History Daily - Judas Maccabeus Recaptures Jerusalem

Episode Date: November 21, 2025

November 21, 164 BCE. Judas Maccabeus recaptures Jerusalem during the Maccabean Revolt and rededicates the Second Temple, since commemorated in the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. This episode originally aired in 2022. Support the show! Join Into History for ad-free listening and more. History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.

Salku X, tapam we again, 5 numeroa, 5 vhietta, Arvauksia, Patheria, Palkintone X-BG-G-C-Sachco,

Towsin-omaxe. 10-weekquo-a-a-Ratka-C Kauta-X. Don't jay-kydista. It's early December, 164 BCE in Judea, a province ruled by the Seleucid Empire. A Jewish priest walks through the temple of Jerusalem towards the altar.

He weaves his way around workmen covered in dirt, who scurry around the building. Today, the holiest place in the Jewish religion is a hive of noise and activity. But the priest does not mind the peace being disturbed because a dreadful act of sacrilege is finally going to be corrected. As he reaches the center of the temple, the priest stops to watch a group of stone masons, chipping away at the base of a large statue of Zeus,

chief of the Greek gods. The statue was placed here by officials by the Seleucid Empire, who spent the last few years trying to quash Judaism and replace it with the Selucid's own Greek-inspired religion and culture. The priest says a small prayer of thanks that this statue that's been defiling the temple is finally coming down. The priest looks on as one of the workers swings back his tool and strikes the statue with a heavy blow,

one that causes it to wobble forward. A ston Mason shouts a warning and waves the priest back as the statue tips further and further until it topples to the ground. Workers rush forward and begin looping ropes around the fallen statue to pull it out and away from the holy place. The priest smiles, satisfied with their work. Now that the statue is gone,

he can begin making preparations for a grand ceremony to rededicate the temple to the Jewish faith. He closes his eyes and prays that his people might finally be left alone to worship in peace. In preparation for the rededication ceremony, the temple priests seek out oil to light the candles of the menorah, a seven-branched candelabrum that serves as a symbol of the Jewish people. But the priests only find one pot that wasn't defiled by the cellucids. According to legend, this vessel contained only enough oil to keep the menorah burning for 24 hours. but miraculously, there was enough oil to keep it alight for eight days.

Every year, the rededication ceremony in the Temple of Jerusalem is celebrated during an eight-day holiday known as Hanukkah, or the Festival of Lights. But the tradition is about more than the miracle of the oil. It's about the Jewish people's yearning for freedom. The first Hanukkah was celebrated during the unrest of the Maccabian revolt, a rebellion in which Jews under the leadership of a priest, Judas Maccabias, rose up against their celia. rulers. The holiday commemorates the greatest triumph of the Maccabees when they forced the Salisids out of Judea and took control of Jerusalem and its Holy Temple on November 21st, 164 BCE. We're going to givelyne. VIII. VIII. Arvauxiaxiaean G-K-Q-Sackerel,

Towsin' omics. 10-weekcoa time to call outka Codio-cotees Pauver. P. Coutta X.

Al-jah Cydist. Ajetus Joctu-Romasta. We're uscala do things because they are

very. But they are not very because we can't not think it.

History it has been the good-octam is good well.

And give you. H.S.L. Tormatkaetuos part of Palka. Sillon it doesn't make

you to much than vitsimist. But the people it's a matter to make a

coiff so much. O'H. Hey, therel on kind of mottuttuia. Uh,

he's not not not quite you've been we're not out of juoomie. Yeah,

no, where you do't you do't you so, well, S-Market T-Market.

Elmire Rokat. Oh, how much been there's a day I'm going to do you. I'm going to What you laid out I'm going to I'm going to make sure

a little elizance and this part of Laughan club Osta Vaasan Tuottees and get paste and lunasta

Palkintoe From Noiser and Airship I'm Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily History is made every day

On this podcast Every day We tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world Today is November 21st

164 B.C. E. Judas Maccabias recaptures Jerusalem. It's 167 BCE and Modin, a small town in Judea, three years before Judas Maccabias retakes the temple of Jerusalem. Matathias, a Jewish priest, kneels and prays before the altar in the town's temple. Matathias is one of Modin's most respected elders, a man who previously served in the temple of Jerusalem before moving to spend his twilight years here in Modin. But his hopes of a peaceful retirement, are about to be shattered. For the last 50 years, the province of Judea has been ruled by the Seleucid Empire,

a vast Greek-influenced realm that arose after Alexander the Great's death. The empire's territory covers much of the Middle East from modern-day Turkey to Afghanistan. The cellucids initially allowed Judea's majority Jewish population to manage their own affairs. But last year, in 168 BCE, Emperor Antiochus IV epiphanes sought to impose greater celli Celucid control. He sent new, hard-line Greek-speaking governors to rule the province. He built a new citadel in Jerusalem and garrisoned it with Celucid soldiers. He banned circumcision. He even defiled the temple of Jerusalem by building a new altar and dedicating it to Zeus. Now, Manetheus has heard that celiacid officials have been cited in Modin, and he is worried

the emperor's culture wars about to expand into his own town. As Mattathias prays, he hears footsteps behind him. He rises from his knees and turns to see some of Modin's residents, nervously following a handful of unfamiliar men into the temple. One of the strangers steps forward and identifies himself as an emissary from the Seleucid Emperor. He looks around the temple with a sneer and demands to know whether the people of Modin are following the Emperor's decrees on worship. Mattathias stays silent.

The emissary repeats his question, wanting to know whether the priests of Modin still insist that Jews not eat pork or work on the Sabbath. The emperor says that those rules no longer apply. Then the emissary asks whether Modin's priests are still circumcising babies. Matathias does not answer. He has been following the laws of the old Jewish religion, not the deviant edicts laid down by Selucid's Greek gods. The emissary loses patience and beckons to one of his colleagues. A small crowd parts as one of the strangers carries a small pig to the altar. Matathias is shocked. Jews are not. allowed to eat pork, and bringing a pig to the temple as an insult. Matathias protests, but the emissary

shouts him down. Then the celiausid emissary pulls a knife from his robe and hands it to Matathias, handle first. He orders the priest to sacrifice the pig to the Greek gods on the temple's altar. Matathias hears a gasp from the crowd of onlookers. His face burns red with anger. He cannot believe he's been ordered to defile his own place of worship. Adathias, and the emissary stare each other down as a small crowd watches in silence. Eventually, a man steps forward from the crowd and calls for a stop to the showdown.

Matathias recognizes him as one of the Jews who lives here in Modin. The Jew says he does not want conflict and offers to sacrifice the pig himself to spare Matthias. But Matathias is suspicious. The man who claims to be a peacemaker is one of Modene's Hellenized Jews, a man known to be sympathetic to the cellucids and their Greek ways.

So when the Jew approaches Matathias, his hand held out for the knife, Matathias' anger boils over into a murderous rage. He jabs the knife into the Jew's flesh. The man falls as bloodstains blossom on his white robe. Then Matathias turns his ire on the Selucid emissary. He rushes toward him with his knife in the air. The unarmed demissary holds up his hands

in a vain attempt to defend himself. but Matathias slashes him with a blade, and the emissary collapses to the ground as his colleagues run for the door. Matathias stands over the emissary's body and turns to look at the crowd of onlookers who stare in shock. He takes a deep breath and then addresses them, apologizing that they had to see such violence. He says the emperor will demand vengeance when he hears about what has happened here today. But Matathias does not repent. He tells the crowd that he killed the two men to protect the laws of his God, not the law. laws of a distant emperor. As Matathias finishes, he sees the crowd is no longer shocked,

but instead inspired. The death of the two men at the Temple of Modin marks the beginning of a Jewish revolt against the cellucids. In the coming days, Matathias flees Modin and hides in the countryside, but he does not go alone. His five sons accompany him, as do many other men from Modin, who want to fight against their celiacid rulers. Soon this group of rebels are given a nickname, The Maccabees, meaning hammers, for the way they drive their enemies from their land. Matathias will not be responsible for directing the Maccabian revolt. He dies within a year, so leadership of the rebels passes to one of Mattathias' sons, Judas Maccabias. Soon Judas will begin a guerrilla campaign that will slowly gain momentum

and lead to the Maccabees beating the celiacids on the field of battle. We're Weiss number, 5 Vigett, Arvaux, Pairptial, Poveria. Palkintona X-Peng G-K-S

Sackco, Towsin-Omackx. 10-weekcoa a while Ratskaiderst in Pover. Couttax. Al-jah

Kudist. Ajetus, Aftus, Aanticovast, We're uskall to do things because they are they're not

but they're not quite quite because we're not using this is history and it's good and the way toftamining

is a good jobmissal and an work-eatue as a time. Sillone it makes you

you're just more than vitsimist but but the the

is a matter sure so over hope H.S. Hey, therel

there's on the one's There's I'm nother. Eh, I don't know cause I'm never seen

I'm not quite you're gonna yeah, no, what's the newttoos tauts from, you know,

life is ruogues, S market. Oh, how much been the way? Yeah,

what you laid on the what you laid up I'm, I laid this one

a little a one and then part lothurtia and then Maista. Vaasan clo

It's night time, carepistees, and lunasta palkintoes. It's night time near the town of Mitzpah in September 165 BCE, one year before Judas Maccabias recaptures Jerusalem. The black night hides a broad grin on the face of Gorgias, a cellius general, as he looks at the burning campfires of the Maccabee camp.

Gorgias marched through the night with 5,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry to surprise Judas Maccabias in a pre-dawn raid. All he needs to do is give the word, and his troops will attack and destroy the rebels who have been a pain in the side of the cellucids for the past several years. After sparking the Maccabian revolt at Modin in 167 BC, Matathias, and later his son, Judas Maccabias, led the rebels on raids around the countryside of Judea. They targeted Hellenized Jews who were too open to the Greek ways of the cellyacids. The Maccabees drove the celiacid sympathizers off their land.

They burned villages, destroyed altars to the Greek gods, and forcibly circumcised boys. They adopted guerrilla warfare tactics, harassing isolated bands of saliacid soldiers, and then disappearing when confronted by a bigger force. But all the while, the Maccabees were gaining support and numbers as more dissident Jews joined their cause. But now, Gorgias thinks he has an opportunity to crush the Maccabees once and for all. Gorgias quietly gives the order to attack. He kicks his horse into a gallop, and his soldiers and cavalrymen follow behind him. But his men don't roar or cheer. They ride and march in silence, just like Gorgias told them to.

The general doesn't want the Maccabees to have any warning at all of what is about to hit them. And as he hoped, as Gorgias charges into the Maccabee camp, he doesn't hear any sounds of alarm. He delights in taking them completely by surprise. But then he slows his horse near the enemy's campfires and looks around. Gorgias is puzzled because he cannot see any Maccabee soldiers slumbering by the fires. There's no one. The camp is deserted. Gorgias angrily summons the Hellenized Jews who guided his troops to this camp. As they grovel before him, the general demands to know if they have

double-crossed him, but they claim ignorance. They say the Maccabees were definitely camped here yesterday. Disgusted, Gorgias turns away and scans the terrain around them. As the first rays of dawn begin to light their surroundings, Gorgias eyes the nearby mountains, and decides that the Maccabees must have found out that the cellucids were coming and snuck away to the high hills, as they have countless times before. Gorgias sighed, frustrated. There's nothing they can do but return to their own camp near Amos. But the Maccabees have not fled to the mountains. Instead, the rebel Jews are about to launch a pre-dawn raid of their own. At the very moment that Gorgias realizes the enemy has eluded him, a group of Maccabees,

infantry hide in the brush, ready to attack. Several days ago, Judas Maccabias received word from his spies that the cellucids were closing in on them. Rather than slip away like they normally would, Judas decided that the time had come to fight. He made camp here in Mitzvah, knowing that the local Hellenized Jews would soon carry word of his location to the Selucids. When Judas's spies informed him that the Selucids were planning a nighttime attack, Judas ordered the Maccabees to abandon camp, but leave the fires burning. Then they took the backroads to the Selucid camp at Amaeus. And now Maccabee's soldiers and fellow rebels are there waiting for the order to attack. They know that Gorgias and most of his troops are away trying to ambush them, but Gorgias left

behind a contingent of soldiers to guard his camp, and the Maccabees want to force them to surrender. Soon the Maccabee infantrymen hear a loud trumpet blast. They step forward and roar a mighty battle cry. the aggressive cheer of 3,000 spirited voices. Still crying, they charged toward the cellucid camp. As they breach the camp's defenses, the maccabees hear the cellucids call an alarm and desperately scurry to find their weapons, but they're overrun.

The bulk of the cellucids retreat, and as dawn breaks, the maccabees see hundreds of cellucids running away in the distance. Some of the Maccabees start scouring the camp, looking for valuables to pocket, but Judas rides among them, telling the soldiers that there will be time enough for loot and plunder, but not yet. So the Maccabee soldiers instead pile up cellucid weapons and armor to give to any new men who join the rebellion. Other Maccabees set fire to anything that will burn.

They want a plume of smoke to rise high in the air, a signal of their success against the selucids. Soon a loud cheer breaks out. Some Maccabee soldiers point into the distance, and there on the horizon is the celius. raiding party returning from their failed attack on the abandoned Maccabee camp. But the raiding party doesn't charge into battle. They turn away and ride off into the distance. The Maccabee rebels erupt into raucous cheers. They have won. Judas's victory at the Battle of Amas marks a turning point in the Maccabian revolt. It is the first time his rebels have proven that they can take on the more powerful cellucids on the battlefield, and this success will lead to further

victories. As his band of rebels continues to grow, Judas will force the celiaes to retreat from Judea before he rides into Jerusalem, victorious. Taparame, yetle, vipera, vias, vihytta, arvokesia, pouttellor. Palkintona, X-Pen G-6, Sacko, Towsin-Ompos. Towsin'emmacki. 10-weekcoa I can't Codictero Pover.5

coutta X. Don't Jail-Jekyndist I'm Joptajuptus. We're not do things because they are

very't. But they're are quite because we don't know because we're going to bea-joctominy

is good and over and let's the UMPCEL TIEMatoo on Palka. Sillon it's

not quite Vietzimist. But the people are a matter sure. I'm a good. Toive who

H.S. Hey, therel are there's one who Morrow's. Uh, he's not

not cause I'm not quite you're not uh, yeah-huh, no, where do you're

then? No, S-Market Tiette. Elmavent is Rokka A-Market. Well,

how, how much been the Poyve? It's I'll leto it's your leavened up. I'm laitone I'm likeoomics,

and then a pair lachyaceptia. Maista. Vaasan Club. Osta Vaasan Tuottees, get paste,

and lunasta palkintoia. It's November 21st, 164 BCE. Judas Maccabias proudly surveys the scene as he rides his horse into

Jerusalem. There is no opposition. The celliasids have fled, and the town gates are open. Hundreds of people line the streets

cheering. Judas waves to a small boy who leaps up and down in excitement. The biggest and most important city in Judea is now firmly under Judas's control. One month earlier, the Maccabees won a victory at the Battle of Beth Zer, forcing the Selucid army to retreat from Jerusalem. A few days later, the Selucid General commanding that army received a message stating that Emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes had died. The Celiusid General opted to withdraw to Syria and wait for new orders, leaving Jerusalem.

Jerusalem undefended. Now the Maccabees have come to claim their prize. Judas and his soldiers ride through the streets of Jerusalem in triumph. All around, he sees the happy faces of Jews who have been liberated from the celiazids, but Judas spots a few stony faces too. There are many Hellenized Jews here in Jerusalem and across Judea who thrived under the celiazids and who will agitate for their return. But right now, Judas wants to enjoy his hard-fought victory. soon Judas approaches the spiritual heart of the city, the temple, where he wants to give thanks to God for his victory. But when he dismounts his horse and walks inside,

he finds a statue of Zeus standing in the center. As Judas approaches the altar, he sees bloodstains on the stone. It's clear that the celiocid priests have defiled the temple by sacrificing pigs to their Greek gods. Judas turns to his followers and tells them that the temple will be cleansed at the Selucids and their false idols. He says that the priests will hold a ceremony to rededicate the temple to the one true God. This rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem marks the first Hanukkah. The celebration represents the greatest triumph in the life of Judas Maccabias. But with the

Maccabees now in control of Jerusalem and Judea, they can no longer rely on guerrilla tactics to protect and defend their lands. When the celiocids eventually return to reclaim Judea in 160 BC, they overwhelmed the Maccabees on the battlefield, and Judas is killed. But the Maccabian revolt ensured that the Jews of Judea were granted a degree of independence and autonomy within the Seleucid Empire, which outlasted their leader. The revolt lived on as a model of Jewish pride and nationalism, and no moment was more inspiring to future generations than when Judas Maccabias recaptured Jerusalem on November 21, 164 BC.

Next on History Daily, November 24, 1859. Charles Darwin publishes his groundbreaking book on the origin of species, introducing the idea of evolution to the world. From Noisor and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham, audio editing by Molly Bond, sound designed by Derek Barrens, music by Lindsay Graham. This episode is written and researched by Scott Reeves. Executive producers are Stephen Walters for airship and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.

Vibeyevettes, Arvauksia, Poveria. Palkintona X-Bengue G-KU's Sacko Towsin'omax. 10-weekquo-a-artime Routurepteusocteus. A-lare-C-Eight-C-L-JECDist.

Olegive. Olegue. Olegue, and a-li-exel I'm a time It's a lotca etuosan partka. It's a lotcaixteer, but the people are a good. Toive H.S.L. Hey, thiselahen on a joan-tuttuja. Hey, therel haven't been ever seen. Uh, hey, no, who it's it then? Outsuomie. Yeah, ha. No, what'stive? S Market