This article analyzes the proclamation of Antiochus III concerning the temple and city of Jerusalem, quoted in Ant. 12.145–46, in light of three sets of evidence: Greek comparative materials from the broader Mediterranean world; biblical and Second Temple writings; and archaeological remains from Hellenistic Jerusalem, especially those that attest to the presence of non-sacrificial animals in the city. The evidence suggests that Ant. 12.145–46 preserves traces of an authentic proclamation, written in the style of a Greek ritual norm and probably with royal backing. We should not conclude from this, however, that the proclamation reflects the reality of how all Jews in Jerusalem conceptualized the purity of the temple and their obligations when butchering and tanning their animals within the city. I rather argue for a more complex interpretive approach that views royal edicts as fueling local debates surrounding temple purity, the sacred economy, and priestly prerogatives in Hellenistic Jerusalem.

This book reveals how violent pasts were constructed by ancient Mediterranean societies, the ideologies they served, and the socio-political processes and institutions they facilitated. Combining case studies from Anatolia, Egypt, Greece, Israel/Judah, and Rome, it moves beyond essentialist dichotomies such as “victors” and “vanquished” to offer a new paradigm for studying representations of past violence across diverse media, from funerary texts to literary works, chronicles, monumental reliefs, and other material artefacts such as ruins. It thus paves the way for a new comparative approach to the study of collective violence in the ancient world.

Early Jewish writings are replete with narratives of warfare and collective violence. Yet relatively little scholarly attention has been paid to how these accounts of violence affected the way Jews structured their festal calendar. This essay examines the festivals described in 1 and 2 Maccabees that serve to commemorate the most impressive military victories of the Maccabean revolt in the second century BCE—namely, Hanukkah, Nicanor’s Day, and Simon’s Day. Paying attention to the similarities and differences between the festal texts of 1 and 2 Maccabees, I argue that the two books employ a common commemorative strategy to foster a positive collective memory of the violence of the Maccabean revolt that could both legitimize the founding figures of the Hasmonean dynasty and compete with the commemorative cultures of other Hellenistic communities. This evidence of commemorative creativity and cultural adaptation by the authors of 1 and 2 Maccabees sheds valuable light on how the memorialization of violence in the ancient Mediterranean was shaped not simply by the ideologies and institutions of discrete societies but also by their intersections and cross-cultural borrowings.

The temple vision of Ezek 40-48 devotes considerable attention to measuring and describing the various gates and entrances of the temple compound. Previous studies have tended to focus on the defensive function of the gates. However, these structures not only bar entry but also facilitate access to the temple under certain ritualized conditions. Offering a close reading of the references to the gates in Ezek 40-48, in which particular roles and activities are associated with specific entrances, this article shows how these architectural features of the temple map a differential system in which social hierarchies are organized according to the level, direction, and timing of access ascribed to different groups and individuals within the temple compound. The article concludes by exploring the significance of the gates for how we understand the literary genre of the temple vision of Ezek 40-48, and in particular its nature as a social utopia.

This essay explores the relationship between theology and politics in 2 Maccabees by examining how the book’s depiction of divine epiphanies, battle prayers, and the deaths of pious Jews together serve to reinforce the image of Judas as God’s chosen means of ensuring that the people and temple are defended against harm. Each of these aspects of 2 Maccabees, this essay contends, advances a sophisticated “political theology” that serves to legitimize the military and cultic agency of the Hasmonean dynasty in Judea. A brief conclusion outlines the significance of the essay’s main findings for the study of 2 Maccabees and its possible context of composition.