The Hasmonean Revolt and the Miracle of Hanukkah

In the town of Modi'in an officer of Antiochus demanded that the old priest Mattityahu son of Yochanan publicly sacrifice to an idol—as a respected man whose example others would follow. Mattityahu refused; when another Jew stepped forward to comply, the priest killed him and the officer, tore down the altar and cried, 'Whoever is for the Lord, follow me!' His five sons—Yochanan, Shimon, Yehudah, Elazar and Yonatan—went with him into the hills.

The war was hopelessly uneven: a band of farmers and priests against a Seleucid army with war elephants. Mattityahu soon died and command passed to Yehudah, called the Maccabee, who fought the only way he could—night raids, narrow passes, defeating detachments one at a time. At Beth Horon, Emmaus and Beth Zur the Greek forces were broken in turn. In those years a ruling was made that changed Jewish law: one fights on Shabbat when attacked, 'lest we all perish.'

On the 25th of Kislev 3597 Jerusalem and the Temple Mount were retaken. The defiled altar was dismantled and rebuilt. The Menorah had to be lit, but all the oil was defiled; a single small jar with the High Priest's seal intact was found—enough for one day. It burned for eight, until new pure oil was ready.

After Alexander the divergence of the chronologies nearly disappears: both rest on the same Greek and Roman documents. The remainder of a year or two is the difference between the traditional count and the date refined from external sources.