Maccabees

The Maccabees were Levites, a family of the high priests, who became the civil rulers of the nation until they were usurped by Herod and his Edomite kin.

History

Prehistory

Little is known of the history of Judaea from the days of Ezra and the prophets Zechariah and Malachi, to the time of the Maccabees and the accounts illuminated in the history of Josephus which began circa 160 BC. Josephus himself says very little about that 300-year period from Ezra to the Maccabees, aside from a brief account of Alexander's entry into Jerusalem and his conquest of Tyre