Scroll of Antiochus

Megillat Antiochus (Hebrew: מגילת אנטיוכוס‎‎ - "The Scroll of Antiochus"; also "Megillat Ha-Ḥashmonaim", "Megillat Hanukkah", or "Megillat Yevanit") recounts the story of Hanukkah and the history of the victory of the Maccabees (or Hasmoneans) over the Seleucid Empire.

Early texts of the work exist in both Aramaic and Hebrew, but the Hebrew version is a literal translation from the Aramaic original. In 1557 it was first published in Mantua, in northern Italy. The Hebrew text, with an English translation, can be found in the Siddur of Philip Birnbaum. The first known printed text is found in a Siddur from Salonika, then part of the Ottoman Empire, which was published in 1568. The original Aramaic text can also be found in old Yemenite Baladi-rite Prayer Book from the 17th century.

There are several theories as to the work's authorship. Some scholars date Megillat Antiochus to somewhere between the 2nd and 5th centuries, with the greater likelihood of it being composed in the 2nd Century. The scroll is first mentioned by Simeon Kayyara (ca. 743 CE) in Halakhot Gedolot, wherein he claims that the scroll was compiled by the "elders of the School of Shammai and the elders School of Hillel." Another opinion is that of Saadia Gaon (882‒942 CE) who holds that the Scroll of Antiochus was composed in the Chaldaic (Aramaic) language by the Hasmonaeans themselves, and entitled Megillat Bayt Ḥashmonai. He translated it into Arabic in the 9th Century. Hakham Moses Gaster argued for a 1st-century BCE date.Louis Ginzberg, writing in the Jewish Encyclopedia, indicates that this scroll is a "spurious work" based on "unhistorical sources," with the exception of its citations taken from certain passages from First Book of the Maccabees. Nevertheless, it was held in very high esteem by Saadia Gaon, Nissim ben Jacob, and others, while a passage contained therein is still used to determine the date of the Second Temple's building, based on Jewish chronology (see Excursus: "Chronology in the Scroll of Antiochus")

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