Josephus
Μακεδόνες Ἀπελλαῖον καλοῦσιν, ἧψάν τε φῶτα ἐπὶ τῆς λυχνίας καὶ ἐθυμίασαν ἐπὶ τοῦ βωμοῦ, καὶ ἄρτους ἐπὶ τὴν τράπεζαν ἐπέθεσαν καὶ ὡλοκαύτωσαν 320ἐπὶ τοῦ καινοῦ θυσιαστηρίου. ἔτυχε δὲ ταῦτα κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην γενέσθαι καθ᾿ ἣν καὶ μετέπεσεν αὐτῶν ἡ ἅγιος θρησκεία εἰς βέβηλον καὶ κοινὴν συνήθειαν, μετὰ ἔτη τρία. τὸν γὰρ ναὸν ἐρημωθέντα ὑπ᾿ Ἀντιόχου διαμεῖναι τοιοῦτον ἔτεσι 321συνέβη τρισίν· ἔτει γὰρ πέμπτῳ καὶ τεσσαρακοστῷ καὶ ἑκατοστῷ ταῦτα περὶ τὸν ναὸν ἐγένετο, πέμπτῃ καὶ εἰκάδι τοῦ Ἀπελλαίου μηνός, ὀλυμπιάδι ἑκατοστῇ καὶ πεντηκοστῇ καὶ τρίτῃ ἀνενεώθη δὲ κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἡμέραν πέμπτῃ καὶ εἰκοστῇ τοῦ Ἀπελλαίου μηνός, ὀγδόῳ καὶ τεσσαρακοστῷ καὶ ἑκατοστῷ ἔτει, ὀλυμπιάδι ἑκατοστῇ καὶ πεντηκοστῇ 322καὶ τετάρτῃ. τὴν δ᾿ ἐρήμωσιν τοῦ ναοῦ συνέβη γενέσθαι κατὰ τὴν Δανιήλου προφητείαν πρὸ τετρακοσίων καὶ ὀκτὼ γενομένην ἐτῶν· ἐδήλωσεν γὰρ ὅτι Μακεδόνες καταλύσουσιν αὐτόν.
323(7) Ἑώρταζε δὲ ὁ Ἰούδας μετὰ τῶν πολιτῶν τὴν ἀνάκτησιν τῆς περὶ τὸν ναὸν θυσίας ἐφ᾿ ἡμέρας ὀκτώ, μηδὲν ἀπολιπὼν ἡδονῆς εἶδος, ἀλλὰ πολυτελέσι μὲν καὶ λαμπραῖς ταῖς θυσίαις κατευωχῶν αὐτούς, ὕμνοις δὲ καὶ ψαλμοῖς τὸν μὲν θεὸν τιμῶν1
Jewish Antiquities XII
call Apellaios,a they kindled the lights on the lampstand and burned incense on the altar and set out the loaves on the table and offered whole burnt-offerings upon the new altar. These things, as it chanced, took place on the same day on which, three years before, their holy service had been transformed into an impure and profane form of worship. For the temple, after being made desolate by Antiochus, had remained so for three yearsb; it was in the hundred and forty-fifth year that these things befell the temple, on the twenty-fifth of the month Apellaios, in the hundred and fifty-third Olympiad.c And the temple was renovated on the same day, the twenty-fifth of the month Apellaios, in the hundred and forty-eighth year, in the hundred and fifty-fourth Olympiad.d Now the desolation of the temple came about in accordance with the prophecy of Daniel, which had been made four hundred and eight years beforee; for he had revealed that the Macedonians would destroy it.
(7) And so Judas together with his fellow-citizensThe Jews celebrate the festival of lights (Hanukkah). 1 Macc. iv. 56 celebrated the restoration of sacrifices in the temple for eight days, omitting no form of pleasure, but feasting them on costly and splendid sacrifices, and “while honouring God with songs of praise and the
- aThe Macedonian month-name is not given in 1 Macc.; on the equation Kislew-Apellaios cf. Ant. xi. 148 note e.
- b2 Macc. x. 3 wrongly gives 2 years as the interval, on which cf. Otto, Ptol. p. 40 note 2, and Meger, Ursprung ii. 459.
- cCf. above, § 248 notes.
- dDecember, 165 b.c. Although the 1546th Olympiad (not mentioned in 1 Macc.) is generally reckoned as extending from July 164 to July 160 b.c., and thus cannot correspond to the 148th yr. Sel. which began in Oct. 165 b.c. (the official reckoning) or the spring of 164 b.c. (the Jewish reckoning), it is likely that, as Bickermann suggests, PW xiv. 784, Josephus’ source was using the so-called Macedonian Olympiad-era, which preceded the Attic by a year; possibly, however, as Bickermann remarks, Josephus’ Olympiad reckoning is erroneous here as elsewhere.
- eThis would be in 576 b.c., or, if “before” means “before the rededication.” in 573 b.c.; for the prophecy see Dan. xi. 31 and vii. 25 (Ant. x. 275).