BIBLE HISTORY DAILY:
Antiochus Epiphanes—The Bible’s Most Notoriously Forgotten Villain. Hanukah is the story of the Jewish revolt against Antiochus (John Gregory Drummond). His name is mostly forgotten, but he provides the background villainy for Hanukkah. In Christianity he was absorbed anonymously (along with the Emperor Nero) into the Antichrist persona via the Book of Revelation.
For a revisionist view of Antiochus IV, see here. And some other PaleoJudaica posts on him are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
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