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The Maccabees, also spelled Machabees ((ヘブライ語:מכבים or מקבים), ''Maqabim''; (ラテン語:Machabi) or ''Machado''; (ギリシア語:Μακκαβαῖοι), ''Makkabaioi''), were the leaders of a Jewish rebel army that took control of Judea, which at the time had been a province of the Seleucid Empire. They founded the Hasmonean dynasty, which ruled from 164 BCE to 63 BCE. They reasserted the Jewish religion, partly by forced conversion, expanded the boundaries of Judea by conquest and reduced the influence of Hellenism and Hellenistic Judaism. ==Background== In the 2nd century BCE, Judea lay between the Ptolemaic Kingdom based in Egypt and the Seleucid empire based in Syria, kingdoms formed after the death of Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE). Judea had been under Ptolemaic rule, but fell to the Seleucids around 200 BCE. Judea at that time had been affected by the Hellenization begun by Alexander. 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. According to the historian Victor Tcherikover, the main motive for the Tobiads' Hellenism was economic and political.〔 The Hellenizing Jews built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, competed in international Greek games, "removed their marks of circumcision and repudiated the holy covenant".〔I Maccabees, i, 15〕 When Antiochus IV Epiphanes (ca. 215–164 BCE), became ruler of the Seleucid Empire in 175 BCE, the High Priest in Jerusalem was Onias III. To Antiochus, the High Priest was merely a local governor within his realm, who could be appointed or dismissed at will, while to orthodox Jews he was divinely appointed.〔Oesterley, W.O.E., ''A History of Israel'', Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1939.〕 Jason, the brother of Onias, bribed Antiochus to make him High Priest instead. Jason abolished the traditional theocracy and constituted Jerusalem as a Greek ''polis''.〔〔De Lange, Nicholas, ''Atlas of the Jewish World'', Oxford: Andromeda, 1992〕 Menelaus then bribed Antiochus and was appointed High Priest in place of Jason. Menelaus had Onias assassinated. Menelaus' brother Lysimachus stole holy vessels from the Temple, causing riots that led to his death. Menelaus was arrested for Onias' murder, and was arraigned before Antiochus, but he bribed his way out of trouble. Jason subsequently drove out Menelaus and became High Priest again. Antiochus pillaged the Temple, attacked Jerusalem and "led captive the women and children".〔I Maccabees, i, 30–32〕 From this point onwards, Antiochus pursued a zealous Hellenizing policy in the Seleucid satrapy of Coele Syria and Phoenicia.〔http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195393361/obo-9780195393361-0031.xml〕 The author of the First Book of Maccabees regarded the Maccabean revolt as a rising of pious Jews against the Seleucid king who had tried to eradicate their religion and against the Jews who supported him. The author of the Second Book of Maccabees presented the conflict as a struggle between "Judaism" and "Hellenism", words that he was the first to use.〔Nicholas de Lange (ed.), ''The Illustrated History of the Jewish People'', London, Aurum Press, 1997, ISBN 1-85410-530-2〕 Most modern scholars argue that the king was reacting to a civil war between traditionalist Jews in the countryside and Hellenized Jews in Jerusalem, though the king's response of persecuting the religious traditionalists was unusual in antiquity, and was the immediate provocation for the revolt. According to Joseph P. Schultz, modern scholarship "considers the Maccabean revolt less as an uprising against foreign oppression than as a civil war between the orthodox and reformist parties in the Jewish camp", while John J. Collins writes that while the civil war between Jewish leaders led to the king's new policies, it is wrong to see the revolt as simply a conflict between Hellenism and Judaism, since "The revolt was not provoked by the introduction of Greek customs (typified by the building of a gymnasium) but by the persecution of people who observed the Torah by having their children circumcised and refusing to eat pork."〔 In the conflict over the office of High Priest, traditionalists with Hebrew/Aramaic names like Onias contested with Hellenizers with Greek names like Jason and Menelaus. Other authors point to social and economic factors in the conflict.〔Tcherikover, Victor ''Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews'', New York: Atheneum, 1975〕 What began as a civil war took on the character of an invasion when the Hellenistic kingdom of Syria sided with the Hellenizing Jews against the traditionalists. As the conflict escalated, Antiochus prohibited the practices of the traditionalists, thereby, in a departure from usual Seleucid practice, banning the religion of an entire people.〔 Other scholars argue that while the rising began as a religious rebellion, it was gradually transformed into a war of national liberation.〔Jewish Life and Thought Among Greeks and Romans: Primary Readings,'' By Louis H. Feldman, Meyer Reinhold, Fortress Press, 1996, p. 147〕 According to 1 Maccabees, Antiochus made possession of the Torah a capital offense and burned the copies he could find.,〔I Macccabees. 1:57〕 and he banned many traditional Jewish and Samaritan〔http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195393361/obo-9780195393361-0031.xml〕 religious practices: ritual sacrifice was forbidden, sabbaths and feasts were banned. Circumcision was outlawed, and mothers who circumcised their babies were killed along with their families.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.biblestudytools.com/nrsa/1-maccabees/passage.aspx?q=1-maccabees+1:60–61 )〕 Altars to Greek gods were set up and animals prohibited to Jews were sacrificed on them. The idol of Olympian Zeus was placed on the altar of the Temple. This may, however, represented an exaggerated view of Antiochus' support for the Hellenizing party within Judaea. The motives of Antiochus are unclear. He may have been incensed at the overthrow of his appointee, Menelaus,〔 or he may have been responding to an orthodox Jewish revolt that drew on the Temple and the Torah for its strength〔 and encouraged by a group of radical Hellenizers among the Jews.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Maccabees」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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