You know this story even if you don't know its source: it's Hanukkah. 1 Maccabees is the historian's account of the war that began when Mattathias slew a man sacrificing to Greek gods at Modin, and his son Judas "the Hammer" — Maccabeus — fought a guerrilla campaign against the Seleucid empire, cleansed and rededicated the Jerusalem temple in 164 BC, and founded a dynasty. Unlike its neighbor 2 Maccabees, this is sober chronicle, almost court history — originally written in Hebrew, preserved in Greek, likely compiled around 100 BC. For the events behind the festival, ancient historians still reach for this book first.

This book is also available in the Revised Version (1895) — modern spelling.