Coordinates: 31°41′56″N 35°18′23″E / 31.69889°N 35.30639°E / 31.69889; 35.30639

Map of the twelve tribes of Israel

Judea or Judæa ( /dʒuː.ˈdiː.ə/^[1]; from Hebrew: יהודה‎, Standard Yəhuda Tiberian Yəhûḏāh "Tribe of Judah", Greek: Ιουδαία, Ioudaía; Latin: Iudaea) was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel (Hebrew: ארץ ישראל‎ Eretz Yisrael) from the 8th century BCE (Assyrian rule) to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.

Etymology[link]

The name Judea is a Greek and Roman adaptation of the name "Judah", which originally encompassed the territory of the Israelite tribe of that name and later of the ancient Kingdom of Judah. Judea was sometimes used as the name for the entire region, including parts beyond the river Jordan.^[2] It was the name in use in English until the Jordanian occupation of the area in 1948. Jordan called the area of Judea and Samaria ad-difa’a al-gharbiya (translated into English as the "West Bank").^[3] "Yehuda" is the Hebrew term used for the area in modern Israel since the region was conquered and occupied by Israel in 1967.^[4]

Historical boundaries[link]

The Judean hills

The classical Roman-Jewish historian Josephus wrote: "In the limits of Samaria and Judea lies the village Anuath, which is also named Borceos. This is the northern boundary of Judea. The southern parts of Judea, if they be measured lengthways, are bounded by a village adjoining to the confines of Arabia; the Jews that dwell there call it Jordan. However, its breadth is extended from the river Jordan to Joppa. The city Jerusalem is situated in the very middle; on which account some have, with sagacity enough, called that city the Navel of the country. Nor indeed is Judea destitute of such delights as come from the sea, since its maritime places extend as far as Ptolemais: it was parted into eleven portions, of which the royal city Jerusalem was the supreme, and presided over all the neighboring country, as the head does over the body. As to the other cities that were inferior to it, they presided over their several toparchies; Gophna was the second of those cities, and next to that Acrabatta, after them Thamna, and Lydda, and Emmaus, and Pella, and Idumea, and Engaddi, and Herodium, and Jericho; and after them came Jamnia and Joppa, as presiding over the neighboring people; and besides these there was the region of Gamala, and Gaulonitis, and Batanea, and Trachonitis, which are also parts of the kingdom of Agrippa. This [last] country begins at Mount Libanus, and the fountains of Jordan, and reaches breadthways to the lake of Tiberias; and in length is extended from a village called Arpha, as far as Julias. Its inhabitants are a mixture of Jews and Syrians. And thus have I, with all possible brevity, described the country of Judea, and those that lie round about it."^[5]

Geography[link]

Mediterranean oak and terebinth woodland in the Valley of Elah, southwestern Judea.

Judea is a mountainous region, part of which is considered to be a desert. It varies greatly in height, rising to an altitude of 1,020 m (3,346 ft) in the south at Mount Hebron, 30 km (19 mi) southwest of Jerusalem, and descending to as much as 400 m (1,312 ft) below sea level in the east of the region. It also varies in rainfall, starting with about 400–500 millimetres (16–20 in) in the western hills, rising to 600 millimetres (24 in) around western Jerusalem (in central Judea), falling back to 400 millimetres (16 in) in eastern Jerusalem and dropping to around 100mm in the eastern parts, due to a rainshadow effect (this is the Judean desert). The climate, accordingly, moves between Mediterranean in the west and desert climate in the east, with a strip of steppe climate in the middle. Major urban areas in the region include Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Gush Etzion, Jericho and Hebron.^[6]

Geographers divide Judea into several distinct regions: the Hebron hills, the Jerusalem saddle, the Bethel hills and the Judean desert east of Jerusalem, which descends in a series of steps to the Dead Sea. The hills are distinct for their anticline structure. In ancient times the hills were forested, and the Bible records agriculture and sheep farming being practiced in the area. Animals are still grazed today, with shepherds moving them between the low ground to the hilltops (which have more rainfall) as summer approaches, while the slopes are still layered with centuries-old stone terracing. The Jewish Revolt against the Romans ended in the devastation of vast areas of the Judaean countryside.^[7]

History[link]

Early Iron Age[link]

By the Early Iron Age, around 1020 BCE, the Southern Levant came to be ruled by the Kingdom of Israel, and its successors, the Northern Kingdom and the Kingdom of Judah. The Northern Kingdom was conquered into the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 720 BCE. The Kingdom of Judah remained nominally independent, but paid tribute to the Assyrian Empire from 715 and throughout the first half of the 7th century BCE, regaining its independence as the Assyrian Empire declined after 640 BCE, but after 609 again fell under the sway of imperial rule, this time paying tribute at first to the Egyptians and after 601 BCE to the Neo-Babylonian Empire, until 586 BCE, when it was finally conquered by Babylonia.

Judea is central to much of the narrative of the Torah, with the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob said to have been buried at Hebron in the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

Persian and Hellenistic periods[link]

The Babylonian Empire fell to the conquests of Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE.^[8] Judea remained under Persian rule until the conquest of Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, eventually falling under the rule of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire until the revolt of Judas Maccabeus resulted in the Hasmonean dynasty of Kings who ruled in Judea for over a century.^[9]

Roman conquest[link]

Judea lost its independence to the Romans in the 1st century BCE, by becoming first a tributary kingdom, then a province, of the Roman Empire. The Romans had allied themselves to the Maccabees and interfered again in 63 BCE, at the end of the Third Mithridatic War, when the proconsul Pompeius Magnus ("Pompey the Great") stayed behind to make the area secure for Rome. Queen Alexandra Salome had recently died, and a civil war broke out between her sons, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II. Pompeius restored Hyrcanus but political rule passed to the Herodian family who ruled as client kings. In 6 CE, Judea came under direct Roman rule as the province of Iudaea. Eventually, the Jews rose against Roman rule in 66 CE in a revolt that was unsuccessful. Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 CE and much of the population was killed or enslaved.^[10]

Bar Kokhba revolt[link]

The Jews rebelled again 70 years later under the leadership of Simon bar Kokhba and established the last Kingdom of Israel, which lasted three years, before the Romans managed to conquer the province for good, at a high cost in terms of manpower and expense.

After the defeat of Bar Kokhba (132–135 CE) the Roman Emperor Hadrian was determined to wipe out the identity of Israel-Judah-Judea, and renamed it Philistina (Syria Palaestina, after the ancient enemy of the Israelites; the Philistines). Until that time the area had been called "province of Judea" (Roman Judea) by the Romans.^[11] At the same time, he changed the name of the city of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina. The Romans killed many Jews and sold many more into slavery; many Jews departed into the Jewish diaspora, but there was never a complete Jewish abandonment of the area, and Jews have been an important (and sometimes persecuted) minority in Judea since that time.^[12]

Jewish resettlement[link]

The failure of the Bar Kokhba revolt and the subsequent Roman conquest greatly diminished Jewish presence in Judea. Since then, the Jewish population of Judea has fluctuated greatly, with other Jews joining and leaving the ancient local population over time.

Beginning in the late 19th century, Jewish settlement increased within the territory of what is now Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, with Judea (or the territory of the West Bank south of Jerusalem) attracting a growing number of settlements and resulting in growing conflict between Muslim and Jewish residents of the region. Today, much of Judea falls under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, and the presence of Jewish settlers in now-Palestinian cities such as Hebron and the establishment of Jewish settlements (under Israeli jurisdiction) is considered controversial. Jewish settlers have proposed establishing the State of Judea should Israel withdraw from the West Bank.

See also[link]

• Judea and Samaria Area
• Kingdom of Judah
• Judaea (Roman province)
• History of Palestine (region)

Timeline[link]

Map of the southern Levant, c.830s BCE.

  Kingdom of Judah

  Kingdom of Israel

  Philistine city-states

  Phoenician states

  Kingdom of Ammon

  Kingdom of Edom

  Kingdom of Aram-Damascus

  Aramean tribes

  Arubu tribes

  Nabatu tribes

  Assyrian Empire

  Kingdom of Moab

• 11th century BCE–930 BCE — part of the Kingdom of Israel
• 930 BCE–586 BCE — Kingdom of Judah
• 586 BCE–539 BCE — Babylonian Empire
• 539 BCE–332 BCE — Persian Empire
• 332 BCE–305 BCE — Macedonian Empire of Alexander the Great
• 305 BCE–198 BCE — Ptolemaics
• 198 BCE–141 BCE — Seleucids
• 141 BCE–37 BCE — The Hasmonean state in Israel established by the Maccabees, after 63 BCE under Roman supremacy
• 37 BCE–70 CE — Herodian Dynasty ruling Judea under Roman supremacy (37 BCE–6 CE, 41–44 CE), interchanging with direct Roman rule (6–41, 44–66). This ended in the first Jewish Revolt of 66–73, which saw the Temple destroyed in 70.
• 73 — Fall of Masada
• 115–117 — Kitos War
• 132–135 — Bar Kokhba's revolt
• 135 — Emperor Hadrian reverts to the name Syria Palaestina first used by Herodotus.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Judean Desert

• The Jewish History Resource Center Project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• Judea and civil war
• The subjugation of Judea
• Judaea 6–66 CE
• Judea photos

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William Billings (b. Boston, October 7, 1746 – d. Boston, September 26, 1800) was an American choral composer, and is widely regarded as the father of American choral music.^[1] Billings created what is now recognized as a uniquely American style.

At the age of 14, the death of his father stopped Billings' formal schooling. He took up tanning and never received formal training in music. "He had one eye, a deformed arm and a harsh voice; he was lame in one leg; and he was addicted to snuff."^[2] Married with six children, Billings died in poverty on September 26, 1800. His funeral was announced in the Columbian Centinel: "Died- Mr. William Billings, the celebrated music composer. His funeral will be tomorrow at 4 o'clock, PM from the house of Mrs. Amos Penniman, in Chamber-street, West-Boston."^[3]

Psalm-Singer's Amusement by Billings, "printed and sold by the author at his house near the White Horse, Boston," 1781

Psalm-Singer's Amusement by Billings, 1781

The music[link]

Virtually all of Billings' music was written for four-part chorus, singing a cappella. His many hymns and anthems were published mostly in book-length collections, as follows:

• The New-England Psalm-Singer (1770)
• The Singing Master's Assistant (1778)
• Music in Miniature (1779)
• The Psalm-Singer's Amusement (1781)
• The Suffolk Harmony (1786)
• The Continental Harmony (1794)

Sometimes Billings would revise and improve a song, including the new version in his next volume.

Billings' music can be at times forceful and stirring, as in his patriotic song "Chester"; ecstatic, as in his hymn "Africa"; or elaborate and celebratory, as in his "Easter Anthem." The latter sounds rather like a miniature Handelian chorus, sung a cappella. As might be expected from a composer who was very close to his roots in folk music, Billings' music shows a striking purity.

His "Jargon," written to a tongue-in-cheek text, contains jarring dissonances that sound more like those of the 20th century than of the 18th.

He also wrote several Christmas carols, including "Judea" in 1778 and "Shiloh" in 1781.

Billings as a writer[link]

Verse[link]

Billings often wrote the lyrics for his own compositions. Like the notes, the words are occasionally awkward but always forceful and vivid.

As an example, McKay and Crawford (see Books, below) compare Billings' metrical rendering of Luke 2:8-11 with that of Nahum Tate, thought to be the inspiration for Billings' work:

Tate:

While shepherds watched their flocks by night

All seated on the ground,

The angel of the Lord came down,

And glory shone around.

Billings:

As shepherds in Jewry were guarding their sheep,

Promiscusly seated estranged from sleep;

An Angel from heaven presented to view,

And thus he accosted the trembling few

Dispel all your sorrows, and banish your fears,

For Jesus our Saviour in Jewry appears.

Pedagogical writing[link]

Billings wrote long prefaces to his works in which he explained (often in an endearingly eccentric prose style) the rudiments of music and how his work should be performed. His writings reflect his extensive experience as a singing master. They also provide information on choral performance practice in Billings's day; for instance, a passage from the preface to The Continental Harmony indicates that Billings liked to have both men and women sing the treble (top) and tenor lines, an octave apart:

"...in general they are best sung together, viz. if a man sings it as a Medius, and a woman as a Treble, it is in effect as two parts; so likewise, if a man sing a Tenor with a masculine and woman with a feminine voice, the Tenor is as full as two parts, and a tune so sung (although it has but four parts) is in effect the same as six. Such a conjunction of masculine and feminine voices is beyond expression, sweet and ravishing, and is esteemed by all good judges to be vastly preferable to any instrument whatever, framed by human invention.

Reception[link]

Billings' work was very popular in its heyday, but his career was hampered by the primitive state of copyright law in America at the time. By the time the copyright laws had been strengthened, it was too late for Billings: the favorites among his tunes had already been widely reprinted in other people's hymnals, permanently copyright-free.

William Billings grave memorial at the Central Burying Ground on Boston Common

With changes in the public's musical taste, Billings' fortunes declined. His last tune-book, The Continental Harmony, was published as a project of his friends, in an effort to help support the revered but no longer popular composer. His temporary employment as a Boston street sweeper was probably a project of a similar nature.

Billings died in poverty at age 53, and for a considerable time after his death, his music was almost completely neglected in the American musical mainstream. However, his compositions remained popular for a time in the rural areas of New England, which resisted the newer trends in sacred music. Moreover, a few of Billings' songs were carried southward and westward through America, as a result of their appearance in shape note hymnals. They ultimately resided in the rural South, as part of the Sacred Harp singing tradition.

In the latter part of the twentieth century a Billings revival occurred, and a sumptuous complete scholarly edition of his works was published (see Books, below). Works by Billings are commonly sung by American choral groups today, particularly performers of early music. In addition, the recent spread of Sacred Harp music has acquainted many more people with Billings' music: several of his compositions are among the more frequently sung of the works in the Sacred Harp canon [1].

The Stoughton Musical Society, formed by former students of Billings, has carried on his tradition for over 200 years, and included twenty-seven Billings tunes in their 1878 music collection, The Stoughton Musical Society's Centennial Collection of Sacred Music. Among the favorite tunes by Billings sung by this choral society are: "Majesty" and "Chester"[2].

The modern American composer William Schuman featured Billings' American Revolutionary War anthem "Chester", along with two other of Billings' hymns, in his composition New England Triptych.

William Billings was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.

Notes[link]

1. ^ William Billings
2. ^ Gary and Mark (2007)
3. ^ Nathan (1976)

References[link]

Scholarly edition of Billings's works[link]

• Complete works of William Billings in four volumes, edited by Karl Kroeger and Hans Nathan:
  • The New England psalm-singer. University of Virginia Press (1981).
  • The Singing Masters Assistant, Music in Miniature. University of Virginia Press (1984). ISBN 0-8139-0839-6.
  • The Psalm-Singer's Amusement. University of Virginia Press (1987). ISBN 0-8139-1130-3.
  • The Continental Harmony. University of Virginia Press (1990). ISBN 1-878528-01-7.

Other[link]

• McKay, David P. and Richard Crawford (1975) William Billings of Boston. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-09118-8.
• Gary, Charles & Mark, Michael. (2007). A History of American Music Education. Rowman & Littlefield Education: UK.
• Hall, Roger L. MAJESTY: A discussion of Facts and Fiction about William Billings and The Stoughton Musical Society (PineTree Press, 2000)
• Nathan, Hans. 1976. William Billings: Data and Documents. Detroit: College Music Society.

See also[link]

• Africa (William Billings), hymn tune with music score
• Chester (song), a Revolutionary War anthem
• Creation (William Billings), hymn tune

External links[link]

• William Billings at the Songwriters Hall of Fame
• Art of the States: William Billings
• Singing Stoughton
• Free scores by William Billings at the International Music Score Library Project
• Free scores by William Billings in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• "Wake Ev'ry Breath: Recording by William Appling Singers & Orchestra

Judea Pearl (born 1936) is an Israeli American computer scientist and philosopher, best known for championing the probabilistic approach to artificial intelligence and the development of Bayesian networks (see the article on belief propagation). He is also credited for developing a theory of causal and counterfactual inference based on structural models (see article on causality). He is the 2011 winner of the ACM Turing Award, the highest distinction in computer science, "for fundamental contributions to artificial intelligence through the development of a calculus for probabilistic and causal reasoning."^[1][2]

Judea Pearl is the father of journalist Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and murdered by militants in Pakistan connected with Al-Qaeda and the International Islamic Front in 2002 for his being American and Jewish.^[3][4]

Biography[link]

Judea Pearl was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1936 and received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technion in 1960. In 1960 he came to the United States and received a masters degree in Physics from Rutgers University, U.S. and a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, U.S., in 1965. He worked at RCA Research Laboratories on superconductive parametric and storage devices and at Electronic Memories, Inc., on advanced memory systems. He then joined UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science in 1970, where he is currently a professor of computer science and statistics and director of the Cognitive Systems Laboratory. He and his wife, Ruth, had three children. In addition, as of 2011^[update], he is a member of the International Advisory Board of NGO Monitor.^[5]

Murder of Daniel Pearl[link]

In 2002, his son, Daniel Pearl, a journalist working for the Wall Street Journal was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan, leading Judea and the other members of the family and friends to create the Daniel Pearl Foundation.^[6] On the seventh anniversary of Daniel's death, Judea wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal titled Daniel Pearl and the Normalization of Evil: When will our luminaries stop making excuses for terror?.^[7]

Research[link]

Judea Pearl was one of the pioneers of Bayesian networks and the probabilistic approach to artificial intelligence, and one of the first to mathematize causal modeling in the empirical sciences. His work is also intended as a high-level cognitive model. He is interested in the philosophy of science, knowledge representation, nonstandard logics, and learning. Pearl is described as "one of the giants in the field of artificial intelligence” by UCLA computer science professor Richard Korf.^[8] His work on causality has "revolutionized the understanding of causality in statistics, psychology, medicine and the social sciences" according to the Association for Computing Machinery.^[9]

Books[link]

• Heuristics, Addison-Wesley, 1984
• Probabilistic Reasoning in Intelligent Systems, Morgan-Kaufmann, 1988
• Causality: Models, Reasoning, and Inference, Cambridge University Press, 2000
• I Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl, Jewish Lights, 2004.

Scientific papers[link]

• List of papers on Pearl's personal website

Lectures[link]

• "The Algorithmization of Counterfactuals" video of the Rumelhart Lecture given July 21, 2011.
• "On Causes and Counterfactuals" video of a lecture given at a tribute sympoium, March 12, 2010
• Honorary Doctorate of Science degree received from the University of Toronto - commencement speech given June 21, 2007
• "The Art and Science of Cause and Effect": a slideshow and tutorial lecture by Judea Pearl
• Reasoning with Cause and Effect

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

	Biography portal
	Greater Los Angeles portal
	Israel portal

• Judea Pearl's personal website
• Daniel Pearl Foundation Website
• Interview with Judea Pearl from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
• Interview with Judea Pearl on Robots and Free Will
• Judea Pearl at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
• Judea Pearl at the AI Genealogy Project.

Judea under Judah Maccabee

Judah Maccabee (or Judas Maccabeus, also spelled Machabeus, or Maccabaeus, Hebrew: יהודה המכבי, Y'hudhah HamMakabi, Judah the Hammer) was a Kohen and a son of the Jewish priest Mattathias. He led the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire (167–160 BCE) and is acclaimed as one of the greatest warriors in Jewish history alongside Joshua, Gideon and David.

The Jewish feast of Hanukkah ("Dedication") commemorates the restoration of Jewish worship at the temple in Jerusalem in 165 BCE, after Judah Maccabee removed the pagan statuary.

Life[link]

Judah from "Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum "

Judah was the third son (Josephus) of Mattathias the Hasmonean, a Jewish priest from the village of Modiin. In 167 BCE Mattathias, together with his sons Judah, Eleazar, Simon, John, and Jonathan, started a revolt against the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who since 175 BCE had issued decrees that forbade Jewish religious practices. After Mattathias's death in 166 BCE, Judah assumed leadership of the revolt in accordance with the deathbed disposition of his father. The First Book of Maccabees^[1] praises Judah's valor and military talent, suggesting that those qualities made Judah a natural choice for the new commander.

In the early days of the rebellion, Judah received a surname Maccabee. Several explanations have been put forward for this surname. One suggestion is that the name derives from the Aramaic maqqaba ("makebet" in modern Hebrew), "hammer" or "sledgehammer" (cf. the cognomen of Charles Martel, the 8th century Frankish leader), in recognition of his ferocity in battle. It is also possible that the name Maccabee is an acronym for the Torah verse Mi kamokha ba'elim YHWH, "Who among the gods is like you, O Yahweh?", his battle-cry to motivate troops. (Exodus 15:11). Rabbi Moshe Schreiber writes that it is an acronym for his father's name Mattityahu Kohen Ben Yochanan. Some scholars maintain that the name is a shortened form of the Hebrew maqqab-ya ¯hû (from na ¯qab, ‘‘to mark, to designate’’), meaning ‘‘the one designated by Yahweh.’^[2]

Mindful of the superiority of Seleucid forces during the first two years of the revolt, Judah's strategy was to avoid any engagement with their regular army, and to resort to guerrilla warfare, in order to give them a feeling of insecurity. The strategy enabled Judah to win a string of victories. At the battle of Nahal el-Haramiah (wadi haramia), he defeated a small Assyrian force under the command of Apollonius, governor of Samaria, who was killed. Judah took possession of Apollonius's sword and used it until his death as a symbol of vengeance. After Nahal el-Haramiah, recruits flocked to the Jewish cause.

Early victories[link]

Judah from Die Bibel in Bildern

Shortly thereafter, Judah routed a bigger Seleucid army under the command of Seron near Beth-Horon, largely thanks to a good choice of battlefield. Then in the Battle of Emmaus, Judah proceeded to defeat the Seleucid forces led by generals Nicanor and Gorgias. This force was dispatched by Lysias, whom Antiochus left as viceroy after departing on a campaign against the Parthians. By a forced night march, Judah succeeded in eluding Gorgias, who had intended to attack and destroy the Jewish forces in their camp with his cavalry. While Gorgias was searching for him in the mountains, Judah made a surprise attack upon the Seleucid camp and defeated the Seleucid at the Battle of Emmaus. The Seleucid commander had no alternative but to withdraw to the coast.

The defeat at Emmaus convinced Lysias that he must prepare for a serious and prolonged war. He accordingly assembled a new and larger army and marched with it on Judea from the south via Idumea. After several years of conflict Judah drove out his foes from Jerusalem, except for the garrison in the citadel of Acra. He purified the defiled Temple of Jerusalem and on the 25th of Kislev (December 14, 164 BCE) restored the service in the Temple. The reconsecration of the Temple became a permanent Jewish holiday, Hanukkah, which continued even after the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. Hanukkah is still celebrated annually. The liberation of Jerusalem was the first step on the road to ultimate independence.

After Jerusalem[link]

Upon hearing the news that the Jewish communities in Gilead, Transjordan, and Galilee were under attack by neighboring Greek cities, Judah immediately went to their aid. Judah sent his brother, Simeon, to Galilee at the head of 3,000 men; Simeon proceeded to successfully fulfill his task, achieving numerous victories and transplanted a substantial portion of the Jewish settlements, including women and children, to Judea. He personally led the campaign in Transjordan, taking with him his brother Jonathan. After fierce fighting, he defeated the Transjordanian tribes and rescued the Jews concentrated in fortified towns in Gilead. The Jewish population of the areas taken by the Maccabees was evacuated to Judea.^[3] At the conclusion of the fighting in Transjordan, Judah turned against the Edomites in the south, captured and destroyed Hebron and Maresha.^[4] He then marched on the coast of the Mediterranean, destroyed the altars and statues of the pagan gods in Ashdod, and returned to Judea with much spoils.

Judah then laid siege to the Assyrian garrison at the Acra, the Seleucid citadel of Jerusalem. The besieged, who included not only Assyrians but also Hellenistic Jews, appealed for help to Lysias, who effectively became the regent of the young king Antiochus V Eupator after the death of Antiochus Epiphanes at the end of 164 BCE during the Parthian campaign. Lysias together with Eupator set out for a new campaign in Judea. Lysias skirted Judea as he had done in his first campaign, entering it from the south, and besieged Beth-Zur. Judah raised the siege of the Acra and went to meet Lysias. In the Battle of Beth-zechariah, south of Bethlehem, the Seleucids achieved their first major victory over the Maccabees, and Judah was forced to withdraw to Jerusalem. Beth-Zur was compelled to surrender and Lysias reached Jerusalem, laying siege to the city. The defenders found themselves in a precarious situation because their provisions were exhausted, it being a sabbatical year during which the fields were left uncultivated. However, just as capitulation seemed imminent, Lysias and Eupator had to withdraw when Antiochus Epiphanes's commander-in-chief Philip, whom the late ruler appointed regent before his death, rebelled against Lysias and was about to enter Antioch and seize power. Lysias decided to propose a peaceful settlement, which was concluded at the end of 163 BCE. The terms of peace were based on the restoration of religious freedom, the permission for the Jews to live in accordance with their own laws, and the official return of the Temple to the Jews. Lysias defeated Philip, only to be overthrown by Demetrius, the true heir to the Assyrian throne. Demetrius appointed Alcimus (Jakim), a Hellenist Jew, as high priest, a choice the Hasidim (Pietists) might have accepted since he was of priestly descent.

Internal conflict[link]

When war against the external enemy came to an end, an internal struggle broke out between the party led by Judah and the Hellenist party. The influence of the Hellenizers all but collapsed in the wake of the Seleucid defeat. The Hellenizing High Priest Menelaus was removed from office and executed. His successor was another Hellenizer Alcimus. When Alcimus executed sixty priests who were opposed to him, he found himself in open conflict with the Maccabees. Alcimus fled from Jerusalem and went to the Seleucid king, asking for help.

Meanwhile, Demetrius I Soter, son of Seleucus IV Philopator and nephew of the late Antiochus IV Epiphanes, fled from Rome in defiance of the Roman Senate, arrived in Assyria, captured and killed Lysias and Antiochus Eupator, and usurped the throne. It was thus Demetrius to whom the delegation led by Alcimus, complained of the persecution of the Hellenist party in Judea. Demetrius granted Alcimus's request to be appointed High Priest under the protection of the king's army and sent to Judea an army led by Bacchides. The weaker Jewish army couldn't oppose the enemy and withdrew from Jerusalem, so Judah returned to wage Guerrilla warfare. Soon after, it was necessary for the Seleucid Army to return to Antioch because of the turbulent political situation. Judah's forces returned to Jerusalem and the Seleucids dispatched another army, again led by Nicanor. In a battle near Adasa, on the 13th Adar 161 BCE, the Assyrian army was destroyed and Nicanor was killed. The annual "Day of Nicanor" was instituted to commemorate this victory.

Agreement with Rome[link]

The Roman-Jewish Treaty was an agreement made between Judah Maccabee and the Roman Republic in 161 BCE according to 1 Maccabees and Josephus. It was the first recorded contact between the Jewish people and the Romans.

Renewed fighting[link]

The agreement with Rome failed to have any effect on Demetrius' policy. On receipt of the news of Nicanor's defeat, he dispatched a new army, again commanded by Bacchides. This time the Assyrian forces of 20,000 men were numerically so superior that most of Judah's men left the field of battle and advised their leader to do likewise and to await a more favorable opportunity. However, Judah decided to stand his ground. In the Battle of Elasa, Judah and those who remained faithful to him were killed. His body was taken by his brothers from the battlefield and buried in the family sepulchre at Modiin.

The death of Judah Maccabee (d. 160 BCE) stirred the Jews to renewed resistance. After several additional years of war under the leadership of two of Mattathias' other sons (Jonathan and Simon), the Jews finally achieved independence and the liberty to worship freely.

In the arts[link]

Pre-19th century[link]

As warrior hero and national liberator, Judah Maccabee has inspired many writers, and several artists and composers. In the Divine Comedy, Dante sees his spirit in the Heaven of Mars with the other "heroes of the true faith". In Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost, he is enacted along with the other Nine Worthies, but heckled for sharing a name with Judas Iscariot. Most significant works dedicated solely to him date from the 17th century onwards. William Houghton's Judas Maccabaeus, performed in about 1601 but now lost, is thought to have been the first drama on the theme; however, the earliest surviving literary work is El Macabeo (Naples, 1638), a Castilian epic by the Portuguese Marrano Miguel de Silveyra. Two other 17th century works were La chevalerie de Judas Macabé by the French dramatist and tragedian Pierre du Ryer (c. 1600–1658) and the anonymous neo-Latin work Judas Machabaeus (Rome, 1695). Handel wrote a 1746 oratorio on the subject.

19th century[link]

Interest in Judah only revived in the 19th century, with Giuda Macabeo, ossia la morte di Nicanore... (1839), an Italian "azione sacra" based on which Vallicella composed an oratorio. One of the best-known literary works on the theme was Judas Maccabaeus (1872), a five-act verse tragedy by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. A Hebrew version of Longfellow's play was published in 1900. Two later 19th-century interpretations of the story were Judas Makkabaeus, a novella by the German writer Josef Eduard Konrad Bischoff which appeared in Der Gefangene von Kuestrin (1885); and The Hammer (1890), a book by Alfred J. Church and Richmond Seeley.

20th century[link]

Several 20th century Jewish authors also wrote works devoted to Judah Maccabee and the Maccabeean Revolt. Jacob Benjamin Katznelson (1855–1930) wrote the poem, "Alilot Gibbor ha-Yehudim Yehudah ha-Makkabi le-Veit ha-Hashmona'im" (1922); the Yiddish writer Moses Schulstein wrote the dramatic poem, "Yehudah ha-Makkabi" (in A Layter tsu der Zun, 1954); Jacob Fichmann's "Yehudah ha-Makkabi" is one of the heroic tales included in Sippurim le-Mofet (1954). Many children's plays have also been written on the theme by various Jewish authors.

In addition, the American writer Howard Fast penned the historical novel, My Glorious Brothers, which was published in 1948, during the Israeli War of Independence.

During World War II the Swiss-German writer Karl Boxler published his novel Judas Makkabaeus; ein Kleinvolk kaempft um Glaube und Heimat (1943), the subtitle of which suggests that Swiss democrats then drew a parallel between their own national hero, William Tell, and the leader of the Maccabean revolt against foreign tyranny.

Visual arts[link]

In the medieval Christian art, Judah Maccabee was regarded as one of the heroes of the Old Testament. He figures in a tenth-century illustrated manuscript Libri Maccabaeorum. The late medieval French artist Jean Fouquet painted an illustration of Judah triumphing over his enemies for his famous manuscript of Josephus. Rubens painted Judah Maccabee praying for the dead; the painting illustrates an episode from II Maccabees 12:39–48 in which Judah's troops found stolen idolatrous charms on the corpses of Jewish warriors slain on the battlefield. He therefore offered prayers and an expiatory sacrifice for these warriors who had died in a state of sin. During the Counter-Reformation the passage was used by Catholics against Protestants in order to justify the doctrine of purgatory. Accordingly, Rubens painted the scene for the Chapel of the Dead in Tournai cathedral. In the 19th century, Paul Gustave Doré executed an engraving of Judah Maccabee victoriously pursuing the shattered troops of the Assyrian enemy.

Music[link]

In music, almost all the compositions inspired by the Hasmonean revolt are primarily concerned with Judah. In 1746, the composer George Frideric Handel composed his oratorio Judas Maccabeus putting the biblical story in the context of the Jacobite Rising. This work, with libretto by Thomas Morell, had been written for the celebrations following the Duke of Cumberland's victory over the Scottish Jacobite rebels at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. The oratorio's most famous chorus is "See, the conqu'ring hero comes". The tune of this chorus was later adopted as a Christian Easter hymn tune Thine Be The Glory, Risen Conquering Son. Handel's Judas Maccabaeus was often performed in the Land of Israel, with the motif of "conqu'ring hero" becoming a Hanukkah song.

Tom Lehrer refers to Judas Maccabeus in his song "Hanukkah in Santa Monica".

Mirah refers to Judah Maccabee in her song "Jerusalem".

Sports[link]

Judah Maccabee strongly disapproved of athletic games and competitions, which were a clear influence of Greek culture and were introduced into Jerusalem by his staunch enemies the Hellenising Jews. They were abolished upon him getting control of the city.

Nevertheless, by the irony of history, one of the main sports federations of contemporary Israel is named after him Maccabi, and most Israeli cities have athletics, football and basketball clubs of that name (some of them internationally famous). Also named for him are the Maccabiah Games, an international Jewish athletic event similar to the modern Olympics – in turn modeled on the Classical Greek ones, of which Maccabeus also evidently disapproved as part of a foreign and hostile culture.

See also[link]

• Jewish leadership
• Nine Worthies

Notes[link]

Further reading[link]

• Schalit, Abraham (1997). "Judah Maccabee". Encyclopaedia Judaica (CD-ROM Edition Version 1.0). Ed. Cecil Roth. Keter Publishing House. ISBN 965-07-0665-8
• Schäfer, Peter (2003). The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-30585-3

External links[link]

• The Hasmoneans on the Web (Resource Index)
• Judas Maccabeus on the Web (pictures and directory)
• Jewish Encyclopedia
• Catholic Encyclopedia
• Playing Dreidel with Judah Maccabee (script excerpt from play)
• Judah Maccabee
• "Under the Influence: Hellenism in Ancient Jewish Life" Biblical Archaeology Society

v t e Hanukkah Traditions Symbols Menorah (Hanukiah) Dreidel (Sevivon) Gelt Public menorah Foods Latkes (Levivot) Sufganiyah Buñuelos Music "Ma'oz Tzur (Rock of Ages)" "Dreidel Song" "Oh Chanukah" Maccabean Revolt Events Seleucid Empire Temple in Jerusalem Maccabees Hasmonean Kingdom Historical accounts 1 Maccabees 2 Maccabees People Mattathias Simeon Eleazar Jonathan Judah Antiochus IV Epiphanes List of Judean rulers Battles Wadi Haramia Beth Horon Emmaus Beth Zur Beth Zechariah Adasa Dathema Elasa

André Campra

André Campra (Aix-en-Provence, (baptized) 4 December 1660 – 29 June 1744 in Versailles) was a French composer and conductor.

Campra was one of the leading French opera composers in the period between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau. He wrote several tragédies en musique, but his chief claim to fame is as the creator of a new genre, opéra-ballet. He also wrote three books of cantatas as well as religious music, including a requiem. ^[1][2]

Biography[link]

Campra was the son of Jean-François Campra, a surgeon and violinist from Graglia, in Italy, and of Louise Fabry, from Aix-en-Provence. Campra's father was his first music teacher. Campra became a choirboy at Saint-Sauveur in Aix in 1674, and commenced ecclesiastical studies four years later. He was reprimanded by his superiors in 1681 for having taken part in theatrical performances without permission, but was nevertheless made a chaplain on 27 May that year.

From 1694 to 1700, he was maître de musique (music director) at the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, after having served in a similar capacity in Arles and Toulouse. Campra controversially brought violins into the making of sacred music at Notre-Dame de Paris which at the time was seen as very avant-garde due to their reputation as 'street instruments'.^[3]

He began to turn toward the theatre in 1697 and published some theatrical compositions under his brother's name to protect his reputation within the church.^[3] In 1700 he gave up his post at Notre-Dame and concentrated on his theatrical music to critical success. By 1705 he was a musical celebrity but this resulted in him becoming a target for negative articles in the press.^[4] From 1720 onwards, he returned to the composition of sacred music. Although Campra had obtained critical success he did not have financial security and hence in 1722 he was engaged by the prince of Conti as maître de musique although this appointment was short lived.^[4] After the death of the regent, Campra became sous-maître at the Royal Chapel in Versailles in 1723. In 1730 he became the Inspecteur Général at the Opéra (Royal Academy of Music).

He died at the age of 83.

With his composition of L'Europe galante he was the true genius of the opéra-ballet, a musical genre originated by Pascal Colasse (in his Ballet des saisons).He also wrote the Rigaudon.

Principal works[link]

Operas[link]

• L'Europe galante, opéra-ballet (1697)
• Le carnaval de Venise, opéra-ballet (1699)
• Hésione, tragédie en musique (1700)
• Aréthuse, opéra-ballet (1701)
• Tancrède, tragédie en musique (1702)
• Les muses, opéra-ballet (1703)
• Iphigénie en Tauride, tragédie en musique (1704)
• Télémaque, tragédie en musique pastiche (1704)
• Alcine, tragédie en musique (1705)
• Hippodamie, tragédie en musique (1708)
• Les fêtes vénitiennes, opéra-ballet (1710)
• Idoménée, tragédie en musique (1712)
• Télèphe, tragédie en musique (1713)
• Énée et Didon, fête musicale (1714)
• Camille, reine des Volsques, tragédie en musique (1717)
• Les âges, opéra-ballet (1718)
• Achille et Déidamie, tragédie en musique (1735)

Cantatas[link]

• Book I 1708 - Hebe. L'Heureux jaloux. Didon. Daphne. Arion. Les femmes.
• Book II 1714 - Les Heureux Epoux, Silène, Achille oisif, La Dispute de l'Amour,
• Book III 1728 - Enée et Didon ^[5]

Sacred works[link]

• Nisi Dominus (1722)
• Requiem (after 1723)
• Motets for the royal chapel (1723-1741)

Legacy[link]

A theme from his 1717 opera Camille was used as the basis of the collaborative work La guirlande de Campra by seven French composers, written in 1952.

A state-owned secondary school in the centre of Aix-en-Provence, is named after André Campra, Collège Campra. There is a statue of Campra inside one of the buildings.

References[link]

1. ^ Viking p.180
2. ^ Grove
3. ^ ^{a b} BBC Radio 3: 7 December 2010.
4. ^ ^{a b} BBC Radio 3: 8 December 2010.
5. ^ James R. Anthony La musique en France à l'époque baroque: de Beaujoyeulx à Rameau 1981 "Enée et Didon (Livre III), qui est pratiquement une cantate-opéra, mettant en scène deux protagonistes, ... Dans les cantates plus tardives de Campra, l'usage systématique de tous les procédés lyriques se conjugue avec une utilisation ..."

Sources[link]

• Anthony, James R. "Campra, André". Grove Music Online (subscription access).
• BBC Radio 3. "Composer of the Week: André Campra 1660-1744", Episode 2, BBC: Broadcast 7 December 2010
• BBC Radio 3. "Composer of the Week: André Campra 1660-1744", Episode 3, BBC: Broadcast 8 December 2010
• Viking Opera Guide ed. Holden (Viking, 1993)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: André Campra

• Free scores by André Campra at the International Music Score Library Project
• Free scores by André Campra in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Free scores by André Campra in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)