Jerusalem's citizens were prisoners of the Babylonians. For over a year, they successfully warded off their aggressors, but they eventually had to bend to the will of the ancient superpower, and suffered a great blow to their pride.

August, 587 B.C. The conquerors use brute force to round up Jerusalem's people. Families, educated people, and artisans bear the brunt of the attacks. They are dragged off to Babylon. Behind them lies a ruined homeland. Ahead of them exile and an uncertain future.

They must have been speechless upon arriving in Babylon, for the world had never seen anything like it - streets on a grid plan, apartment blocks, a metropolis that could accommodate millions of people. The exiled inhabitants of Jerusalem are allowed to move freely about the city. They can even practice their learned trades and own culture. Yet at the same time, they feel utterly dispossessed, without a home or a sense of belonging.

Fifty years later, a new world power enters the political arena. Namely, the Persians. They sweep over the entire Middle East and conquer Babylon. The Persian king then allows the Israelites to return to their homeland. According to the Bible, thousands upon thousands head west. Their destination is the ravished city of Jerusalem. They are a people united by a sole dream: to rebuild the city and its temple. It's a dream they succeed in making come true. But peace is a long way from Israel.

In 167 B.C., the Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes conquers Jerusalem and leads a full-scale assault against the Jewish faith. A tyrant, the new ruler has anyone practicing the religion put to death. The people are overcome with rage, which spills over into physical violence. A Jewish priest named Mattathias stabs a fellow Jew to death who tries to ingratiate himself with the Greek conquerors. A revolt ensues. After Mattathias's death about one year later, his son, Judas Maccabeus, leads a powerful army of Jewish dissidents to victory over the Greeks and frees Israel from Greek oppression. Judas Maccabeus goes on to become a key figure in biblical history. In the unanimous opinion of scholars, today's world would be radically different had there been no Judas Maccabeus. On Hannukah, the festival of lights, Jews commemorate him and his great contribution to the faith. After centuries of persecution, the Jewish people were free to live and worship as they saw fit in the city of Jerusalem.
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