Books of Maccabees

Maccabees, Books of, 2 books of the Old Testament Apocrypha that tell the story of the Maccabees, or Hasmoneans, Jewish rulers of the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C. who fought for the independence of Judea from Syria. First Maccabees, a prime historical source, was written c.100? B.C. Second Maccabees is a devotional work of low historical value, written before A.D. 70. Two other books, Third and Fourth Maccabees, are among the Pseudepigrapha.

See also: Old Testament.