THE SCROLL OF THE HASMONEANS
The Greek monarch Antiochus was a powerful ruler; all the kings heeded him. He subdued many provinces and mighty sovereigns; he destroyed their castles, burned their palaces and imprisoned their men. Since the reign of Alexander there had never been a king like him beyond the Euphrates. He erected a large city on the seacoast to serve as his royal residence, and called it Antioch after his own name. Opposite it his governor Bagris founded another city, and called it City of Bagris after himself. Such are their names to this day.
In the twenty-third year of his reign, the two hundred and thirteenth year after the Temple had been rebuilt, Antiochus determined to march on Jerusalem. He said to his officers: "You are aware that the Jews of Jerusalem are in our midst. They neither offer sacrifices to our gods nor observe our laws; they abandon the king’s laws to practise their own. They hope moreover for the day when kings and tyrants shall be crushed, saying: ‘O that our own king might reign over us, that we might rule the sea and the land, so that the entire world would be ours.’ It is indeed a disgrace for the royal government to let them remain on the face of the earth. Come now, let us attack them and abolish the covenant made with them: sabbath, new moon festivals and circumcision.” The proposal pleased his officers and all his host.
מגלת החשמונאים, known also as מגלת אנטיוכוס, has come down to us in both Aramaic and Hebrew. The Hebrew version is a literal translation from the Aramaic original which was composed probably in the seventh century. During the Middle Ages this Megillah was read in the Italian synagogues on Ḥanukkah as the Book of Esther is read on Purim. It still forms part of the liturgy of the Yemenite Jews, Saadyah Gaon attributed its authorship to the five sons of Mattathias.
714
