Thread by @matanco999

✡️🇮🇱THREAD✡️🇮🇱
The following thread is about the Full story of the Maccabees Revolt, what led to it, how it started and how the holiday of Hannukah became a thing. This is a story
about a family who revived Israel after houndreds of years of foreign rule

the holiday of Hannukah, symbols the bravery
of the fighters of the house of hasmonean,the Maccabees.
The victory of the Jews of the Land of Israel on the Seleucid Empire, The victory of Judaism over Hellenism.
And the survival of the nation of Israel in the next generations.

Following it, a jewish kingdom was Re-Established.
And behind the victory of the maccabees,stands a historical story
full of strong importance.

In the year 538BCE, Cyrus the king of Persia, issued a royal declaration that states the nations who were exiled by the Assyrians&Babylonians were
allowed to return to their homelands.

He did that to create new alliance system to be loyal to him instead of the policies who were imposed on the nations under the Babylonian Empire.

Following that, the remaining of
the house of David. Under the rule of Sheshbazzar,a group of Jews returned to Jerusalem.

The Jews however had struggles&issues like competition with the samartinians. Integration of Jews
who werent exiled, economic and security difficulties. They did overcome it in the end.

They managed to establish in the year 516BCE, the second temple. Judean rulers on behalf of the Persians were called "Pahva". The region of their rule was around Jerusalem. and the rulers of Judea were the representive rulers of the Empire.

In the year 458BCE, Ezra the writer showed up. He came
from Babylon and with him, a group of Jews who made Aliya.

Ezra fought against Interfaith marriage and strengthened the status of the Kohanim and the Leviem. He changed the Hebrew writing to the Aramic version as we know today.

He founded the institution of the Knesset HaGedolah, so that everyday
laws could be based on the laws of the Torah. he also tried to build walls in Jerusalem
but failed.

In the year 455BCE, Nehamia, the cup-bearer of the Persian king showed up. He arrived at Jerusalem as a new Pahva of the city.

He Re-Built the walls of
the city,strengthened the economic&security of Judea,he strengthened the jewish independence with the competition against the Moabites,Amonites and the Samaritans.

Most of his efforts were made in the year 444BCE. Which in a great ceremony in Jerusalem,he renewed the
covenent of the nation of Israel with the laws of the Torah,the holiness of the Shabbat and the
holiness of Jerusalem,the temple and the kohanim.

In the next 100 years,Pahva Jews continued to rule Judea. The status of the Kohanim and their 24 priestly divisions was strengthened. And they were the keepers of the temple and its treasures. And the Jews settled in many other places in the Land of Israel.

In the year 332BCE, Alexander the Great occupied Jerusalem and Judea from the Persian Empire.
After his death in the year 323BCE, the Wars of the Diadochi have started.

Between the years 301BCE-270BCE the Ptolemaic Empire occupied the Land of Israel.

n this Era,the Jewish aoutomy continued. and Judea was ruled by their own rulers.
In these times, the greek culture also entered Judea,i ncluding the adaptation of greek culture with
immigration of greeks into the Land of Israel.

That includes adapting Greek names,Greek language,Greek clothing,style of life etc.

In the year 200BCE, Judea was taken over by the seleucid Empire.

In the year 190BCE, the Battle of Magnesia accured in small asia which in it
the roman army defeated the seleucid army and signed with them the Treaty of Apamea, which forced the Selecuids to pay massive reparations to Rome.

Following that battle,the Seluecids were weakend,and Rome increased its subversion on the nations they conquered. This battle allowed the conditions for the independence of the Hasmonean Kingdom.

The Seleucids,tried to confiscate many treasures from different temples in the Empire. One of them,was the temple in Jerusalem.

In the year 178BCE, Heliodorus, the assistant of the king, came to the temple in Jerusalem to confiscate money for the Romans,which caused a disobedience. and with it the confiscation was prevented.

In the year 175BCE, Onias III, the High priest was ousted by Antiochus IV and was replaced by Jason. This move was a violation of the previous terms which gave the Jews complete control In choosing the high priest.

Jason was ousted in 172BCE by greek extriemists,and instead of him, Menelaus was appointed which
gave parts of the temple's treasures to the Seleucid Empire and brought idolatry to the temple in Jerusalem.

In the year 168BCE, started the house of Hasmonean, a house of priests in the shift of Yehoyariv, from the city of
Modiin,together with their supporters, a revolt against the rule of Menelaus and his greek policies.

The revolt had been led by Matthias together with his 5 sons:Judah,Jonathan,Simon,John and Elazar

At the same time,Antiochus IV started to seriously persecuting the Jews by not allowing them
to keep the shabbat, Circumcision and even forced Jews to eat Pork.

There isn't an agreement between historians that these acts of persecution were the cause of the revolt or came after it as a punishment. However it added supporters for the house of Hasmonean against the rule of Menelaus.

In the year 167BCE, Matthias passed away, and Judah replaced him as the leader of the revolt. At first he only had 6,000 soliders. A number that only grew through the years. Untill it reached the peak of 22,000.

In the year 161BCE, many Jews came from big Jewish communities in Egypt, Syria and small asia to Judea
to help their Jewish brothers. In the Diaspora Jewish communities, many were mercenaries which helped
the Hasmonean army.

It could be that Judah had Elephant corps, Cavalry, Siege equipment and even used the phalanx structure.

They fought the Seleucids which had mercenaries from other nations in the empire, foreigners in the Land of
Israel and Jews who adapted Greek culture.

The first battle accured in 166BCE, the battle of Beth Horon. which during an ambush, Judah and his forces won Apollonius, the governor of Samaria. In that same year, in the battle of Beth Horon, once again Judah did a succesful an ambush to the Greeks.

Archeology of the battle, found in Judea:

A year after that, the battle of Beth-Zur accured, which for the first time an official Seleucid force showed up against Judah's army. And once again, Judah won.

The Seleucid Empire started at the same time a campaign to oppress revolts across their Empire. This
gave Judah a Window of Opportunity to go for a Journey to Re-take the Land of Israel.

In the year 164BCE, Judah together with his army, freed Jerusalem(exept Acra fortress) and the Jews rushed into the Temple.

However, When they entered the Temple for the first time, they saw it in shamble. The golden pitchers were all tarnished, the marble floors were cracked and the containers of the oil were spilled and defiled.

They began cleaning the Temple, removing every sign and symbol of the religion that had been forced upon them
by their invaders. As they worked. They found a small container of oil. They all knew the little oil they had would only be enough for one night.

They lit up the Menorah and expected the
light to turn off. But instead, the lamps kept burning and burning, they burned for 8 days and 8 nights. That is why we celebrate Hannukah every year, and why we light 8 candles on our Hannukiah.

In the next 2 years, Judah fought many battles against local forces around the land of Israel,in Galilee, Gaza and in Transjordan.

In 162BCE, in the Battle of Beth-Zechariah, fell Eleazar, the brother of Judah, when he stormed inside the lines of the enemy and stabbed an elephant in his stomach...

...Judah lost this battle, and the Seleucid Governer Nicanor, reached the gates of Jerusalem with his army, There, Judah defeated him. The house of Hasmonean now ruled over a part of Judea and was almost independent.
In the same year, Judah formed an alliance with Rome.

In 160BCE, In the Battle of Elasa. Judah Died. the Seleucid army managed to Re-occupy Jerusalem. Jonathan, the brother of Judah, continued the revolt.

Jonathan supported Alexander Balas who wanted to rule, Alexander Balas won, and Jonathan got control over Jerusalem and was an Ethnoch, and turned into a Vassal ruler.

Jonathan got premission to fortify Jerusalem, and went for battles in the coastal plain, Jonathan was found to be a very smart politician, he took advantage of the inner conflicts of the Seleucids, improved the relations with Rome and with cities in Greece itself.

With the help of his brother simeon, he managed to capture other cities in northen Samaria and in Transjordan. And
managed to expand the rule of the house of Hasmonean.

Jonathan was murdered in 142BCE in Acre in an ambush, and his brother Simeon came into power. Simeon took advantage of a political fight in the Seleucid Empire allied with Demetrius II.

Because of that, the province of Judea, was released from tax payment, and the Jews minted coins for themselfs, making the Jews officially independant. First independance since the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah in 586BCE.
(Hasmonean Shekel+New Israeli Shekel, side by side)

Simeon Captured the cities of Gezer and Jaffa and expelled its Greek population. He occupied the Acra fortress
in Jerusalem, which in it sat a Greek Garrison. In Jerusalem, he gathered The People's Assembly, The People's Assembly and became the King of Judah.

The People's Assembly, approved that the House of Hasmonean will be the rulers of the nation. Officially, the House of Hasmonean, wasnt just a ruling family, but the family of the regime.

In the year 134BCE, Simeon was murdered, and his son Yohanan came into power. Yohanan(or in
his Greek name "Hyrcanus"), ruled for 30 years.

He occupied Edom, which was southern to Judea. There, he gave the Edomites the option to convert to Judaism or leave. The Edomites, which were already a semitic people which already preformed circumcision, mostly chose to convert to Judaism.

Yohanan captured Samaria and parts of Transjordan in Madaba. And he won the Itureans and
the Nabataeans in battles.

Starting from Yohanan's era, Judah was a kingdom for Jews only, while the religious centers were only in Jerusalem. Yohanan improved many diplomatic relations with Rome, Ptolemaic Egypt and cities in Greece.

In his days, The three streams began to develop in the nation of Israel, Essenes, Zealots, Sadducees and Pharisees.

After Yohanan's death, his son Judah Aristobulus, Judah ruled only one single year, and passed away
from an illness, in that year, he managed to capture Galilee and Judaized the Ituraeans population there.
He was probablt the first Hasmonean that held the title of "king".

Judah's brother, and the son of Yohanan "Jonathan"came into power. He's known for his Aramic name "Jannaeus", and his for his Greek name "Alexander". And is
mostly called Alexander Jannaeus, his hebrew name is Jonathan.

Jonathan, started a campaign of military expansions twoards the north. He put a Siege on the city of Acre. Acre
called for helped from Egypt. After negatioations Jonathan removed the siege. After that, he captured
the coastal cities such as Dor, Startton Tower and Apollonia.

In the year 101BCE, Jonathan went into succesful military expansions in Transjordan, the Golan and the Bashan.
After that, he went to even more military exapnsion campaigns in the area of Pleshet and Northen Sinai.

He captured Gaza, an important port city, and destroyed it completely. he captured the city of Rhinocurora(El Arish of today).

After that, he fought 3 wars in Transjordan to expand the Kingdom even further, he captured cities
such as Philadelphia, Jerash, Gamla and Dion. In all of the Greek cities Jonathan captured, he expelled its Greek population and settled Jews instead.

Jonathan didn't capture Ashkelon, because of an Allience he created with Egypt. After the battle of Gaza, in 99BCE, a revolt was started by the Pharisees in the kingdom against
Jonathah to overthrow the House of Hasmonean. In that revolt, Jonathan won.

In his death, the Hasmonean Kingdom had reached its peak in power. Jonathan's wife, Salome Alexandra, replaced him.

Under her 9 years of reign, the Hasmonean Kingdom didn't expand any further, and the inner conflicts inside the Kingdom stopped.

One of the reasons the expansions stopped, was
the growing threat of the Armenian Kingdom, which grew stronger in the north and occupied the Seleucid Kingdom, which ended the regional power vaccum and the balance of power has changed.

In Salome's her death, John Hyrcanus II came into power. and was a great priest and the president of the Kingdom, tho his brother Aristobulus II, wanted the throne for himself, and started a civil war, in 66BCE he marched with an army to Jerusalem and occupied it.

Here is first shown, a man called Antipater with his own House, they were converted Jews from the Edomites. Antipater, supported Hyrcanus II. for 4 years Aristobulus II ruled the Kingdom.

However, in the year 63BCE, Pompey arrived from Syria to Judea. He arrived with his Roman Legions after he occupied Syria. Pompey supported Hyrcanus II against Antipater.

And together with them he came to Jerusalem, and after a small Siege, he occupied it and robbed
the treasures of the Temple. The kingdom had turned into a Vassal state, and stopped being independant.

Pompey, gave the Greek cities the Jews captured independance, and allowed them to return. An act that weakend the Kingdom. That now turned to be just a vassal state of Rome.

Aristobulus II, who was exiled to rome, escaped from there. In the next years, in a series of revolts, him and his son Alexander revolted Hyrcanus II faction, but failed every time.

In the year 49BCE, Aristobulus II tried his luck for the last time, when he got help from Julius Caesar to get his Kingdom, however he failed and was poisoned in Jerusalem.

Antipater, was now the administrator of Judea, his son Phasael was now the Governer of Jerusalem, and his son Herdian, the Governer of Galilee.

In the year 40BCE, the last ruler of the House of Hasmonean, Antigonus II Mattathias, started a revolt against the House of Antipater, and at the
start even won.

Herodian who escaped to Rome, got the help of its Legions. And after a small civil war, occupied
Jerusalem in the year 37BCE. And here ended the era of the Hasmonean Kingdom, and started the era of the Herodian Kingdom.

this was a summery of the story of the Hasmonean Kingdom. A family, that led the nation of Israel in a revolt against the Seleucid Empire, kept its independance for 80 years untill it was defeated. And the holiday of Hannukah, is the story of that family, and the nation behind 🇮🇱