Finances, hel·lenització i culte en I-II Macabeus

The religious factor in the persecution of Antioch IV is neither the only one nor the most important. The elements of an economic and political nature are of a greater importance than the sources (I-II Maccabees and Daniel) would suggest. The attempts to extract money from the Temple do not derive from a hatred of the Jewish faith but rather from its status as the main centre of economic power. The priesthood suborns the monarchy by means of money. The policy of Hellenisation is facilitated by the Philhellenist Jewish group and by the High Priest Jason. The Maccabean revolt starts more as an attack on Philhellenist Jews than on the Seleucid monarchy.