I agree everyone should be taught these facts.
The Maccabees aren't mentioned because they were Jewish.
They revolted against the Seleucid rulers that was a dynasty formed following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the breakup of the Greek Empire.
Maccabbe is the Jewish word for "hammer." They are better known as Hasmoneans.
The group was formed by a Jewish priest named Mattathias and his 5 sons. The Jews rose up behind them and overthrew their foreign rulers. (Again.)
Mattathias was ordered by a Seleucid general, commanded by Antiochus, to make a sacrifice to the pagan Greek gods and refute monotheism. He refused and killed the general.
Like other rulers before him, Antiochus underestimated the will and strength of his Jewish adversaries and sent a small force to put down the rebellion. When that was annihilated, he led a more powerful army into battle only to be defeated. In 164 B.C Jerusalem was recaptured by the Maccabees and the Temple purified, an event that gave birth to the holiday of Chanukah.
It took more than two decades of fighting before the Maccabees forced the Seleucids to retreat from Palestine. By this time Antiochus had died and his successor agreed to the Jews' demand for independence. In the year 142 B.C., after more than 500 years of subjugation, the Jews were again masters of their own fate.
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