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Intertestamental

Catholic Encyclopedia: Essenes

One of three leading Jewish sects mentioned by Josephus as flourishing in the second century B.C., the others being the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Concerning their origin, history, and tenets there has been much inconclusive controversy. The only ancient authorities we have are a few paragraphs in Philo Judeaeus, a somewhat lengthier description ...

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Antipater

The story of Antipater's life is virtually the story of Macedonia itself. He was an indispensable part of the glorious reigns of both Philip and Alexander and witnessed the rise of his homeland from a backwater to the greatest power in the world. He was born at the very beginning of the fourth century, probably in 398 BC Over fifteen years older th...

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Who Was Judah Maccabee Anyway?

by Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf. Close your eyes and picture Arnold Schwartzenegger: His Uzi has just jammed, he's got one arm in a sling, he's about to take on 300 bad guys all at once - and he's wearing a yarmulka. That's who Judah Maccabee was! Two thousand years ago, one family led by one man stood between the mighty Greek army and the conquest of the...

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Ptolemy I

Period of Alexander the Great - General of Alexander - Founder of the Great Library of Alexandria. Ptolemy was one of Alexander the Great's boyhood friends and became one of his most trusted generals. He played a principal part in the campaigns of Alexander in Afghanistan and India.When Alexander the Great died Ptolemy took charge of one third of a...

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The Antiochan Crisis to the Death of Judas (174-160 BCE)

Brief Account of Events Said to Have Occurred. Although little is known of events in Israel before Antiochus IV Epiphanes, from this point on, there are fairly detailed and reliable sources of information on Jewish history. Unfortunately, there is some confusion about the order of events in Jewish sources and a problem correlating these with the He...

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Daniel's Prophecies Come to Pass

The Bible and Archaeology - The Intertestamental Period: Daniel's Prophecies Come to Pass - by Mario Seiglie. This series has traced the history of the Old Testament from Genesis through the captivity of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, describing archaeological finds and historical accounts that have confirmed and illuminated the biblical account...

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The Qumran Community and the Essene Sect

By Cleve A. Johnson. Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 scholars have spent years studying them and the nearby ruins of Qumran. It has been assumed by most scholars that the community of Qumran was an Essene group and that they were responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the past several years much debate has arisen concerning wh...

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Hyrcanus in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE

her-ka'-nus (Hurkanos): "Son of Tobias, a man of great dignity," who had a large sum of money deposited in the Temple of Jerusalem when Heliodorus was sent to confiscate it in 187 BC (2 Macc 3:11 ff). (Bible-History Online)...

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Judah Maccabee

Second leader of the Judean revolt against the Greco-Syrian empire [166 BCE]. Westerners have traditionally referred to the third son of Mattathias of Modein by the Latinate form of his name: Judas Maccabeus. A Judean priest, he assumed command of Judean resistance to Greek forces after his father's death [165 BCE]. His defeat of the Greek governor...

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Cassander (358-297 BC)

Cassander was the son of Antipater. He was a minor figure during the reign of Alexander the Great, but after the death of his father rose to be ruler and then king of Macedonia. Antipater was the regent of Macedonia during Alexander's expedition to the east. In 324 BC he had been summoned to Alexander's court at Babylon, and Craterus sent west to r...

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