephus as executing anyone performing Jewish practices or in possession of Jewish texts in addition to circumcised males.<ref>{{cite wikisource|chapter=Book XII|wslink=The Antiquities of the Jews|plaintitle=The Antiquities of the Jews|last=|first=|year=|publisher=|page=|wspage=|scan=}} </ref>