“According to First
Maccabees and later Jewish historian Josephus,
the Seleucid army
advanced north along the Jerusalem-Hebron road with
war elephants. In
the most dramatic scene, Judah’s brother Eleazar ran under
the largest
elephant, killed it, and was crushed to death beneath its body”.
Jerusalem Post
Israel finds
evidence of Maccabean battlefield in Jerusalem | The Jerusalem Post
We read at (DECEMBER 11, 2025): Jerusalem
Post/Archaeology
Hanukkah miracle: Israel discovers evidence of Judah
Maccabee’s battlefield near Jerusalem
The site is widely identified with the ancient village
of Bet Zecharia, where the Seleucid army and the forces of Judah Maccabee
clashed in what is known as the fifth Maccabean battle.
New archaeological finds
in the hills south of Jerusalem may offer the first material evidence from one
of Judah Maccabee’s
battles, The Press Service of Israel has learned, as the Hanukkah holiday
approaches.
The eight-day holiday of Hanukkah, which begins on
Sunday night, marks the successful Hasmonean revolt against the Seleucid King
Antiochus IV and the subsequent rededication of the Second Temple some 2,100
years ago.
In an exclusive interview with TPS-IL, Dr. Dvir Raviv
of Bar-Ilan University said that a survey at Horbat Bet Zecharia, in the Gush
Etzion region south of Jerusalem, has uncovered objects that match both the
date and the military profile of the famous battle described in the Book of
Maccabees in 163 BCE.
The site, on a hill about seven kilometers southwest
of Bethlehem, is widely identified with the ancient village of Bet Zecharia,
where the Seleucid army and the forces of Judah Maccabee clashed in what is
known as the fifth Maccabean battle.
According to First Maccabees and later Jewish
historian Josephus, the Seleucid army advanced north along the Jerusalem-Hebron road with
war elephants. In the most dramatic scene, Judah’s brother Eleazar ran under
the largest elephant, killed it, and was crushed to death beneath its body.
Sling bullets confirm Judah Maccabee's battle site
The battle ended in a Seleucid victory and a siege of
the Temple in Jerusalem.
Raviv’s 2022 survey at the site documented ninety-two
coins and hundreds of pottery sherds from the Persian, Hellenistic, and
Hasmonean periods. However, what drew his attention were four objects pointing
directly to a Hellenistic battlefield, three cast lead sling bullets and a
bronze coin minted in the city of Side in Asia Minor, today southern Turkey.
“This is the first time we may be holding objects that
came from one of Judah Maccabee’s battlefields,” Raviv told TPS-IL. “At Bet
Zecharia, we found a Side coin that is usually linked with Seleucid
mercenaries, and three lead sling bullets that only appear in military
contexts. Together, they fit very well with the description of the battle in
First Maccabees.”
The sling bullets, discovered on the western slope of
the hill, are typical Hellenistic ammunition. One carries the winged
thunderbolt of Zeus, a common symbol on such projectiles.
Across Israel, similar bullets have been found at only
about twenty sites, almost all known from historical sources as siege works,
forts, or battlefields, including Jerusalem, Dor, Samaria, Maresha, Yodfat, and
Mount Gerizim.
“You do not expect to find Seleucid military equipment
in a small rural village unless an army actually fought there,” Raviv
explained. He noted that the bullets were found in a cluster on the slope
facing the ancient Jerusalem-Hebron road, exactly where the Seleucid army is
said to have advanced.
“The finds sit where the sources place the battle,
along the old road below the village. They give us, for the first time, an
archaeological echo of the confrontation described in the texts.”
The bronze coin from Side
strengthens the case.
One side shows the Greek goddess Athena wearing a
Corinthian helmet. The other features a pomegranate, which was the symbol of
Side. Side served as a recruitment center for mercenaries who fought in
Seleucid armies.
Although around 120 such coins have been found around
Israel, this is the first time that a Side coin has emerged from a location
explicitly connected to a documented Hasmonean battlefield, Raviv explained.
“Its presence, alongside the sling bullets, reflects
military activity that fits the historical description of the battle,” he told
TPS-IL.
Most critical scholars already accept that a battle
took place in the Bet Zecharia area, even if they debate the literary shaping
of the story. Raviv stressed that the new finds do not settle questions about
exact location, numbers, or tactics.
Their importance, he says, lies in offering the first
independent support for the historicity of the battle itself.
For Raviv, the implications go beyond technical
analysis. “It is the first time we have possible archaeological evidence from
one of Judah Maccabee’s battlefields,” he said. “This is where history, text
and ground finally begin to meet.”
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