ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book outlines some of the pitfalls and hopefully advantages of using psychoanalytic ideas. It examines Second Maccabees as an example of triumphalist historiography and focuses on the Hasmonean dynasty's ideology of victory and is not a full examination of the consolidation of the family's power and the rise of the Maccabees. The book turns to the family romance as a story about authority that examines the conflict arising from too many kings and the general tension between the kingly and priestly spheres. It intersects with Gil Anidjar's recent work on blood, and his insistent rejection of anachronistic readings of Hebrew Scriptures. The book presents the family story from Second Maccabees as a rereading of ancient sacrifice, part of the long transformation from the ancient Near Eastern Temple-centered Temple-centered animal sacrifice cult to the Late Antique emergence of the sage or holy man.
