Explore the Period: Maccabees and Hasmoneans: 165 BCE - 63 BCE

During this period, the Jews clashed with Greek “cosmopolitanism” (or the idea that a person could shed ethnic or national identities through Greek education and become a “world citizen”) and there were disagreements within Judaism as to how to respond. Some assimilated, others–such as Judas Maccabeus–resisted militarily, and still others retreated to form their own secluded communities (e.g. the community at Qumran, which produced the Dead Sea Scrolls). Some of the texts produced during this period are part of the Apocrypha and are included in Catholic and Orthodox bibles.