Chanukah Myth (7 of 8)

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Myth: There is a Megillas Maccabees for Chanukah, just like there is a Megillas Esther for Purim.  


Fact: Esther is part of Tanach. There are four Books of Maccabees. The first was written, most probably, in Hebrew, but only the Greek is extant. It is pretty standard and reliable as a history book, with a certain degree of religion put in. The second book was written in Greek. It contains miracles and angles. It contains the famous story of the martyrdom of the mother and her seven sons. The third and fourth books have nothing to do with Chanukah.  There is also the Book of Antiochus, but this was probably written in the Dark Ages; at the very least, it was written many hundreds of years after the story of Chanukah.

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