Judas Maccabeus
Judah Maccabee (or Judas Maccabaeus /mækəˈbiːəs/, also spelled Maccabeus; Hebrew: יהודה המכבי, romanized: Yehudah HaMakabi[1]) was a Jewish priest (kohen) and a son of the priest Mattathias. He led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire (167–160 BCE).
For Handel's oratorio, see Judas Maccabaeus (Handel). For the First Comics character, see Judah Maccabee (comics).Judas Maccabeus
167–160 BCE
April 160 BCE
Elasa, Seleucid Empire
The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah ("Dedication") commemorates the restoration of Jewish worship at the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 164 BC, after Judah Maccabee removed all of the statues depicting Greek gods and goddesses and purified it.
Life[edit]
Early life[edit]
Judah was the third son of Mattathias the Hasmonean, a Jewish priest from the village of Modi'in. In 167 BC Mattathias, together with his sons Judah, Eleazar, Simon, John, and Jonathan, started a revolt against the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who since 169/8 BC had issued decrees that forbade Jewish religious practices.[2] After Mattathias's death in 166 BC, Judah assumed leadership of the revolt in accordance with the deathbed disposition of his father. The First Book of Maccabees[3] praises Judah's valor and military talent, suggesting that those qualities made Judah a natural choice for the new commander.
Origin of the name "The Hammer"[edit]
In the early days of the rebellion, Judah received the surname Maccabee. It is not known whether this surname should be understood in Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic. Several explanations have been put forward for this surname. One suggestion is that the name derives from the Aramaic maqqaba ("makebet" in modern Hebrew), "hammer" or "sledgehammer" (cf. the cognomen of Charles Martel, the 8th century Frankish leader), in recognition of his ferocity in battle. Others believe it is in reference to his weapon of choice.
According to Jewish folklore, the name Maccabee is an acronym of the verse Mi kamokha ba'elim Adonai (YHWH), "Who among the gods is like you, O Adonai?", the Maccabean battle-cry to motivate troops. (Exodus 15:11). Some scholars maintain that the name is a shortened form of the Hebrew maqqab-Yahu (from naqab, "to mark, to designate"), meaning "the one designated by Yahweh."[4] Although originally the surname Maccabee was exclusive to Judah (his brothers had different surnames), at a later date it came to signify all the Hasmoneans who fought during the Maccabean revolt.[5]
In the arts[edit]
Pre-19th century[edit]
As a warrior hero and national liberator, Judah Maccabee has inspired many writers, and several artists and composers. In the Divine Comedy, Dante sees his spirit in the Heaven of Mars with the other "heroes of the true faith". In Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost, he is enacted along with the other Nine Worthies, but heckled for sharing a name with Judas Iscariot. Most significant works dedicated solely to him date from the 17th century onwards. William Houghton's Judas Maccabaeus, performed in about 1601 but now lost, is thought to have been the first drama on the theme; however, Judas Macabeo, an early comedia by crucial Spanish playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca, is extant. Fernando Rodríguez-Gallego details its history in his critical edition: the play was performed in the 1620s in different versions and finally published as part of an anthology by Vera Tassis in 1637. Following on its heels is El Macabeo (Naples, 1638), a Castilian epic by the Portuguese Marrano Miguel de Silveyra. Two other 17th-century works are La chevalerie de Judas Macabé, by French poet Pierre Du Ries,[8] and the anonymous Neo-Latin work Judas Machabaeus (Rome, 1695). Handel wrote his Judas Maccabaeus oratorio (1746) on the subject.