=Scene of the Victory Over the Syrian Generals.= Fortunately for the Jews, at this crisis Antiochus Epiphanes found his treasury depleted as a result of his luxurious habits and extensive building enterprises. Accordingly he turned over the government of his kingdom to Lysias, one of his nobles, while he gathered a large army and set out on a campaign into Persia, where he ultimately lost his life. The departure of Antiochus reduced by fully one-half the soldiers available for the campaigns against Judas and his followers. But Lysias, appreciating the importance of suppressing the Jewish rebellion at once, sent out an army of forty thousand infantry and seven thousand cavalry under the leadership of three generals, Ptolemy, Nicanor, and Gorgias. They encamped near Emmaus on the southern side of the Valley of Ajalon, not far from the border of the Philistine Plain. This time they avoided the steep and dangerous pass of Beth-horon and aimed to penetrate the highlands of Judah through the narrow and yet direct highway which led up by the Wady Ali, through which runs the modern carriage road from Joppa to Jerusalem. Meantime Judas had rallied his followers near Mizpah.^{(20)} This imposing height was in close touch with Jerusalem and at the same time commanded a view of all the roads leading from the north and west, rendering it practically impossible for the Syrians to overtake him unawares.^{(93)} Apparently the Syrian generals had pitched their camp at Emmaus in the vain hope that by a quick night-march they might surprise Judas and his followers at Mizpah. Anticipating this design, Judas by night transferred his army to a point a little south of Emmaus, probably following one of the wild, deserted valleys which lead from Mizpah to the plain. The result was that when a detachment of Syrian soldiers were sent under Gorgias to capture Judas, they found Mizpah deserted. Meantime Judas boldly attacked the remnant of the Syrian army on the plain near Emmaus and quickly put them to flight. Many were slain; some escaped to the stronghold of Gezer, or Gazara, as it was called at that time, a little northwest of Emmaus; some turned southward into the Philistine lowlands, which were held by the Idumeans; others fled as far as Ashdod and Jamnia on the western side of the Philistine Plain. When Gorgias and his soldiers returned and found their camp in flames they were seized by a panic and retreated into the land of the Philistines, leaving the Jews in possession of rich spoil.