On the Historical Value of 2 Maccabees

Abstract

Summary 2 Maccabees provides solid historical information concerning the activities of Antiochus IV in Egypt and Palestine in the 160s B.C. This information both supplements and partially corrects the corresponding account in 1 Maccabees. Since the Jews in Palestine used the so-called Babylonian Seleucid Era (instead of the Macedonian Seleucid Era as Klaus Bringmann has argued), the presentation of events in 1 Maccabees becomes highly problematic at points, and it is once again 2 Maccabees which points the way toward a solution.