In 167 B.C. the Judeans, led by a priest named Mattathias and his sons, rebelled against their Seleucid Greek overlord, Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Antiochus’ idea of reform, the historian Diodorus ...

Coins of Antiochus Epiphanes IV found in the excavation in the Judean Desert, Israel, March 2025 (credit: JUDEAN DESERT SURVEY UNIT, ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY) ...

The structure was dated between the 3 rd and 2 nd centuries BC thanks to Ptolemaic and Seleucid coins, some of which were minted during the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 BC).

In the second century B.C., the Holy Land was ruled by the Syrian King Antiochus IV Epiphanes who told the Jewish people they must renounce their religion and accept Greek beliefs or be sentenced ...