Adasa

Battle of Adasa

Judas Maccabeus at the front before the army of Nikanor, wood engraving by Gustave Doré (1865), illustration for the magnificent edition of the Bible in fr. Language from the Tours publisher by Alfred Mame.

date	March 161 BC Chr.
place	Adasa, today Khirbet `Adase
output	Victory of the Maccabees

Parties to the conflict
Seleucids	Maccabees
Commander
Nikanor , strategist (†)	Judas Maccabeus , rebel leader
Troop strength
unknown	approx. 3000 infantry
losses
unknown	unknown

Adasa (Hebrew: חדשה) is the name of a settlement in Judea , today the ruins of Khirbet `Adase or Khirbat` Adasah in the West Bank , as well as the site of a battle about 30 stadiums (7 km) north of Jerusalem , based on those of Flavius Josephus and im 1. Book of the Maccabees (7.26-50 EU ) is referenced. The settlement is said to have been about 5½ km away across from Beth-Horon.

battle

The battle of Adasa took place on the 13th of the month of Adar in 161 BC. Between the Maccabees under their leader Judas Maccabeus and the Seleucid army under the command of the strategist Nikanor . The Maccabees won this contest while Nikanor fell in battle. To commemorate this event, the day of the defeat of Nikanor was declared a holiday in Judea. Despite this victory, Barely a year later, Judas was defeated and killed by the Seleucids at the Battle of Elasa .

literature

Martin Noth : History of Israel . 10th edition. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1986, ISBN 3-525-52120-0 , pp. 336 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed August 4, 2011]).
Immanuel Benzinger : Adasa . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, Col. 347 f.

Web links

Beth Horon. In: Bible Lexicon. August 4, 2011, accessed August 4, 2011 .

Individual evidence

↑ Martin Metzger , Aaron Schart: Outline of the history of Israel. University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Evangelical Theology, April 5, 2007, accessed on July 19, 2011 (German): “Demetrius then sent his general Nikanor with a strong contingent of troops against Judas. Judas was victorious in the battle of Kafar-Salama (10 km northwest of Jerusalem) and, in March 161, in the battle of Adasa (7 km north of Jerusalem), in which Nikanor was killed. "
↑ Flavius Josephus : Jewish War ( DjVu ) on Wikisource . Translated by Philipp Kohout. Quirin Haslingers Verlag, Linz 1901, p. 21

31.833333 35.233333Coordinates: 31 ° 50 ′ 0 ″ N , 35 ° 14 ′ 0 ″ E

[1] Martin Metzger , Aaron Schart: Outline of the history of Israel. University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Evangelical Theology, April 5, 2007, accessed on July 19, 2011 (German): “Demetrius then sent his general Nikanor with a strong contingent of troops against Judas. Judas was victorious in the battle of Kafar-Salama (10 km northwest of Jerusalem) and, in March 161, in the battle of Adasa (7 km north of Jerusalem), in which Nikanor was killed. "

[2] Flavius Josephus : Jewish War ( DjVu ) on Wikisource . Translated by Philipp Kohout. Quirin Haslingers Verlag, Linz 1901, p. 21