o worship Greek gods. About
B.C. 170, he issued a decree that all persons in his dominion must
offer sacrifices to Zeus. When the Jews refused they were put to
death.

=New persecutions.=--A terrible persecution was thus begun. A Greek
officer would come into a Jewish town or village, set up an altar to
Zeus, and summon all the people to join in the sacrifice of worship.
As many as possible of those who refused were hunted down and killed.
All copies of the Jewish law that could be found were burned. Every
month a search was made throughout Judaea to see whether any Jew still
had copies of the Scriptures. A heathen altar was set up in the temple
at Jerusalem and swine were sacrificed upon it. To the Jews, who were
taught to regard swine's flesh as unclean and unholy, nothing could
have seemed more horrible.

Of course there were some traitors and renegades. But the great
majority of the Jewish people were nobly true to the faith of their
fathers. Hundreds and thousands, young and old, allowed themselves to
be tortured and slain rather than take part in a heathen sacrifice.
Many even of those who had fallen in with some of the evil customs of
the Greeks now refused to be known as anything else than faithful
Jews, even though it might cost them their lives.

THE MACCABEAN REVOLTS AND VICTORIES

In the midst of this cruel persecution a rebellion flamed up under the
leadership of a certain brave old priest named Mattathias. After his
death his sons took up the cause. The greatest of them was Judas, who
was surnamed Maccabeus, which some have thought meant the Hammerer.
The whole family is known as the Maccabees. Under the skillful
command of Judas victory after victory was won by his little band of
Jewish warriors fighting against great armies of Greek hired soldiers.
The city of Jerusalem was cleared of the detested oppressors, all
except a garrison that maintained itself in the citadel. The temple
was purified and rededicated to Jehovah.

After some twenty years the soldiers from Antioch were driven out
altogether and the little Jewish kingdom under Simon, a brother of
Judas, was recognized as independent. For nearly a century the
descendants of the Maccabees reigned in Jerusalem. Most of them turned
out to be greedy and selfish men unworthy of Judas and Simon. Yet
during this period the Jews tasted once again something of the joys of
freedom.

THE VICTORIES OF ROME

During the last two centuries before Chri