Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Transliteration of Hebrew
- Acknowledgements
- Prologue
- PART I HISTORICAL EVALUATION
- PART II ACCOUNTS OF THE BATTLES: INTRODUCTION, TEXT AND COMMENTARY
- PART III APPENDICES
- A The infantry Royal Guard in the Seleucid army
- B ma'arāḵā (= formation) and fālanḵs in the Hebrew original of I Maccabees
- C Was a Seleucid military settlement established in Jerusalem?
- D The location and history of the Seleucid citadel (the Akra) in Jerusalem
- E The chronology of Antiochus Epiphanes' expedition to the eastern satrapies
- F Defensive war on the Sabbath according to the Books of the Maccabees
- G The ceremony at Mizpah and the chapter on ‘(the Priest) Anointed for Battle’ in the mishnaic tractate Sotah
- H The Babylonian Jews and the Galatians
- I The geographical background and chronological sequence of the clashes with Timotheus in the Second Book of the Maccabees
- J The negotiations between the Jews and the Seleucid authorities in the reigns of Antiochus Epiphanes and Antiochus Eupator
- K The chronology of Lysias' second expedition
- L The route of Bacchides' second expedition to Judaea
- EXCURSUS
- Plates
- Abbreviations
- References
- Indexe locorum
- General index
- Index of Greek terms
- Index of Hebrew words and phrases
K - The chronology of Lysias' second expedition
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Transliteration of Hebrew
- Acknowledgements
- Prologue
- PART I HISTORICAL EVALUATION
- PART II ACCOUNTS OF THE BATTLES: INTRODUCTION, TEXT AND COMMENTARY
- PART III APPENDICES
- A The infantry Royal Guard in the Seleucid army
- B ma'arāḵā (= formation) and fālanḵs in the Hebrew original of I Maccabees
- C Was a Seleucid military settlement established in Jerusalem?
- D The location and history of the Seleucid citadel (the Akra) in Jerusalem
- E The chronology of Antiochus Epiphanes' expedition to the eastern satrapies
- F Defensive war on the Sabbath according to the Books of the Maccabees
- G The ceremony at Mizpah and the chapter on ‘(the Priest) Anointed for Battle’ in the mishnaic tractate Sotah
- H The Babylonian Jews and the Galatians
- I The geographical background and chronological sequence of the clashes with Timotheus in the Second Book of the Maccabees
- J The negotiations between the Jews and the Seleucid authorities in the reigns of Antiochus Epiphanes and Antiochus Eupator
- K The chronology of Lysias' second expedition
- L The route of Bacchides' second expedition to Judaea
- EXCURSUS
- Plates
- Abbreviations
- References
- Indexe locorum
- General index
- Index of Greek terms
- Index of Hebrew words and phrases
Summary
The dating of Lysias’ second expedition differs in the two principal sources. According to I Maccabees (6.20), it took place in the year 150 Seleucid era (S.E.). AS a date relating to Jewish matters, it must be set between April 162 and March 161 b.c. According to II Maccabees (13.1), the expedition took place in the year 149 S.E. AS that book uses only the Macedonian- Syrian variation of the Seleucid calendar, the count of which started in October 312, the reference is to the year between the autumn of 164 and the autumn of 163 b.c.
An examination of the possibilities based on II Maccabees’ chronology indicates that the beginning of the expedition must be dated later than midsummer 163 b.c., that is, close to the end of the year 149 in the Seleucid –Syrian calendar variation: Antiochus Epiphanes died at the end of 164 b.c., the Temple was purified, and then Judas Maccabaeus set out on protracted expeditions all over Eretz Israel. The only chronological clue regarding the end of those expeditions is the statement in II Macabees (12.31, 32) that the expedition to Transjordania ended on the eve of the Feast of Weeks-Shavuot (Sivan-June). According to I Maccabees, Judas Maccabaeus continued with his military operations in Mt Hebron and the coastal plain thereafter too (5.63–8). The siege of the Akra, which was the pretext for Lysias’ second campaign (I Macc. 6.20), began only after the completion of all these expeditions.
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- Judas MaccabaeusThe Jewish Struggle Against the Seleucids, pp. 543 - 551Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989