Maccabean Revolt - Identity Politics in the Hasmonean Court

Getting at the heart of the first Jewish Roman Revolt war in 66 CE has a long history attached to it. Working my way backwards through time using the works of Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus as my literary sources raised more questions than answers. I found myself tugging on the threads of history and going all the way back almost 200 years in time to Modin Mattathias and his 5 sons who triggered a popular revolt against their Seleucid overlords and changed the course of history forever.

Getting into the heart of this world, even understanding the time leading up to the event was itself a struggle. To help me untie the knot and understand the nuanced and complex world of Judea leading up to the time period known as the Maccabean Revolt, Dr. Boris Chrubasik, Associate Professor of Ancient History and Chair of the Dept. of Historical Studies at the University of Toronto joins me to help me understand this world rushing towards its independence.

The world of Judea leading up to the start of the revolt is a complex one where what it means to be Jewish is still being defined, and at times swallowed up by the influences of the Greek world on Judea, Jerusalem, and the surrounding lands. The nobility of Jerusalem, and in and amongst the countryside are divided on the influence of Greeks being a positive or negative on their people. Yet even as some of these groups try to figure out what it means to be Jewish in an increasingly Greek countryside, clashes of violence begin to flash across the land and threaten to plunge the Judean landscape into rebellion.

A movement and rejection of these things as a negative influence begins to form. Led ultimately by the sons of Mattathias, the Maccabee family walk a fine tight rope between politics, and outright war against the Seleucids, against Samaria, and against Edomia. Even as they outwardly navigate the world of larger, more powerful neighboring kingdoms like Egypt, the still forming nation of Judea begins to take shape as the internal culture clashes with the Judean countryside and internally with the Maccabean family tell a story of a not yet fully defined Jewish identity.

Join me as I discuss the land, the people, the culture, and political dynamics of the world Judea during the Maccabean Revolt with Prof. Chrubasik and come to see the re-forging of a Jewish identity as an independent Jerusalem takes shape as we uncover the all important context that will flow into the next episodes in this series.

Books written by guest Boris Chrubasik

• Hellenism and the Local Communities of the Eastern Mediterranean: 400 BCE-250 CE
• ISBN: 9780198805663

• Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire
• ISBN: 9780198786924

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