The Maccabees (/ˈmækəbiːz/), also spelled Machabees (Hebrew: מַכַּבִּים, Makkabbīm or מַקַבִּים, Maqabbīm; Latin: Machabaei or Maccabaei; Ancient Greek: Μακκαβαῖοι, Makkabaioi), were a group of Jewish rebel warriors who took control of Judea, which at the time was part of the Seleucid Empire.

The correlating Torah verse Exodus 15:11, The song of Moses and the Children of Israel by the Sea,[7] makes a reference to elim, with a mundane notion of natural forces, heavenly might, war and governmental powers.

The scholar and poet Aaron Kaminka argues that the name is a corruption of Machbanai, a mighty warrior in the army of King David.

Some Jews, mainly those of the urban upper class, notably the Tobiad family, wished to dispense with Jewish law and to adopt a Greek lifestyle.

[10] The Hellenizing Jews built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, competed in international Greek games, "removed their marks of circumcision and repudiated the holy covenant".

[11] When Antiochus IV Epiphanes became ruler of the Seleucid Empire in 175 BCE, Onias III held the office of high priest in Jerusalem.

Jason abolished the traditional theocracy and "received from Antiochus permission to convert Jerusalem into a Greek polis called Antioch".

Now Antiochus was not satisfied either with his unexpected taking the city (Jerusalem), or with its pillage, or with the great slaughter he had made there; but being overcome with his violent passions, and remembering what he had suffered during the siege, he compelled the Jews to dissolve the laws of their country, and to keep their infants uncircumcised, 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.

[10] The motives of Antiochus remain unclear: he may have been incensed at the overthrow of his appointee, Menelaus,[12] or – encouraged by a group of radical Hellenizers among the Jews,[16] he may have been responding to an orthodox Jewish revolt that drew on the Temple and the Torah for its strength.

[24] According to 1 Maccabees, Antiochus banned many traditional Jewish and Samaritan[15] religious practices: he made possession of the Torah a capital offense and burned the copies he could find;[25][26] sabbaths and feasts were banned; circumcision was outlawed, and mothers who circumcised their babies were killed along with their families;[27] and traditional Jewish ritual sacrifice was forbidden.

After Mattathias' death about one year later in 166 BCE, his son Judah Maccabee led an army of Jewish dissidents to victory over the Seleucids in guerrilla warfare, which at first was directed against Hellenizing Jews, of whom there were many.

In 142 BCE, Jonathan was assassinated by Diodotus Tryphon, a pretender to the Seleucid throne, and was succeeded by Simon Maccabee, the last remaining son of Mattathias.

[34] Although the Maccabees won autonomy, the region remained a province of the Seleucid Empire, and Simon was required to provide troops to Antiochus VII Sidetes, the brother of Demetrius II.

Simon was murdered in 134 BCE by his son-in-law Ptolemy and was succeeded as high priest and king by his son John Hyrcanus I. Antiochus conquered the entire district of Judea but refrained from attacking the Temple or interfering with Jewish observances.

Multiple references to Hanukkah are made in the Mishnah (Bikkurim 1:6, Rosh HaShanah 1:3, Taanit 2:10, Megillah 3:4 and 3:6, Moed Katan 3:9, and Bava Kama 6:6), though specific laws are not described.

The first of these books states that their father was a Benjamite named Maccabeus and that three of the brothers, who are called Abya, Seela, and Fentos, were captured and martyred for leading a guerrilla war against Antiochus Epiphanes.

From before the time of the Tridentine calendar, the Holy Maccabees had a commemoration in the Roman Rite liturgy within the feast of Saint Peter in Chains.

Nine years later, 1 August became the feast of Saint Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori, and the mention of the Maccabee martyrs was omitted from the General Roman Calendar, since in its 1969 revision it no longer admitted commemorations.

[dubious – discuss][citation needed] While studying a floor mosaic discovered during the 2012-2016 campaigns at the Huqoq synagogue near the Sea of Galilee and dating to the 4th–5th centuries, Russian researcher Nina V. Braginskaya comes to a different conclusion from that of the dig director, Jodi Magness.