The most famous leader of the so-called Maccabean Revolt against the Hellenistic, therefore pagan, policies Antiochus Epiphanes tried to impose on Judea. The most outstanding and militarily competent son of the priest from the village of Modiin, Mattathias Hasmon, Judas (or Judah) took over the leadership for the revolt upon his father's death in 166 BC. His guerilla successes against the overwhelming Syrian army earned him the nickname haMakabi, "the Hammer." Though he died just two years into the war, he laid the foundation for the eventual defeat of Antiochus's forces and freedom for the Jews to worship God according to the ways of their fathers.
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When the Hasmon, having resisted Antiochus's command to sacrifice a sow on the altar, killed the commander assigned to oversee its implementation and then took to the mountains, they did not reckon with the wave of popular support that they soon received. Recognizing that they could not overcome the superior Seleucid forces in open battle, they resorted to guerilla warfare instead. There, the Seleucid army was no match for the Jews, and Judas won a string of significant victories, the best remembered occurred at at Nahal el-Haramiah, Beth-Horon and Emmaus. By late 164 BC he had ousted the Seleucid forces from Jerusalem—except for a garrison at a citadel called Acra—and on 25th of Kislev (December 14, 164 BCE) was able to cleanse the Temple and celebrate its rededication.
With religious freedom in hand, Judas decided he would now fight for the political independence of his people. In 161 BC he made a pact with the Romans; that alliance, however, had no immediate impact on the war at hand; Demetrius, the new king who had taken to the Seleucid throne, had little regards for the Romans (having once been their hostage; he had escaped to return to Syria). Demetrius answered Judas with an overwhelming show of force. Most of the Jews saw little hope of victory and left the field, advising others to do so. Judas, however, stood his ground, and fell as the soldier he always was. The victory for an independent Judea would fall to his two surviving brothers.
War heroes have always inspired writers and artists, and Judas Maccabee appears in many works of art, including Dante's Divine Comedy, Shakespeare's Love Labour's Lost, Longfellow's Judas Maccabaeus, Handel's oratorio Judas Maccabeus (from whose chorus we get the famous hymn, "Thine be the Glory, Risen Conquering Son" (Listen N).
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