5 Maccabees 13 and the Missing Ambassador

Abstract

This article traces the impact of Eupolemos, the Jewish historian and ambassador, on Jewish tradition. Eupolemos plays an important role in 1 and 2 Maccabees as one of the ambassadors sent to Rome by Judas Maccabaeus. Josephus elaborates the role of Eupolemos and associates him closer to Judas Maccabaeus than was the case with the accounts found in the first two books of the Maccabees. A much-overlooked Jewish work extant in Arabic, 5 Maccabees, commemorates the pact made between the Romans and Judas Maccabaeus, but fails to mention the Jewish ambassador Eupolemos. 5 Maccabees, as well as Sefer Josippon, appears to exalt Judas Maccabaeus. The increased status of Judas is, however, to the detriment of Eupolemos, who is written out of Jewish tradition in the medieval period.