Maccabees
Hanukkah's heroic family
The Maccabees were a Jewish rebel army who led an uprising against the Seleucid Empire in the second century BCE.
Their victory and rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem is commemorated by Hanukkah.
The term extends to the dynasty they founded (the Hasmoneans) and to four books of Jewish history, two of which appear in Catholic and Orthodox biblical canons.
Jewish ceremonial lampstand
- dreidelHebrew-lettered spinning top
- latkesFried shredded potato cakes
- oilSlippery viscous fluid
- candlesWax lights with wicks
miracle · eight nights · gelt · dedication · rededication · Temple · blessings · shamash
Patriarch and namesake tribe
- rebellionDefiance of established power
- guerrillaIrregular armed fighter
- resistanceCapacity to withstand force
- liberationRelease from constraint
independence · uprising · fighters · zealots · Torah · persecution · martyrdom
Ordained religious leaders
- kingsMale hereditary rulers
- JudeaAncient Palestinian territory
- JerusalemTriply sacred ancient capital
- TempleNamed religious structure
dynasty · sovereignty · rule · succession · kingdom · high priest · restoration
menorah
Jewish ceremonial lampstand
candles · miracle · eight nights · gelt · dedication · rededication · Temple · blessings · shamash
Judah
Patriarch and namesake tribe
- rebellionDefiance of established power
- guerrillaIrregular armed fighter
- resistanceCapacity to withstand force
liberation · independence · uprising · fighters · zealots · Torah · persecution · martyrdom
priests
Ordained religious leaders
Temple · dynasty · sovereignty · rule · succession · kingdom · high priest · restoration
apocrypha
Works of doubtful authenticity
- deuterocanonicalOf secondary biblical authority
- booksBound written works
- martyrsThose killed for convictions
history · narrative · Chronicles · Judaism · biblical · ancient · texts · Catholic
- Ancient IsraelIsraelites, Jerusalem, Israel, twelve tribes, Judea
- Jewish HistoryHolocaust, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon
- Ancient JudeaSecond Temple, Judea, Jerusalem, Masada, Herod the Great
- Biblical warfarebattle, battles, war, wars, warfare
- Catholic BibleNew Testament, Old Testament, Gospels, Pentateuch, historical books
- Hanukkahmenorah, dreidel, latkes, gelt, shamash
Maccabeesassimilationists
Those advocating cultural absorption
Maccabeesoccupiers
Those currently dwelling somewhere
persecutors · oppressors · imperial forces · colonial powers