Description
The Greeks under Alexander the Great captured Assyria to the north of Ancient Israel and changed it into a Syrian Greek Empire and eventually launched a massive campaign to annex neighboring Israel. A Jewish Defense Force formed under the leadership of the Maccabee family and a twenty-six-year-long war ensued. In 164 BCE, the Jewish Army expelled the Syrian Greeks from Jerusalem, a significant early victory. The subsequent cleansing of the Temple and rededication of the altar became the Chanukah holiday we know today.
