Page 163.—_Favour shown by Antiochus the Great to the Jews._] See Jos. Ant. xii. 3. 3. Page 163.—_Antiochus Epimanes._] Τὸν Ἐπιφανῆ Ἀντίοχον, ὅν διὰ τὰς πράξεις Πολύβιος Ἐπιμανῆ καλεῖ. Athen. ii. 23. The history of the persecution of the Jews by Antiochus will be found in Joseph. Ant. Jud. xii. 5. seq. xiii. 1-9. The first book of the Maccabees, after a brief notice of the empire of Alexander the Great, takes up the Jewish history (i. 10.) at the accession of Antiochus Epiphanes, and continues it to the death of Simon, a period of about forty years. Page 167.—_Modin._] The site of the birthplace of the Maccabees is not exactly known: it must have been near the sea, since their monument was a mark to sailors, 1 Macc. xiii. 30. Eusebius places it near Diospolis or Lydda. Reland, p. 901. Maundrell says he passed near it in an excursion from Bethlehem to the convent of St. John; but this is probably a mistake. Page 168.—_Judas surnamed Maccabeus._] Different etymologies of the name _Maccabee_ are assigned. That which derives it from מקבת a hammer, (q. d. _Martel_) seems more probable than the common one; (according to which it originated in their inscribing on their standards the initial letters of Exod. xv. 11.) because it appears to have been the surname of Judas before the war began. See 1 Macc. ii. 4. Page 170.—_Festival of the new altar._] Jos. Ant. xii. 11. 7. It is this which the Jews of Jerusalem exhort the Jews of Egypt to observe, in the epistles which begin the second book of the Maccabees. But this book is of little authority, and the epistles in particular manifest forgeries. See Prideaux, An. 166. Page 170.—_Alexander Balas._] He claimed the throne of Syria, as a son of Antiochus Epiphanes, and had been supported by Jonathan, the Jewish high-priest. When he had defeated Demetrius and seated himself on the throne, he married Cleopatra, sister of Ptolemy Philometor, king of Egypt. It was at the celebration of these nuptials (B.C. 150) that Jonathan was distinguished in the manner related in the text. 1 Macc. x. 60. Jos. Ant. xiii. 4. 2.