The stories of the Maccabees have inspired nationalist movements from antiquity to the present, and have served especially as a model for the modern state of Israel. Yet new scholarship on these texts and their historical era challenges long-accepted interpretations. Join scholars Yonder Moynihan Gillihan (Boston College) and Katell Berthelot (National Center for Scientific Research, Aix-en-Provence, France) as they debate the historicity of the Maccabean wars of conquest and ask if the texts truly support the idea of a planned re-conquest of the biblical Land of Israel.

Co-sponsored by Boston College and Boston University, this event is part of The Maccabees Project, a multidisciplinary series of scholarly collaborations and community events on ancient Jewish and Christian history, the realities behind the stories of the Maccabees, and their contemporary relevance.