מלחמות המקבים

This bulky volume offers a detailed study of the battles between the forces of Judas Maccabaeus and the Seleucid army. A thorough knowledge of Hellenistic warfare (note the writer's The Seleucid Army [1976]) and on-site familiarity with the topography of the campaigns and battles underpin the reconstruction. This is presented both in thematic chapters (on the size of armies, tactics, equipment, etc.) and in a commentary on the relevant sections of I Maccabees. On the interpretive level, Bar-Kochva's major claim is that both of the opposing armies were at a higher level than is often supposed, so the Maccabees' eventual victory was neither miraculous nor a result of any deterioration or lack of motivation of the Seleucid army. Rather, 'there were no great surprises' (p. 407): Judas won when that was militarily to be expected, and lost when it was not. Eventual success came not so much from victories in the field as from staying power, and it is here, in the building of an army which could survive setbacks, that Bar-Kochva locates Judas' major achievement. The reviewer takes issue with the arguments supporting the general rejection of II Maccabees and the claim that Josephus used only the Greek text of I Maccabees. On the interpretive level, he cautions that the military facts of life, important as they are, are not the whole story. This book is a solid account of the former.