FAQ
T_LOGIN Log in

Don't have an account on our website?

T_REGISTER Register

The Failure of a Religious Reform: Observations on the Hellenistic Reform in Jerusalem

Publication date: 24.04.2026

ELECTRUM, 2026, Volume 33, pp. 55-74

https://doi.org/10.4467/20800909EL.26.003.23116

Authors

Edward Dąbrowa
Jagiellonian University in Kraków
, Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9324-9096 Orcid
Contact with author
All publications →

Titles

The Failure of a Religious Reform: Observations on the Hellenistic Reform in Jerusalem

Abstract

One of the most significant moments of the so-called Hellenistic reform in Jerusalem was the introduction of polytheistic worship into the Jerusalem temple around 168 BCE. This led to the repression and persecution of Judaism’s followers, which, according to the accounts of 1 and 2 Maccabees, became the direct cause of the Maccabean revolt. Today, the role of religious aspects in the origins of the Maccabean revolt is often downplayed in favor of economic factors. However, there is no doubt that both played equally important roles. Nevertheless, much evidence suggests that the manner in which the polytheistic reform was implemented sparked armed resistance among the population. The author argues that this reform should not be viewed as a top-down religious policy of the Syrian king, but rather as being linked to establishing a polis in Jerusalem.

Abbreviations

CIIP IV,1: Iudaea/Idumaea – W. Ameling et al. (eds.), Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae, vol. IV: Iudaea / Idumaea, part 1, no. 2649–3324, Berlin–Boston 2018.

References

Download references

Ameling, W. (2003), Jerusalem als hellenistische Polis: 2 Makk 4,9–12 und eine neue Inschrift, Biblische Zeitschrift 47: 105–111.

Babota, V. (2014), The Institution of the Hasmonean High Priesthood, Leiden–Boston.

Bar-Kochva, B. (1989), Judas Maccabaeus: The Jewish Struggle against the Seleucids, Cambridge.

Bernhardt, Jh. Chr. (2017), Die Jüdische Revolution. Untersuchungen zu Ursachen, Verlauf und Folgen der hasmonäischen Erhebung, Berlin–Boston.

Bickermann, E. J. (1935), La charte séleucide de Jérusalem, Revue des Études Juives 100: 4–35.

Bickermann, E. J. (1937), Der Gott der Makkabäer. Untersuchungen über Sinn und Ursprung der Makkabäischen Erhebung, Berlin.

Bickerman, E. J. (1979), The God of the Maccabees: Studies on the Meaning and Origin of the Maccabean Revolt, Leiden.

Bickerman, E. J. (2007), The Seleucid Charter for Jerusalem, in: E. J. Bickerman, Studies in Jewish and Christian History, vol. 1, Leiden–Boston: 315–356.

Bieberstein, K., Bloedhorn, H. (1994), Jerusalem. Grundzüge der Baugeschichte vom Chalkolithum bis zur Frühzeit der osmanischen Herrschaft, vol. III, Wiesbaden.

Bloedhorn, H. (2017), A Brief History of Jerusalem: From the Earliest Settlement to the Destruction of City in AD 70, Wiesbaden.

Bringmann, K. (1983), Hellenistiche Reform und Religionsverfolgung in Judäa. Eine Untersuchung zur jüdisch-hellenistische Geschichte (175163 v. Chr.), Göttingen.

Capdetrey, L. (2007), Le pouvoir séleucide. Territoire, administration, finances dun royaume hellénistique (312129 avant J.-C.), Rennes.

Chrubasik, B. (2019), The Epigraphic Dossier Concerning Ptolemaios, Son of Thraseas and the Fifth Syrian War, ZPE 209: 115–130.

Cohen, G. M. (1994), The “Antiochenes in Jerusalem.” Again, in: J. C. Reeves, J. Kampen (eds.), Pursuing the Text: Studies in Honor Ben Zion Wacholder on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday, Sheffield: 243–259.

Cohen, G. M. (2006), The Hellenistic Settlements in Syria, the Red Sea Basin and North Africa, Berkeley–Los Angeles–London.

Corsaro, M. (2001), Doni di terra ed esenzione dai tributi: una riflessione sulla natura dello stato ellenistico in Asia Minore, Simblos 3: 227–261.

Cotton-Paltiel, H. M., Ecker, A., Gera, D. (2017), Justaposing Literary and Documentary Evidence: A New Copy of the So-Called Heliodorus Stele and the Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palestinae (CIIP), BICS 60: 1–15.

Dąbrowa, E. (2012), The Enemies of the Hasmoneans, in: N. Riemer (ed.), Jewish Lifeworlds and Jewish Thought: Festschrift presented to Karl E. Grözinger on the Occasion of his 70th Birthday, Wiesbaden: 351–356.

Dąbrowa, E. (2020), Rewritten History: 1 Maccabees and Josephus on Simon the Macabee, in: I. Kalimi (ed.), Writing and Rewriting History in Ancient Israel and Near Eastern Cultures, Wiesbaden: 223–229.

Decoster, K. (1989), Flavius Josephus and the Seleucid Acra in Jerusalem, ZDVP 105: 70–84.

Eckhardt, B. (2018), Die “hellenistische Krise” und der Makkabäerufstand in der neuen Disscussion, Theologische Literaturzeitung 143: 983–998.

Eckhardt, B. (2024), The “Charter for Jerusalem” and the Seleucid Conquest of the Southern Levant: Problems of Authenticity and Exemplarity, Journal of Ancient Judaism 15: 181–207.

Galor, K., Bloedhorn, H. (2013), The Archaeology of Jerusalem: From the Origins to the Ottomans, New Haven–London.

Garfinkel, Y. (2022), The Border of Gezer and the Border of the Gath: Elite Control of Land in the Ancient Near Eastern Cities, in: U. Davidovitch, N. Yahalom-Mack, S. Matskevich (eds.), Material, Method, and Meaning: Papers in Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology in Honor of Ilan Sharon, Münster: 387–394.

Gera, D. (2014), Seleucid Road Towards the Religious Persecutions of the Jews, in: M.-F. Baslez, O. Munnich (eds.), La Mémoire des persecutions. Autour des livres des Maccabées, Paris–Louvain: 21–57.

Girardin, M. (2020), La fiscalité dans le judaïsme ancient (VIe s. av. J.-C.  IIe s. apr. J.-C.), Paris. Girardin, M. (2022), Loffrande et le tribute. Histoire politique de la fiscalité en Judée hellénistique et romaine (200 a.C.135 p.C.), Bordeaux.

Grabbe, L. L. (2008), A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period, vol. 2: The Coming of the Greeks: The Early Hellenistic Period (335175 BCE), London–New York.

Grabbe, L. L. (2020), A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period, vol. 3: The Maccabaean Revolt, Hasmonaean Rule, and Herod the Great (1754 BCE), London–New York.

Habicht, Ch. (1976), Royal Documents in Maccabees II, HSCPh 80: 1–18 (= Habicht 2006, 106–123).

Habicht, Ch. (2006), The Hellenistic Monarchies: Selected Papers, Ann Arbor, MI.

Hengel, M. (2001), Giudaismo ed ellenismo. Studi sul loro incontro, con particolare rigurdo per la Palestina fino alla metà del II secolo a. C., Brescia (= M. Hengel, Judentum und Hellenismus. Studien zur ihrer Begegnung unter besonderen Berücksichtigung Palästinas bis zur Mitte des 2. Jh.s v. Chr., 3rd ed., Tübingen 1988).

Honigman, S. (2014a), Tales of High Priests and Taxes: The Books of the Maccabees and the Judaean Rebellion against Antiochus IV, Oakland, CA.

Honigman, S. (2014b), The Religious Persecution as a Narrative Elaboration of a Military Suppression, in: M.-F. Baslez, O. Munnich (eds.), La Mémoire des persecutions. Autour des livres des Maccabées, Paris–Louvain: 59–76.

Honigman, S., Veïsse, A.-E. (2021), Regional Revolts in the Seleucid and Ptolemaic Empires, in: Ch. Fischer-Bovet, S. von Reden (eds.), Comparing the Ptolemaic and Seleucid Empires: Integration, Communication, and Resistance, Cambridge: 301–328.

Jacobson, D. (2015), Editorial: The Gezer Boundary Inscriptions, PEQ 147: 83–85, https://www.academia.edu/40159588/Editorial_The_Gezer_Boundary_Inscriptions (accessed on: December 30, 2025).

Johanssen, O. (2023), Imperialer Wandel und ptolemäischer Imperialismus in Syrien. Konnektivität, Konkurrenz und Kooperation, Paderborn.

Jonnes, L., Ricl, M. (1997), A New Royal Inscription from Phrygia Paroreios: Eumenes II grant Tyraion the Status of a polisEpigraphica Anatolica 29: 1–28.

Keel, O. (2007), Die Geschichte Jerusalems und die Entstehung des Monotheismus, vol. II, Göttingen.

Kennell, N. M. (2005), New Light on 2 Maccabees 4:7–15, JJS 56: 10–24.

Kratz, R. G. (2024), Väterliche Gesetze und das Gesetz des Mose. Die Rolle der Tora im jüdaischen Aufstand gegen Antiochus IV, Tübingen.

Ma, J. (2012), Relire les Institutions des Séleucides de Bikerman, in: S. Benoist (ed.), Rome, a City and Its Empire in Perspective: The Impact of the Roman World through Fergus Millars Research, Leiden–Boston: 59–84.

Ma, J. (2020), The Restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Seleukid State: II Macc. 11.16–38, in: R. Oetjen (ed.), New Perspectives in Seleucid History, Archaeology and Numismatic: Studies in Honor of Getzel M. Cohen, Berlin–Boston: 80–93.

Ma, J. (2024), Polis: A New History of the Ancient Greek City-State from the Early Iron Age to the End of Antiquity, Princeton–Oxford.

Millar, F. (2006), The Background to the Maccabean Revolution: Reflections on Martin Hengel’s “Judaism and Hellenism”, in: F. Millar, The Greek World, the Jews and the East, vol. 3, ed. by H. M. Cotton, G. M. Rogers, Chapel Hill, NC: 67–90.

Mittag, P. F. (2006), Antiochus IV. Epiphanes. Eine politische Biographie, Berlin.

Momigliano, A. (1979), Sagesses barbares. Les limites de lhellénisation, Paris.

Niesiołowski-Spanò, Ł. (2026), The Concept of Antiochus IV Epiphanes’ “Unifying Edict” (1 Macc 1:41–53) as an Product of Jewish Religious and Political Thought, Electrum 33: 11–33.

Nihan, Ch. (2024), The High Priest of Jerusalem and Ptolemaic Administration in the Southern Levant: Once Again on Josephus’ Account of Tobiads, in: Ł. Niesiołowski-Spanò, K. Ziemba (eds.), Contact Zones in the Eastern Mediterranean: Judeans and Their Neighbours in Intercultural Contexts: Places, Middlemen, Transcultural ContactsSixth to Second Century BCE, Göttingen: 163–183.

Parente, F. (1994), ΤΟΥΣ ΕΝ ΙΕΡΟΣΟΛΥΜΟΙΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΕΙΣ ΑΝΑΓΡΑΨΑΙ (II Macc IV, 9). Gerusalemme è mai stata una πολις?, Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa 30: 3–38.

Sartre, M. (2001), DAlexandre à Zénobie. Histoire du Levant antique IVe siècle av. J.-C.  IIIe siècle ap. J.-C., Paris.

Schwartz, D. (2014), Martyrdom in the First Book of Maccabees, in: M.-F. Baslez, O. Munnich (eds.), La Mémoire des persecutions. Autour des livres des Maccabées, Paris–Louvain: 271–280.

Shotwell, W. A. (1964), The Problem of the Syrian Akra, BASOR 176: 10–19.

Sievers, J. (1994), Jerusalem, the Akra, and Josephus, in: F. Parente, J. Sievers (eds.), Josephus and the History of the Greco-Roman Period: Essays in Memory of Morton Smith, Leiden–New York–Köln: 195–209.

Strootman, R. (2011), Kings and Cities in the Hellenistic Age, in: O. M. van Nijf, R. Alston (eds.), Political Culture in the Greek City after the Classical Age, Leuven–Paris–Walpole, MA: 141–153.

Tcherikover, V. (1999), Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews, Peabody, MA (reprint edition from 1959 with a preface by J. J. Collins).

Tsafrir, Y. (1975), The Location of the Seleucid Akra in Jerusalem, Revue Biblique 82: 501–521.

Van der Spek, R. J. (2009), Multi-Ethnicity and Ethnic Segregation in Hellenistic Babylon, in: T. Derks, N. Roymans (eds.), Ethnic Constructions in Antiquity: The Role of Power and Tradition, Amsterdam: 101–115.

VanderKam, J. C. (2004), From Joshua at Caiaphas: High Priests after the Exile, Minneapolis–Assen.

Weizman, S. (2004), Plotting Antiochus’s Persecution, JBL 123: 219–234.

Wightman, G. J. (1989–1990), Temple Fortresses in Jerusalem. Part I: The Ptolemaic and Seleucid Akras, Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society 9: 29–40.

Ziemba, K. (2024), Judaean Local Elites before the Maccabean Crisis, in: Ł. Niesiołowski-Spanò, K. Ziemba (eds.), Contact Zones in the Eastern Mediterranean: Judeans and their Neighbours in Intercultural Contexts: Places, Middlemen, Transcultural ContactsSixth to Second Century BCE, Göttingen: 219–237.

Information

Information: ELECTRUM, 2026, Volume 33, pp. 55-74

Article type: Original scientific article

Authors

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9324-9096

Edward Dąbrowa
Jagiellonian University in Kraków
, Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9324-9096 Orcid
Contact with author
All publications →

Jagiellonian University in Kraków
Poland

Published at: 24.04.2026

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY 4.0  licence icon

Percentage share of authors:

Edward Dąbrowa (Author) - 100%

Article corrections:

-

Acknowledgements:

I would like to express my thanks David Jacobson for his comments and assistance with the English style of this paper. All errors of interpretation remain the sole responsibility of the author.

Publication languages:

English

The Failure of a Religious Reform: Observations on the Hellenistic Reform in Jerusalem

quote

download files

RIS BIB ENDNOTE