Gary Morrison, «The Composition of II Maccabees: Insights Provided by a Literary topos», Vol. 90 (2009) 564-572
II Maccabees is an unusual text, its composition and content are topics of extensive discussion. This paper identifies a literary construct that we attribute to the epitomiser. Its identification allows us to assign various parts of the text to the same hand giving us more insight into both the text’s composition and the epitomiser’s ability as an historian and writer. Furthermore, the identified literary topos suggests that recent attempts to minimise the extent to which II Maccabees represents any conflict between the Greeks and the Jews, Judaism and Hellenism may need to be reconsidered, some apparent instances of favourable relations between the Jews and other nations (in particular the Hellenes) are not what they seem.
The Composition of II Maccabees:
Insights Provided by a Literary topos (*)
According to its preface II Maccabees is the summary of a much larger work
by an otherwise unknown Jason of Cyrene. In its extant form it covers the
period from 175-161 B.C. and provides us with a reasonably detailed account
of the events leading up to the suppression of the Jewish religion (1). It is,
however, a much-maligned text, suffering in comparison to the more “matter-
of-fact†I Maccabees. Critics focus on supernatural events and stories, yet II
Maccabees is not all miracles and anecdotes (2): in broad outline it agrees with
I Maccabees, and evidence external to both texts lends support to its
presentation of certain events and/or persons. A notable example is the recent
discovery of an inscription containing three letters from the administration of
King Seleucus IV. The first of these letters is to one Heliodorus announcing
the appointment of an administrator to oversee the sanctuaries of the region
(including Judaea). The purpose seems to be the extension of royal control
over the region’s sanctuaries and revenues. This is the very point to which the
Jews object in II Maccabees, where in Chapter 3 a Seleucid ‘chief minister’
called Heliodorus is sent to seize some funds held in the Temple, only to be
thwarted by divine intervention (2 Macc 3,4-40). The miracle aside, the
convergence between inscription and text is revealing (3).
Be that as it may, it is true that the composition of II Maccabees as we
have it is unusual. To begin it is prefixed by two letters that, although they
were attached at a very early date, are almost certainly later additions and
(*) The author wishes to thank Assoc. Prof. Victor Parker who kindly read through a
draft of this paper. Of course, any mistakes are solely my responsibility. An early version
of this paper was presented at the Australasian Society for Classical Studies Conference 29,
2008, at Christchurch New Zealand.
(1) All dates are B.C. unless otherwise stated. All translations are my own although I
have made extensive use of commentaries by J.A. GOLDSTEIN, II Maccabees (AB 41A;
Garden City, NY 1983) and F.M. ABEL, Les Livres des Maccabées (Paris 1949), so what I
have set may reflect agreement with these translations.
(2) The scholarship is extensive, but see as demonstrative E. BICKERMAN, Der Gott der
Makkabäer (Berlin 1937); C. HABICHT, 2.Makkabäerbuch. Jüdische Schriften aus
hellenistisch-römischer Zeit I.3 (Gütersloh 1976) and ABEL, Livres, who have all
maintained the categorisation of II Maccabees as “tragicâ€, to the detriment of its acceptance
as a “proper†historical work. Contra, note R. DORAN, Temple Propaganda. The purpose
and character of II Maccabees (Washington 1981) 77-81 (also 84-97). For more see also R.
DORAN, “2 Maccabees and Tragic Historyâ€, HUCA 50 (1979) 107-114; GOLDSTEIN, II
Maccabees, 20-22; L.L. GRABBE, Judaism From Cyrus to Hadrian (London 1992) 224.
(3) See H.M. COTTON – M. WÖRRLE, “Seleukos IV to Heliodorus: A New Dossier of
Royal Correspondence from Israelâ€, ZPE 159 (2007) 191-203. They conclude that this stele
is independent verification of II Maccabees’ account of events leading up to the Maccabean
revolt; the miracle is described as a way of ‘dressing up’ the rebuff against Seleucus IV’s
attempt at the Temple treasury. On the office of ‘Chief Minister’ see E.J. BICKERMAN,
Institutions des Séleucides (Paris 1938) 197. This is not an isolated example, note also (e.g.)
the assassin Andronicus (2 Macc 5,31-38); on him cf. Diod 30,7.2 and GOLDSTEIN, II
Maccabees, 238-239.