Translation:9 Maccabees

Chapter 1

¹ And it came to pass in the days of Sardanapalus king of Babylon, the great and mighty monarch, the mighty prince of his dominions, to whom all the kings obeyed. Many countries he conquered, and mighty kings he subdued, burning their towers and palaces and imprisoning their men. (No king like him had risen on the shore of the Great Sea since the days of Belos) ² And he built a great city on the bank of the river as his capital, and called it Sardanapalutana, after his name. ³ And Baghdad, his viceroy, also built a city equally great and called it Baghdad after his name, and so they are called to this day. ⁴ In the fiftieth year of his reign, which was the four hundredth year after the sinking of Atlantis, he turned his face towards Greece. ⁵ And he spoke to his officers saying: "Surely you know that there is a degenerate people among us on Olympus. They sacrifice to our gods, but they curse them, and boast and consider themselves gods. And they do not keep our laws, keeping their own laws. And they neglect the king. And their skin is white as snow and their features are red and beautiful. While we are dark and our features are like those of the demons. They boast of us saying: "Our king shall rule us, and we shall rule the land and the sea, and all the earth shall be our dominion." It is not for the glory of the kingdom to suffer them on the face of the earth. Come now, and let us go against them, and let us destroy their people, and rape their women, and raze their villages, and destroy their gods and their temples, and castrate them all, and take their women for ourselves." ⁶ And this found favor in the eyes of his officers and in the eyes of all his army. And so it came to pass that King Sardanapalus arose and sent his viceroy Xerxes, with a heavy army and a great multitude, and they arrived at the city of Greece, Athens. ⁷ And he killed many, and set up an altar on Olympus, in the place where the gods were, and they made their meals and their drinks and their feasts and lived. ⁸ And where they dwelt, they were driven out, and the gods fled from the Greeks, going to Hyperborea. ¹⁰ And he built a temple to his god, Horomazis ^[1], on Mount Olympus, and moved a hundred thousand men and two hundred thousand animals, and slaughtered them to sacrifice them on that mountain, and the people were afraid.

Chapter 2

¹ And when Alexander, who was nicknamed Maccabeus from his native land, Mount Maccabees, and Alexander, the son of Philip (who was the god Apollo in mortal form disguised), the great king a hundred years earlier, and Alexander heard of this deed, was filled with rage, and the glow left his face and he advised himself what to do about it. ² And then Alexander the son of Philip made for himself a sword, two openings in length and one opening in breadth, and hid it under his robe. And he came to Athens, and stood at the royal gate, and called to the guards, saying: "I am I, the son of Philip, and I have come before Xerxes. ³ The guards came to Xerxes and said: "The king of the Greeks stands at the gate. ⁴ And Xerxes answered and said: "Let him surely go in. Then Alexander was led into the presence of Xerxes. And Xerxes spoke to Alexander, saying: "Thou art one of the rebels, who have rebelled against the king, and seek not the peace of his kingdom." ⁵ And Alexander answered and said to him: "I would rather live a short life of glory than a long life of obscurity. May God destroy you and poison you with the poison of the cobra and maim you with the teeth of the tiger and destroy your king with the vengeance of the Afghans." ⁶ And Xerxes said: "I will slay thee for thy insolence! And I will give you as an offering to Horomazis and sacrifice you to him and say, 'My god has delivered into my hands the king of the Greeks.'" ⁷ At that moment, Alexander pushed forward and plunged the sword into Xerxes' heart and threw his body off the mountain. ⁸ And Alexander, the son of Philip, went out that day and fought the enemy and killed many of them. ⁹ The number of the enemies that he killed that day was seventy thousand, for they killed one another. ¹⁰ And the number of the enemies that he killed that day was seven hundred thousand, because they killed one another. ¹¹ And when he returned, he built a pillar, which he called by his name: "Alexander Maccabeus, the slayer of the mighty and king of the Greeks." ¹² And when King Sardanapalus heard that his regent Xerxes had been killed, he was very angry. ¹³ And he sent to summon Baghdad, the wicked one who misleads his people. And this was the beginning of his demise.

Chapter 3

¹ And Baghdad spoke to Sardanapalus and said: "You know, for you have heard what the Greeks have done in your kingdom, which covers the whole land, and in my territory, which extends from Tigris to Hyperborea, and you know that they have killed my sons and slain my men and plundered my camps and my officers. ² Can you now trust your power when they have invaded your kingdom? ³ Can you continue your parties and multiply yourself with 10,000 concubines and 1,000 wives and 1,000 male concubines and 1,000 eunuchs and continue your orgies and wines if they come to you and destroy your houses? ⁴ They will take away your riches which are more than all the earth. ⁵ Come, let us go, and give me your army, that I may go up against them and destroy their kingdoms, and kill their gods, and put an end to their feasts, and I will force them to be circumcised, and we will feast on their bodies. (for it was the practice of the Persians to force circumcision on all who were eight years of age and older). ⁶ And Sardanapalus agreed. ⁷ And he called Baghdad Naberius, for he had plotted with him, and Baghdad was known as Naberius from that day on. ⁸ Then Naberius, the evil one, and all his army came to Athens and killed many of its inhabitants. ⁹ And he issued a strict decree forbidding the festivals and the worship of the gods, and enforced the worship of Horomazis and circumcision. ¹⁰ And seeing that this royal decree was issued in haste, they soon found a man who had not circumcised his son. And they brought his concubines and wife before them and hung them opposite the child. ¹¹ There was also a woman who gave birth to a son after the death of her concubine and refused to circumcise him when he was eight years old. ¹² And she went up the wall of Troy, carrying her circumcised son. ¹³ And she cried out and said: "To thee Baghdad, the devil, let it be said 'Thou art nothing and art dust; the land of our ancestors shall eat thee. Thou shalt lose thy whole member, as that which thou didst to ours. And let your day be on Friday, where you force us to worship Horomazis your god and the circumcision you use to mutilate our children. We will not surrender, neither we nor our children." ¹⁴ And she threw her son to the ground, and his hide was opened and spilled, and lilies came out of his blood. And she leaped after him, and they both died together. ¹⁵ Many of the Greeks did so in those days instead of surrendering. ¹⁶ Therefore Alexander said to the Greeks: "Come, let us retire to the cave of the oracle, lest we be forced here to desecrate our bodies." ¹⁷ But their plan was betrayed in Baghdad. ¹⁸ Then Naberius, the evil one, sent armed men to camp at the entrance to the cave. ¹⁹ And they said: "Greeks, come to us, eat with us of our bread, and drink with us of our wine, and do as we do, and we will give to your men, women, and we will give to your women, men, for them to you as your servants, and we will give to your people what you will." ²⁰(but this was a lie) ²¹ And Alexander spoke and said to the Persians: "We all remember when the gods made us; ²² and Apollo said to his father Zeus, "I have made the Elders, and they shall be dear to me forever, and I will take some of them as my priests, and some as my lovers, and I will make them many kings." ²³ It is Better to die in this cave than to be mutilated." ²⁴ And when the Greeks would not come out, Naberius brought a wooden image of Apollo, which he burned at the entrance to the cave, killing about a thousand men and women. ²⁵ But Alexander survived unscathed and fled through a hollow cavern.

Chapter 4

Not finished please work on them more.

1. (1:8) "Horomazis" Greek: Ὡρομάζης, a transliteration of Ahura Mazda or Ohrmazd, the supreme god in Zoroastrianism