ABSTRACT
The First Book of Maccabees records the dispatch of a diplomatic mission to Rome by Judas Maccabaeus in 162 bce, during the final stages of the Jewish revolt against King Antiochus IV of Syria. Two Greek-speaking Jews, Jason and Eupolemus, were chosen to go to Rome and seek help against Syria from the Romans. They were granted an audience in the senate and were successful in obtaining ‘friendship and alliance’ (filía kaì summaχía). The senate presented them with bronze tablets as a record of their decision and instructed Jason and Eupolemus to take them back to Jerusalem to be set up there as a memorial of the ties between the Romans and the Jews.2
