ABSTRACT
This study, on the much-debated question of how to classify the diplomatic agreement brought back to Jerusalem by the Jewish ambassadors sent by Judas Maccabaeus, would be incomplete without a treatment of what transpired after 162 bce. The years 143 to 100 bce confirm the grant of Roman amicitia to Judas’ envoys. At no time after the rule of Judas did the Jews receive a treaty. The bonds of friendship were remade and revived several times because of the changing military and political situation until the friendship was nullified, when the Jewish leadership rendered themselves no longer friends of Rome.
