ANTIOCHUS IV(175-164 BCE)

His rule marks the beginning of the Greek oppression of Israel. By way of background: Rome at this time was an emerging world power, already imposing its hegemony on Greece. Antiochus, assumed that he could solidify his rule against Rome and Egypt by accelerating the process of helenization. However, this process was far from benign--if you happened to be a believing, practicing Jew. With the support of Jewish Helenists (a minority from the upper classes who  abandoned traditional Jewish life for the allure of Greek culture), Antiochus eventually outlawed Judaism. That meant, no Shabbos, no bris milah, no public reading of the Torah, no mitzvahs whatsoever. People were forced to live with their doors unlocked--in order to keep them under constant watch and prevent them from trying to do mitzvahs, even in private. Imagine trying to say the Shema at bedtime with your child or younger brother or sister--only to have storm troopers from the secret police invade your home. What was initially a beautiful relationship of two cultures of the mind--Judaism and Greek--had deteriorated into a dangerous spiritual darkness that threatened to eradicate Judaism from the world. Yet, it was this same tremendous spiritual darkness that led to the Maccabee revolt, a resurgence of Judaism in the Land of Israel and the rededication of the Temple.

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DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE

After a four-year revolt against Roman oppression (66-70 CE), The Roman general Titus succeeded in destroying the Temple on the 9th of Av, the same day on the Jewish calendar as the First Temple was destroyed. It took some 60,000 men, which was nearly half the Roman army, to crush the Jewish revolt.

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CHANUKAH, MACCABEES

By 168 BCE the forced assimilation imposed on the Jewish people by the Greeks had reached such proportions that there was a real danger that Judaism would die out completely. Significantly, the Greeks were not interested in genocide--they did not want to wipe out the Jews physically. Instead, they were at war with Judaism and everything it stood for.
Against this background, a small band of Cohanim--Priests--rose up against the might of the Greek empire. Mattisiyahu and his five sons lead a guerilla revolt to drive the Greeks out of Israel and to rededicate the Temple. Never numbering more than a few hundred to a few thousand men, the Maccabees took on some 30,000 to 40,000 Greek soldiers.
Within three years, the Maccabees succeeded in liberating the Temple, which is the source of the miracle of Chanukah. As they were restoring the Temple service, they soon realized that there was almost no pure oil left with which to light the menorah. One small container remained, enough for one day. The miracle, as we know, was that it lasted eight days.
For the record: Until the Maccabbees, it was unheard of for one people to go to war with another over religious or ideological reasons. Thus, you could say that it was the Jewish people who taught the world that some ideas are worth dying for.
But even more than simply dying for a cause, the Maccabbees taught the world that if you're willing to die for a cause--then live for it, too! Their willingness to sacrifice their lives to fight the Greeks was a direct outgrowth of--and also brought about--an intense desire to live freely as Jews.
The Maccabees ruled for 103 years (167-63 CE), and succeeded in expanding Israel's borders to their largest extent in history.

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HEROD

63 BCE marked the official entry of Rome into the Land of Israel. At the time a civil war was raging between two of the descendants of the Maccabee Kings, Hirkanus and Aristobulus.
Hirkanus, the weaker of the two, had an advisor known as Antipater. A descendent of the Edomites, who had come under Jewish control and were forced to convert to Judaism, Antipater was a shrewd political manipulator and power player. He convinced Rome to "mediate" the conflict between the two warring brothers, and in doing so eventually paved the way for his son, Herod Agrippas, to be placed on the Jewish throne.
The son of Herod Agrippas was also known as Herod, whose tyrannical reign stretched from 37-4 BCE. In an effort to gain credibility with the masses, he married the last female descendant of the Maccabees--only to eventually kill her in a fit of rage. He also executed nearly all of the great Sages of his time.
Later he would try to make amends by renovating and expanding the Temple, and, in fact,the structure that he built was one of the most beautiful buildings of all time. He also embarked on an ambitious construction campaign. Cesaria, Masada and Herodia, were all built in his time.

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HILLEL/SHAMMAI

These two great Sages were the last Jewish leaders of the era of the Zugot, or pairs, which lasted between 260 BCE until about 10 CE. One of the pair would serve as the Nasi, or President, of the Jewish people, the other as the Head of the Supreme Court.

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PTOLEMY

The Greek Egyptian rulers who took over the land of Israel after the death of Alexander the Great. Alexandria in Egypt was the cultural center of the world at the time, and the Jewish people were generally well treated under their rule. However, in 198 BCE, Ptolemy lost control of Israel to the Selucids, who were centered in Syria and whose attitude toward the Jewish people would soon turn most threatening indeed.

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