ABSTRACT
The Maccabees began as individuals and small groups who were not part of regular armies but at the height of their power controlled Judean soldiers, mercenaries and territory outside Judea and made their own arms and coins. As in later Christian circles, orthodoxy was created in Second Maccabees via a mode of historiography, or storytelling, and not around a theological doctrine. Every step along the way, Second Maccabees emphasizes the strength of their enemies, and the size of their challenges measured the grandeur of their success. According to Second Maccabees, the Hasmonean dynasty climaxes ancient Israelite history and thus deserves the loyalty and respect of the local Judeans, neighbors, even those in far-off places. The story of the Hasmoneans is the story of increasingly elaborate political and military ambitions, as would be expected of any royal Hellenistic dynasty. Persecution stories are a central tool used by the author to support the emerging new elite family and stabilizing a fluid reality.
