s_,
_Nicanor_,

_Alexander Bolas, A general who contested with Demetrius for the
Syrian crown_.

_Demetrius II., king of Syria_.

_Antiochus, son of Bolas, pretender to the crown_.

_Tryphon, a general who supported Antiochus, and who afterward
became king_.

_Antiochus VII., brother of Demetrius II., who defeated Tryphon_.

_Ptolemy, king of Egypt_.

PLACE OF THE STORY.

The action moves over nearly the whole of Palestine. Some of the
places mentioned are Modin, home of the Maccabees, Jerusalem,
Beth-Horon, Bethsura, Jaffa, Kedesh, Gazara.

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THE MACCABEES.

_The Story of a Village Priest and His Five Sons Who Made a Gallant
Struggle for Liberty_.

(Palestine was one of the countries overrun and conquered by Alexander
the Great. One of his successors, Antiochus IV., attempted to force
Greek customs and worship upon the people. Many Jews yielded, but some
resisted. Because of this resistance the foreign soldiery massacred
many of the people, including helpless women and children. Jerusalem
was destroyed, and the altars of the Lord broken down and polluted.
Then, as in the brave days of old, arose a deliverer. A priest named
Mattathias lived with his five stalwart sons in the little village of
Modin. They slew the king's officer who attempted to impose foreign
religious rites upon the villagers, and, fleeing to the mountains, set
up the standard of revolt. The greatest of the sons of the priest was
called Maccabaeus, "the Hammer," because he smote his enemies so
fiercely. From this, his family and his followers came to be called
"Maccabees." These great warriors won many battles against great odds,
and set the nation free. There is no more heroic story in all the
history of Israel than theirs. The story is told in the "Books of the
Maccabees," which are contained in what is called the "Apocrypha.")

[Footnote: Apocrypha--See note at the end of the volume.]

{419}

I.

_How Alexander the Great, After He Had Conquered the World, Died, and
How the Evil Antiochus Reigned in His Stead in Palestine_.

And it came to pass, after Alexander the Macedonian, the son of
Philip, came and smote Darius king of the Persians and Medes, and
reigned in his stead, that he fought many battles, and won many
strongholds, and slew the kings of the earth, and went through to the
ends of the earth, and took spoils of a multitude of nations. And the
earth was quiet before him, and h