Battle of Elasa

date	160 BC Chr.
place	Elasa, near Ramallah
output	Victory of the Seleucids

Parties to the conflict
Seleucids	Maccabees
Commander
Bakchides	Judas Maccabeus (†)
Troop strength
20,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry	approx. 1000 infantry
losses
unknown	unknown

The Battle of Elasa was a clash between the Seleucids and Jewish Maccabees at the height of the Maccabeic uprising near the Judean town of Elasa .

background

The Seleucid king Demetrios I Soter started 160 BC. BC started a new campaign in the east of his empire and left his general Bakchides 20,000 infantry and 2,000 horsemen to pacify the west of the country. He was charged with conquering the renegade Hasamidic kingdom. Bakchides immediately marched with his troops from Galilee to Judea to conquer the capital of the Maccabees, Jerusalem . After Bakchides began to siege the city, the spiritual and political leader of the Maccabees, Judas Maccabeus , decided to face the Seleucid army in a field battle in the impassable surroundings of Jerusalem.

The battle

Judas Maccabeus was only able to convince a few of his followers to attack the Seleucids in an open field battle. With about a thousand of his followers he nevertheless dared to break out of the besieged city. Because of his few troops, Judas ignored the Seleucid infantry, which moved in slow, inflexible phalanx formation . His aim was to kill Bakchides, who rode his cavalry on the right wing of the Seleucid army.

Judas succeeded in luring the right wing of the Seleucid army into the impassable, hilly terrain outside the walls of the city. The alleged escape of the Seleucids, however, was apparently a deception by Bakchides. The cavalry on the left finally united with the riders around Bakchides and Judas and his followers were killed by the Seleucid superiority with many of his soldiers.

consequences

The Seleucids were able to restore their authority in Judea at short notice after the victory. However, Judas' brothers, Jonathan and Simon , fought further battles with the Seleucid general. After several years of loss-making battles for both sides, Simon was able to gain rule over Judea and drive out the Seleucids. His successors created the Hasmonean dynasty , which was only to exist for about a hundred years due to internal power struggles.

proof

Bezalel Bar-Kochva: The Seleucid Army. Cambridge University Press, 1976, ISBN 0-521-20667-7 .