1 Maccabees

1 Maccabees

1 Maccabees is a book of the Bible which was probably written about 100 BC, after the restoration of an independent Jewish kingdom. Though the original book was written in Hebrew, as can be deduced by a number of Hebrew idioms in the text, the original has been lost and the version which comes down to us is a pre-Christian Greek translation.

The book's author is unknown, but is assumed to have been a Palestinian Jew who may or may not have directly taken part in the events described in the book.

The book tells the story of the conquest of Palestine by the Greeks under Alexander the Great, the attempt by the Greeks to impose Greek culture on the Jews.

1 Maccabees is considered to be deuterocanonical/apocryphal.