title: Sika deer

text: In the 1900s, King Edward VII presented a pair of sika deer to John, the second Baron Montagu of Beaulieu. This pair escaped into Sowley Wood and were the basis of the sika to be found in the New Forest today. They were so prolific, culling had to be introduced in the 1930s to control their numbers.


title: Sika deer

text: Across its original range and in many areas to which it has been introduced, the sika is regarded as a particularly prized and elusive sportsman's quarry. In Britain, Ireland, and mainland Europe, sika display very different survival strategies and escape tactics from the indigenous deer. They have a marked tendency to use concealment in circumstances when red deer, for example, would flee, and have been seen to squat and lie belly-flat when danger threatens.


title: Sika deer

text: In the British Isles, sika are widely regarded as a serious threat to new and established woodlands, and public and private forestry bodies adopt policies of rigorous year-round culling.


title: Sika deer

text: The main predators of sika deer include tigers, wolves, leopards, and brown bears. Lynx and golden eagles target fawns.


title: Sika deer

text: Velvet antler (dried immature antlers) is a popular ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine, and sika in China were domesticated long ago for the antler trade, along with several other species. In Taiwan, both Formosan sika deer and Formosan sambar deer ("Cervus unicolor swinhoei") have been farmed for velvet antlers. Japan is the only country in eastern Asia where sika deer were not farmed for velvet antlers.


title: Sika deer

text: Other deer raised for the antler trade were Thorold's deer ("Cervus albirostris"), central Asian red deer ("Cervus canadensis affinis"), and American elk ("Cervus canadensis canadensis").


title: Maximum break

text: A maximum break (also known as a maximum, a 147, or orally, a one-four-seven) is the highest possible in a single of snooker. A player compiles a maximum break by potting all 15 with 15 for 120 points, followed by all six for a further 27 points. Compiling a maximum break is regarded as a particularly significant achievement in the game of snooker, and may be compared to a nine-dart finish in darts or a 300 game in ten-pin bowling.


title: Maximum break

text: The first officially recognised maximum break was made by Joe Davis in a 1955 exhibition match in London. At the Classic in January 1982, Steve Davis achieved the first recognised maximum in professional competition, which was also the first maximum to occur during a televised match. The following year, Cliff Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum at the World Snooker Championship. At the UK Championship in December 2013, Mark Selby compiled the 100th recognised maximum break in professional competition. Ronnie O'Sullivan holds the record for the most maximum breaks in professional competition, with 15. He also holds the record for the fastest competitive maximum break, at 5 minutes and 8 seconds, which he achieved at the 1997 World Championship.


title: Maximum break

text: Maximum breaks have gradually become more frequent in snooker. Only eight recognised maximum breaks were achieved in the 1980s, but there were 26 in the 1990s, 35 in the 2000s, and 86 in the 2010s. In the 1980s and 1990s, some players received £147,000 for making a maximum break, but as the frequency of maximums increased, the reward for a maximum break was changed to a rolling prize pot that began at £5,000, leading to some discontent among players. For the 2019–20 snooker season, World Snooker Tour chairman Barry Hearn replaced the rolling prize with a conditional £1 million bonus, to be awarded if 20 or more maximum breaks were attained in the season. Any player who contributed at least one such break to the total would have earned a share of the bonus proportional to the number of maximums completed. Thereafter, individual prizes for maximum breaks were largely replaced by a static "high break" prize for most tournaments, though some still offer a separate maximum break prize.


title: Maximum break

text: Joe Davis compiled the first officially recognised maximum break on 22 January 1955, in a match against Willie Smith at Leicester Square Hall, London. The Billiards Association and Control Council initially refused to accept the break since the match was not played under their rules. At the time, the professional game used a rule (now standard) whereby after a foul a player could compel the offender to play the next stroke. It was not until a meeting on 20 March 1957 that the break was officially recognised, and Davis was presented with a certificate to commemorate his achievement. The match between Davis and Smith was played as part of a series of events marking the closure of Leicester Square Hall; known as Thurston's Hall until 1947, the venue had hosted many important billiards and snooker matches since its opening in 1901, including twelve World Snooker Championship finals.


title: Maximum break

text: John Spencer compiled a maximum break in the 1979 Holsten Lager International. This did not count as an official maximum, however, as the break was made on a non-templated table used during the event. The first official maximum break in professional competition was compiled by Steve Davis in the 1982 Classic at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in Oldham, against John Spencer. This was also the first televised maximum break. Davis won a Lada car (provided by the event's sponsors) for his achievement. The following year, Cliff Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum at the World Championship in the fourth frame of his second round match against Terry Griffiths.


title: Maximum break

text: Before the 1994–95 season, the maximum break remained a rare feat, with only 15 official maximums compiled altogether. However, beginning in the 1994–95 season, at least one maximum break has been achieved every season thereafter; the 13 maximums scored in the 2016–17 season is the highest number to date. Mark Selby made the 100th officially recognised maximum break in professional competition on 7 December 2013 in the seventh frame of his semi-final match against Ricky Walden at the UK Championship. , a further 74 maximum breaks have been officially recorded in professional competition. Englishman Ronnie O'Sullivan has compiled 15 official competitive maximum breaks, the most achieved by any professional player. Following him are John Higgins with twelve, Stephen Hendry with eleven, Stuart Bingham with nine, Judd Trump with eight, and Ding Junhui and Shaun Murphy with six. O'Sullivan also holds the record for the fastest competitive maximum break at just over five minutes, which he set at the 1997 World Championship.


title: Maximum break

text: At least seven players have missed the final black on a score of 140: Robin Hull, Ken Doherty, Barry Pinches, Mark Selby, Michael White, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (twice in the 2015–16 season), and Liang Wenbo in a qualifying match at the 2018 World Championship, after he had already made a maximum earlier in the same match. Breaks above 147 are possible when an opponent fouls and leaves a with all 15 reds still remaining on the table. A break greater than 147 has happened only once in professional competition, when Jamie Burnett made a break of 148 at the qualifying stage of the 2004 UK Championship. Jamie Cope compiled a break of 155 points, the highest possible free-ball break, during practice in 2005. Alex Higgins is said to have attained the same feat by some players.


title: Maximum break

text: The first known maximum break in practice was made by Murt O'Donoghue at Griffith, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, on 26 September 1934. Joe Davis compiled the first official 147 against Willie Smith in an exhibition match on 22 January 1955 at Leicester Square Hall, London. Rex Williams made the first maximum break in a competitive match against Manuel Francisco, Professionals v. Amateurs, on 23 December 1965 in Cape Town.


title: Maximum break

text: John Spencer made the first maximum compiled in professional competition on 13 January 1979 at the Holsten Lager Tournament against Cliff Thorburn, but it was not officially ratified due to oversized pockets. The break was not caught on video as the television-crew were away on a tea-break. The first official maximum break in professional competition was made by Steve Davis in the 1982 Lada Classic against Spencer. This was also the first televised 147. Cliff Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum break at the World Snooker Championship, a feat that has since been repeated by Jimmy White, Stephen Hendry (three times), Ronnie O'Sullivan (three times), Mark Williams, Ali Carter, John Higgins and Neil Robertson.


title: Maximum break

text: In March 1989, Cliff Thorburn also became the first player to make two competitive maximum breaks. In November 1995 Stephen Hendry became the first player to make two televised maximum breaks. Thai female snooker player Nutcharut Wongharuthai made a 147 break during a practice match in March 2019, which is believed to be the first maximum break achieved by a woman in any match.


title: Maximum break

text: More than one official maximum break has been compiled in the same event on more than twenty occasions. The 2008 World Snooker Championship was the first event where two maximum breaks were televised. Two maximum breaks were also televised at the 2019 Welsh Open. Three official maximums at the same WPBSA (World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association) event have been achieved twice. This was at the 2012 UK Championship, when Andy Hicks and Jack Lisowski both compiled one each in qualifying and John Higgins compiled one in the televised stages. Similarly, at the 2017 German Masters, Ali Carter and Ross Muir both compiled one each during qualifying and Tom Ford during the televised stages.


title: Maximum break

text: Mark Davis became the only player to make two official maximum breaks in professional competition at the same event when he compiled two 147s at the 2017 Championship League. The 2012 FFB Snooker Open, 2017 German Masters and 2018 Paul Hunter Classic are the only WPBSA events where two maximums were made on the same day. Three maximum breaks were compiled on 8 February 1998 during the Buckley's Bitter Challenge, an unofficial event, by Matthew Stevens, Ryan Day and Tony Chappel. There have been at least five non-tournament matches where more than one maximum was compiled. Peter Ebdon compiled two maximum breaks during an 11-frame exhibition match at Eastbourne Police Club on 15 April 1996. In 2003 he also compiled two consecutive maximum breaks against Steve Davis in an exhibition match. In 2009 Jimmy White and Ronnie O'Sullivan compiled consecutive maximum breaks at an exhibition match in Ireland.


title: Maximum break

text: The only player known to compile more than two maximum breaks on a single occasion is Adrian Gunnell, who compiled three maximums in four frames at a club in Telford in 2003 while practising against Ian Duffy. Higgins and O'Sullivan are the only players to record maximum breaks in consecutive ranking events. Higgins made one during his defeat by Mark Williams in the LG Cup final, and then one in his second round match at the 2003 British Open. O'Sullivan made one at the Northern Ireland Trophy and another at the UK Championship in 2007.


title: Maximum break

text: Hendry, Mark Williams, O'Sullivan (on six occasions), Barry Hawkins, Matthew Stevens, Ding Junhui, Andy Hicks, Shaun Murphy, Ryan Day, John Higgins, Mark Davis (on two occasions), Martin Gould, Luca Brecel, Tom Ford (on two occasions) and Marco Fu have all made maximums to win matches. Only seven of these have come in final-frame deciders, however: Hendry's at the 1997 Charity Challenge, O'Sullivan's at the 2007 UK Championship, both of Davis' at the 2017 Championship League, Gould's at the 2018 Championship League, Ford's at the 2019 English Open and Marco's at the 2022 Hong Kong Masters.


title: Maximum break

text: Only Hendry, John Higgins, Stuart Bingham, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Shaun Murphy, Neil Robertson and Judd Trump have made maximums in finals of tournaments. Hendry has made three: the first at the 1997 Charity Challenge, the second at the 1999 British Open and the third at the 2001 Malta Grand Prix. Higgins has made two, at the 2003 LG Cup, and the second at the 2012 Shanghai Masters. Bingham at the 2012 Wuxi Classic, O'Sullivan in the final frame of the 2014 Welsh Open, Murphy at the 2014 Ruhr Open, and Robertson at the 2015 UK Championship. Robertson's maximum is the only one to be compiled in the final of a Triple Crown event. Trump made a maximum in the finals of the 2022 Turkish Masters and the 2022 Champion of Champions.


title: Maximum break

text: O'Sullivan's first 147 break against Mick Price in their second round tie at the 1997 World Snooker Championship set the record for the fastest maximum in the history of the game. "Guinness World Records" recorded the time of the break at 5 minutes and 20 seconds. An investigation undertaken by "Deadspin" in 2017, however, revealed that the time recorded by Guinness is incorrect because the timer was started too early on the BBC footage. Breaks are not officially timed in snooker and the official rules of snooker do not specify how they should be timed, instead leaving the timing to the discretion of the broadcaster. The only timing methodology World Snooker sanctions in its events is the one employed in shot clock events where timing for a player's shot begins when the balls have come to rest from his opponent's previous shot. Under this convention the break would have been timed at 5 minutes and 15 seconds. World Snooker has since suggested that a break starts when the player strikes the cueball for the first time in a break which would result in a time of 5 minutes and 8 seconds, and this is the time that World Snooker now officially acknowledges.


title: Maximum break

text: Sean Maddocks is recognised by "Guinness World Records" as the youngest player to have made a maximum break in any recognised competition. Maddocks was 15 years and 90 days old when he achieved the feat at the LiteTask Pro-Am series in Leeds on 9 July 2017. This broke the record previously held by O'Sullivan, who made a maximum at the 1991 English Amateur Championship when he was 15 years and 98 days old. Judd Trump is known to have made a 147 at the Potters Under-16 Tournament in 2004 at the age of 14 years and 206 days; however, this break is not recognised by "Guinness World Records". The youngest player to have made a televised maximum is Ding Junhui, who was aged 19 years and 288 days when he achieved a 147 at the 2007 Masters.


title: Maximum break

text: The youngest player to have made an officially recognised maximum break in professional competition is Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon, who compiled a 147 at the 2010 Rhein–Main Masters when he was aged 16 years and 312 days. The oldest player to have done so is Mark Williams, who made the third maximum of his career at the 2022 English Open, aged 47 years and 270 days.


title: Maximum break

text: In professional tournaments there was usually a substantial prize awarded to any player achieving a 147 break. For example, Ronnie O'Sullivan's maximum at the 1997 World Championship earned him £165,000. Of this, £147,000 was for making the 147 break and £18,000 was for achieving the highest break of the tournament.


title: Maximum break

text: In the 2011–12 season World Snooker introduced a roll-over system for the maximum break prize money, the "rolling 147 prize". A maximum break is worth £5,000 in the televised stages and £500 in qualifying stages of major ranking events. There is a £500 prize in the Players Tour Championship events from the last 128 onwards. If a maximum is not made then the prize rolls over to the next event until somebody wins it.


title: Maximum break

text: At the 2016 Welsh Open, Ronnie O'Sullivan defeated Barry Pinches 4–1 in the first round. In the fifth frame of the match, O'Sullivan declined the opportunity to make a maximum break, potting the pink off the penultimate red and completing a break of 146. He stated afterwards that the prize money of £10,000 was not worthy of a 147. World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn called the decision "unacceptable" and "disrespectful". Individual prizes for a maximum break were phased out at the beginning of the 2019–20 snooker season, with a £1 million bonus on offer for the season if 20 or more were made during the season. The prize would be split among all players who had made at least one qualifying break, with each player receiving an equal share for every break made.


title: Maximum break

text: A break higher than 147 can be achieved when an opponent before any reds are potted, and leaves the incoming player on all 15 reds. The player can nominate one of the other as a red, known as a , which carries the same value as a red for just that shot. If the free ball is potted, the referee places this coloured ball back on its original location, de facto creating a setup as if there were 16 reds in total, thus creating a potential maximum break of 155 if a player starts from a free ball position.


title: Maximum break

text: In October 2004, during qualifying for the UK Championship, Jamie Burnett became the only player to record a break of more than 147 in tournament play, when he scored 148 against Leo Fernandez. He took the brown as the free ball, then potted the brown again followed by the 15 reds with 12 blacks, two pinks and a blue, then the six colours.


title: Maximum break

text: Tournament games are won when one of the players manages to win more than half of the scheduled frames. For example, if a match is scheduled to have a maximum of seven frames, a player wins the game when winning a fourth frame, regardless of how many frames the other player has. The following are maximum breaks played in frames that won the match.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: The Maccabean Revolt () was a Jewish rebellion led by the Maccabees against the Seleucid Empire and against Hellenistic influence on Jewish life. The main phase of the revolt lasted from 167–160 BCE and ended with the Seleucids in control of Judea, but conflict between the Maccabees, Hellenized Jews, and the Seleucids continued until 134 BCE, with the Maccabees eventually attaining independence.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes launched a massive campaign of repression against the Jewish religion in 168 BCE. The reason he did so is not entirely clear, but it seems to have been related to the King mistaking an internal conflict among the Jewish priesthood as a full-scale rebellion. Jewish practices were banned, Jerusalem was placed under direct Seleucid control, and the Second Temple in Jerusalem was made the site of a syncretic Pagan-Jewish cult. This repression triggered exactly the revolt that Antiochus IV had feared, with a group of Jewish fighters led by Judas Maccabeus (Judah Maccabee) and his family rebelling in 167 BCE and seeking independence. The rebels as a whole would come to be known as the Maccabees, and their actions would be chronicled later in the books of 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: The rebellion started as a guerrilla movement in the Judean countryside, raiding towns and terrorizing Greek officials far from direct Seleucid control, but it eventually developed a proper army capable of attacking the fortified Seleucid cities. In 164 BCE, the Maccabees captured Jerusalem, a significant early victory. The subsequent cleansing of the temple and rededication of the altar on 25 Kislev is the source of the festival of Hanukkah. The Seleucids eventually relented and unbanned Judaism, but the more radical Maccabees, not content with merely reestablishing Jewish practices under Seleucid rule, continued to fight, pushing for a more direct break with the Seleucids. Judas Maccabeus died in 160 BCE at the Battle of Elasa against the Greek general Bacchides, and the Seleucids reestablished direct control for a time, but remnants of the Maccabees under Judas's brother Jonathan Apphus continued to resist from the countryside. Eventually, internal division among the Seleucids and problems elsewhere in their empire would give the Maccabees their chance for proper independence. In 141 BCE, Simon Thassi succeeded in expelling the Greeks from their citadel in Jerusalem. An alliance with the Roman Republic helped guarantee their independence. Simon would go on to establish an independent Hasmonean kingdom. The revolt had a great impact on Jewish nationalism, as an example of a successful campaign to establish political independence and resist governmental anti-Jewish suppression.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: Beginning in 338 BCE, Alexander the Great began an invasion of the Persian Empire. In 333–332 BCE, Alexander's Macedonian forces conquered the Levant and Palestine. At the time, Judea was home to many Jews who had returned from exile in Babylon thanks to the Persians. At the partition of Alexander's empire in 323 BCE after Alexander's death, the territory was given to what would become Ptolemaic Egypt. Another of the Greek successor states, the Seleucid Empire, would conquer Judea from Egypt during a series of campaigns from 235–198 BCE. During both Ptolemaic and Seleucid rule, many Jews learned Koine Greek, especially upper class Jews seeking favor with the government and Jewish minorities in towns further afield from Jerusalem and more attached to Greek trading networks. Greek philosophical ideas spread through Palestine as well. A Greek translation of the scriptures, the Septuagint, was also created during the third century BCE. Most Jews adopted dual names with both a Greek name and a Hebrew name, such as Jason and Joshua. Still, many Jews continued to speak the Aramaic language, the language that descended from what was spoken during the Babylonian exile.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: In general, the ruling Greek policy during this time period was to let Jews manage their own affairs and not interfere overtly with religious matters. Greek authors in the third century BCE who wrote about Judaism did so mostly positively. Cultural change did happen, but was largely driven by Jews themselves inspired by ideas from abroad; Greek rulers did not undertake explicit programs of forced Hellenization. Antiochus IV Epiphanes came to the throne of the Seleucids in 175 BCE, and did not change this policy. He appears to have done little to antagonize the region at first, and the Jews were largely content under his rule. One element that would come to later prominence was Antiochus IV replacing the high priest Onias III with his brother Jason after Jason offered a large sum of money to Antiochus. Jason also sought and received permission to make Jerusalem a self-governing "polis", albeit with Jason able to control the citizenship lists of who would be able to vote and hold political office. These changes did not immediately appear to rouse any particular complaint from the majority of the citizenry in Jerusalem, and presumably he still kept the basic Jewish laws and tenets. Three years later, a newcomer named Menelaus offered an even larger bribe to Antiochus IV for the position of high priest. Jason, resentful, turned against Antiochus IV; additionally, a rumor spread that Menelaus had sold golden temple artifacts to help pay for the bribe, leading to unhappiness, especially among the city council Jason had established. This conflict was largely political rather than cultural; all sides, at this point, were "Hellenized", content with Seleucid rule, and primarily divided over Menelaus's alleged corruption and sacrilege.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: In 170–168 BCE, the Sixth Syrian War between the Seleucids and the Ptolemaic Egyptians arose, for unclear reasons. Antiochus IV led an army to attack Egypt. On his way back through Jerusalem after the successful campaign, High Priest Menelaus allegedly invited Antiochus inside the Second Temple (in violation of Jewish law), and he raided the temple treasury for 1800 talents. Tensions with the Ptolemaic dynasty continued, and Antiochus rode out on campaign again in 168 BCE. Jason heard a rumor that Antiochus had perished, and launched an attempted coup against Menelaus in Jerusalem. Hearing of this, Antiochus, who was not dead, apparently interpreted this factional infighting as a revolt against his personal authority, and sent an army to crush Jason's plotters. From 168–167 BCE, the conflict spiraled out of control, and government policy radically shifted. Thousands in Jerusalem were killed and thousands more were enslaved; the city was attacked twice; new Greek governors were sent; the government seized land and property from Jason's supporters; and the Temple in Jerusalem was made the site of a syncretic Greek-Jewish religious group, polluting it in the eyes of the devout Jews. A new citadel garrisoned by Greeks and pro-Seleucid Jews, the Acra, was built in Jerusalem. Antiochus IV issued decrees officially suppressing the Jewish religion; subjects were required to eat pork and violate Jewish dietary law, work on the Jewish Sabbath, cease circumcising their sons, and so on. The policy of tolerance of Jewish worship was at an end.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: In the aftermath of Antiochus IV issuing his decrees forbidding Jewish religious practice, a campaign of land confiscations paired with shrine and altar-building took place in the Judean countryside. A rural Jewish priest from Modein, Mattathias (Hebrew: Matityahu) of the Hasmonean family, sparked the revolt against the Seleucid Empire by refusing to worship the Greek gods at Modein's new altar. Mattathias killed a Jew who had stepped forward to take Mattathias' place in sacrificing to an idol as well as the Greek officer who was sent to enforce the sacrifice. He then destroyed the altar. Afterwards, he and his five sons fled to the nearby mountains, which sat directly next to Modein.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: After Mattathias' death about one year later in 166 BCE, his son Judas Maccabeus (Hebrew: Judah Maccabee) led a band of Jewish dissidents that would eventually absorb other groups opposed to Seleucid rule and grow into an army. While unable to directly strike Seleucid power at first, Judas's forces could maraud the countryside and attack Hellenized Jews, of whom there were many. The Maccabees destroyed Greek altars in the villages, forcibly circumcised boys, burnt villages, and drove Hellenized Jews off their land. Judas's nickname "Maccabee," now used to describe the Jewish partisans as a whole, is taken from the Hebrew word for "hammer"; the term "Maccabee" or "Maccabeus" was also used as an honorific for Judas's brothers as well.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: Judas's campaign in the countryside became a full scale revolt. Maccabean forces employed guerrilla tactics emphasizing speed and mobility. While less trained and under-equipped for pitched battles, the Maccabees could control which battles they took and retreat into the wilderness when threatened. They defeated two minor Seleucid forces at the Battle of the Ascent of Lebonah in 167 BCE and the Battle of Beth Horon in 166 BCE. Toward the end of summer in 165 BCE, Antiochus IV departed for Babylonia in the eastern half of his empire, and left Lysias in charge of the western half as regent. Shortly afterward, the Maccabees won a more substantial victory at the Battle of Emmaus. The factions attempted to negotiate a compromise, but failed; a large Seleucid army was sent to quash the revolt. After the Battle of Beth Zur in 164 BCE as well as news of the death of Antiochus IV in Persia, the Seleucid troops returned to Syria. The Maccabees entered Jerusalem in triumph. They ritually cleansed the Second Temple, reestablishing traditional Jewish worship there; 25 Kislev, the date of the cleansing in the Hebrew calendar, would later become the date when the festival of Hanukkah begins. Regent Lysias, preoccupied with internal Seleucid affairs, agreed to a political compromise that revoked Antiochus IV's ban on Jewish practices. This proved a wise decision: many Hellenized Jews had cautiously supported the revolt due to the suppression of their religion. With the ban retracted, their religious goals were accomplished, and the Hellenized Jews could more easily be potential Seleucid loyalists again. The Maccabees did not consider their goals complete, however, and continued their campaign for a starker break from Greek influence and full political independence. The rebels suffered a loss of support from moderates as a result.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: With the rebels now in control of most of Jerusalem and its environs, a second phase of the revolt began. The rebellion had additional resources, but also additional responsibilities. Rather than being able to retreat to the mountains, the rebels now had territory to defend; abandoning cities would leave their loyalists open to reprisals if the pro-Seleucid forces were allowed to take control again. As such, they focused on being able to win open battles, with additional trained heavy infantry. A civil struggle of low-level violence, reprisals, and murders arose in the countryside, especially in more distant areas where Jewish people were in the minority. Judas launched expeditions to these regions outlying Judea to fight non-Jewish Idumeans, Ammonites, and Galileans. He recruited devout Jews and sent them into Judea to concentrate his allies where they could be protected, although this influx of refugees would soon create food scarcity issues in the land the Maccabees held.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: In 162 BCE, Judas began a long siege of the fortified Acra citadel in Jerusalem, still controlled by Seleucid loyalist Jews and a Greek garrison. Regent Lysias, having dealt with rivals back in Antioch, returned to Judea with an army to aid the Seleucid forces. The Seleucids besieged Beth-Zur and took it without a fight, as it was a fallow year and food supplies were meager. They battled Judas's forces in an open fight at the Battle of Beth Zechariah next, with the Seleucids defeating the Maccabees. Judas's younger brother Eleazar Avaran died in battle after bravely attacking a war elephant and being crushed. Lysias's army next besieged Jerusalem. With supplies of food short on both sides and reports of a political rival returning from the eastern provinces to Antioch, Lysias decided to sign an agreement with the rebels and confirm the repeal of the anti-Jewish decrees; the rebels, in return, abandoned their siege of the Seleucid Acra. Lysias and his army then returned to Antioch, with the province officially at peace, but neither the Hellenized Jews nor the Maccabees laid down their arms.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: At some point from 163–162 BCE, Lysias ordered the execution of despised High Priest Menelaus as another gesture of reconciliation to the Jews. Shortly afterward, both regent Lysias and 11-year old king Antiochus V were executed after losing a succession struggle with Demetrius I Soter, who became the new Seleucid king. In the winter of late 162 BCE to early 161 BCE, Demetrius I appointed a new high priest, Alcimus, to replace Menelaus and sent an army led by general Bacchides to enforce Alcimus's station. Judas did not give battle, perhaps still rebuilding after his defeat at Beth Zechariah. Alcimus was accepted into Jerusalem, and proved more effective at rallying moderate Hellenists to the pro-Seleucid faction than Menelaus had been. Still, violent tensions between the Maccabees and the Hellenized Jews continued. Bacchides returned to Syria, and a new general, Nicanor, was appointed military governor of Judea. A truce was briefly made between Nicanor and the Maccabees, but was soon broken. Nicanor gained the hatred of the Maccabees after reports surfaced that he had blasphemed in the Temple and threatened to burn it. Nicanor took his forces into the field, and fought the Maccabees first at Caphar-salama, and then at the Battle of Adasa in late winter of 161 BCE. Nicanor was killed early in the fight, and the rest of his army fled afterward.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: Judas had been negotiating with the Roman Republic and extracted a vague agreement of potential support. While this would be cause for caution to the Seleucid Empire in the long term, it was not a particular concern in the short term, as the Romans would be unlikely to intervene if the Judean unrest could be decisively crushed.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: In 160 BCE, Seleucid King Demetrius I went on campaign in the east to fight the rebellious Timarchus. He left his general Bacchides to govern the western part of the empire. Bacchides led an army of 20,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry into Judea on a second expedition intending to reconquer the restive province before it grew too used to autonomy. The size of the rebel army facing them is disputed; 1 Maccabees implausibly claims that Judas's army at Elasa was tiny, with 3,000 men of which only 800–1,000 would fight. Historians suspect the true numbers were larger and possibly as many as 22,000 soldiers, and the author downplayed their strength in an attempt to explain the defeat.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: The Seleucid army marched through Judea after carrying out a massacre in the Galilee. This tactic would force Judas to respond in open battle, lest his reputation be damaged by inaction and Alcimus's faction gain strength by claiming he was better positioned to protect the people from future killings. Bacchides advanced toward Jerusalem, while Judas encamped on the rough terrain at Elasa to intercept the Seleucid army. Judas opted to attack the right flank of the Seleucid army hoping to kill the commander, similar to the victory over Nicanor at Adasa. The elite horsemen on the right retreated, and the rebels pursued. This may have been a tactic from Bacchides, however, to feign weakness and draw the Maccabees in where they could be surrounded and defeated, their own retreat cut off. Regardless of whether it was intentional or not, the Seleucids regained their formation and trapped the rebel army with their own left flank. Judas was eventually killed and the remaining Judeans fled.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: The Seleucids had reasserted their authority in Jerusalem. Bacchides fortified cities across the land, put allied Greek-friendly Jews in command in Jerusalem, and ensured children of leading families were held as hostages as a guarantee of good behavior. Judas's younger brother Jonathan Apphus (Hebrew: Yonatan) became the new leader of the Maccabees. A new tragedy struck the Hasmonean family when Jonathan's brother John Gaddi was seized and killed while on a mission in Nabatea. Jonathan fought Bacchides and his troops for a time, but the two eventually made a pact for a cease-fire. Bacchides then returned to Syria in 160 BCE.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: While the Maccabees had lost control of the cities, they seem to have built a rival government in the countryside from 160–153 BCE. The Maccabees avoided direct conflict with the Seleucids, but the internal Jewish civil struggle continued: the rebels harassed, exiled, and killed Jews seen as insufficiently anti-Greek. According to 1 Maccabees, "Thus the sword ceased from Israel. Jonathan settled in Michmash and began to judge the people; and he destroyed the godless out of Israel." The Maccabees were handed an opportunity as the Seleucids broke into infighting in a series of civil wars, the Seleucid Dynastic Wars. The Seleucid rival claimants to the throne needed all their troops elsewhere, and also wished to deny possible allies to other claimants, thus giving the Maccabees leverage. In 153–152 BCE, a deal was struck between Jonathan and Demetrius I. King Demetrius was fending off a challenge from Alexander Balas, and agreed to withdraw Seleucid forces from the fortified towns and garrisons in Judea, barring Beth-Zur and Jerusalem. The hostages were also released. Seleucid control over Judea was weakened, and then weakened further; Jonathan promptly betrayed Demetrius I after Alexander Balas offered an even better deal. Jonathan was granted the title of both High Priest and "strategos" by Alexander, essentially acknowledging that the Maccabee faction was a more relevant ally to would-be Seleucid leaders than the Hellenist faction. Jonathan's forces fought against Demetrius I, who would die in battle in 150 BCE.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: From 152–141 BCE, the rebels achieved a state of informal autonomy akin to a suzerain. The land was "de jure" part of the Seleucid Empire, but continuing civil wars gave the Maccabees considerable autonomy. Jonathan was given official authority to build and maintain an army in exchange for his aid. During this period, the legitimized armies of Jonathan fought in these civil wars and border struggles to maintain the favor of allied Seleucid leaders. The Seleucids did send an army back into Judea during this period, but Jonathan evaded it and refused battle until it eventually returned to the Seleucid heartland. In 143 BCE, regent Diodotus Tryphon, perhaps eager to reassert control over the restive province, invited Jonathan to a conference. The conference was a trap; Jonathan was captured and executed, despite Jonathan's brother Simon raising the requested ransom and sending hostages. This betrayal led to an alliance between the new leader of the Maccabees, Simon Thassi (Hebrew: Simeon), and Demetrius II Nicator, a rival of Diodotus Tryphon and claimant to the Seleucid throne. Demetrius II exempted Judea from payment of taxes in 142 BCE, essentially acknowledging its independence. The Seleucid settlement and garrison in Jerusalem, the Acra, finally came under Simon's control, peacefully, as did the remaining Seleucid garrison at Beth-Zur. Simon was appointed High Priest around 141 BCE, but he did so by acclamation from the Jewish people rather than appointment by the Seleucid king. Both Jonathan and now Simon had maintained diplomatic contact with the Roman Republic; official recognition by Rome came in 139 BCE, as the Romans were eager to weaken and divide the Greek states. This new Hasmonean-Roman alliance was also worded more firmly than Judas Maccabeus's hazy agreement 22–23 years earlier. Continuing strife between rival Seleucid rulers made a government response to formal independence of the new state difficult. New Seleucid King Antiochus VII Sidetes refused an offer of help from Simon's troops while pursuing their mutual enemy Diodotus Tryphon, and made demands for both tribute and for Simon to cede control of the border towns Joppa and Gazara. Antiochus VII sent an army to Judea at some point between 139 and 138 BCE under command of a general named Cendebeus, but it was repulsed.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: The Hasmonean leaders did not immediately call themselves "king" or establish a monarchy; Simon called himself merely "nasi" (in Hebrew, "Prince" or "President") and "ethnarch" (in Koine Greek, "Governor").


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: In 135 BCE, Simon and two of his sons (Mattathias and Judas) were murdered by his son-in-law, Ptolemy son of Abubus, at a feast in Jericho. All five sons of Mattathias were now gone with Simon joining his brothers in death, leaving leadership to the next generation. Simon's third son, John Hyrcanus, became High Priest of Israel. King Antiochus VII would personally invade and besiege Jerusalem in 134 BCE, but after Hyrcanus paid a ransom and ceded the cities of Joppa and Gazara, the Seleucids left peacefully. The conflict ceased, and Hyrcanus and Antiochus VII joined themselves in an alliance, with Antiochus making a respectful donation of a sacrifice at the Temple. For the reprieve and donation, Antiochus VII was referred to as "Eusebes" ("Pious") by the grateful populace. With the suzerainty briefly re-established, Judea sent troops to aid Antiochus VII in his campaigns in Persia. After Antiochus VII's death in 129 BCE, the Hasmoneans ceased offering aid or tribute to the remnants of the declining Seleucid Empire. John Hyrcanus and his children would go on to centralize power more than Simon had done. Hyrcanus's son Aristobulus I called himself "basileus" (king), abandoning pretensions that the High Priest managing political matters was a temporary arrangement. The Hasmoneans exiled leaders on the council or "gerusia" that they felt might threaten their power. The council of elders - who would later evolve into the Sanhedrin - ceased to be an independent check on the monarchy. After the success of the Maccabean Revolt, leaders of the Hasmonean dynasty continued their conquest to surrounding areas of Judea, especially under Alexander Jannaeus. The Seleucid Empire was too riven with internal unrest to stop this, and Ptolemaic Egypt maintained largely friendly relations. The Hasmonean court at Jerusalem would not make a sharp break from Hellenic culture and language, and continued with a blend of Jewish traditions and Greek ones. They continued to be known by Greek names, would use both Hebrew and Greek on their coinage, and hired Greek mercenaries, but also restored Judaism to a place of primacy in Judea and fostered the new sense of Jewish nationalism that had sprouted during the revolt.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: The dynasty would last until 37 BCE, when Herod the Great, making use of heavy Roman support, defeated the last Hasmonean ruler to become a Roman client king.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: Both sides were influenced by Hellenistic army composition and tactics. The basic Hellenistic battle deployment consisted of heavy infantry in the center, mounted cavalry on the flanks, and mobile skirmishers in the vanguard. The most common infantry weapon used was the sarissa, the Macedonian pike. The sarissa was a powerful weapon; it was held in two hands and had great reach (approximately ~6.3 meters), making it difficult for opponents to approach a phalanx of sarissa-wielding infantry safely. Hellenistic cavalry also used pikes, albeit slightly shorter ones. The Seleucids also had access to trained war elephants imported from India, who sported natural armor in their thick hides and could terrify opposing soldiers and their horses. Rarely, they also made use of scythed chariots.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: In terms of army size, the respected historian Polybius reports that in 165 BCE, a military parade near the Seleucid capital Antioch held by Antiochus IV consisted of 41,000 foot soldiers and 4,500 cavalrymen. These soldiers were preparing to fight in an expedition to the east, not in Judea, but give a rough estimate to the total size of the Seleucid forces in the Western part of their empire capable of being deployed wherever the ruler needed them, not including local auxiliaries and garrisons. Antiochus IV appears to have augmented the size of his army by hiring additional mercenaries, at cost to the Seleucid treasury. Most of the forces at that parade would be deployed on matters more important to the Seleucid leadership than suppressing the Judean rebellion, however, and as such only a portion of them likely participated in the battles of the rebellion. They may have been supplemented by local Seleucid-allied militias and garrisons, however.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: The Maccabees started as a guerrilla force that likely used the traditional weapons effective in small unit combat in mountainous terrain: archers, slingers, and light infantry peltasts armed with sword and shield. Later writers would romantically portray the Maccabees as ordinary people fighting as irregulars, but the Maccabees did eventually train a standing army similar to the Seleucids, complete with Hellenic-style heavy infantry phalanxes, horse-mounted cavalry, and siege weaponry. However, while manufacturing the mostly wooden sarissa would have been easy for the rebels, their body armor was lower quality. They likely used simple leather armor due to a paucity of metals and craftsmen capable of making Greek-style metal armor. It is speculated that diaspora Jews in countries hostile to the Seleucids, such as Ptolemaic Egypt and Pergamon, may have joined the cause as volunteers, bringing their own local talents to the rebel army.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: The rebel forces grew with time. There were 6,000 men in Judas's army near the start of the revolt, 10,000 men at the Battle of Beth Zur, and possibly as many as 22,000 soldiers by the time of the defeat at Elasa. In several battles, the rebels may have had numerical superiority to compensate for shortfalls in training and equipment. After Jonathan was legitimized as high priest and governor by the Seleucid rulers, the Hasmoneans had easier access to recruitment; 20,000 soldiers are reported as repulsing Cendebeus in 139 BCE.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: Much of the combat in the revolt took place in hilly and mountainous terrain, which complicated warfare. Seleucid phalanxes trained for mountain combat would fight at somewhat greater distance from each other compared to packed lowland formations, and used slightly shorter but more maneuverable Roman-style pikes.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: The most detailed contemporaneous writings that survived were the deuterocanonical books of First Maccabees and Second Maccabees, as well as Josephus's "The Wars of the Jews" and Book XII and XIII of "The Antiquities of the Jews". The authors were not disinterested parties; the authors of the books of Maccabees were favorable to the Maccabees, portraying the conflict as a divinely sanctioned holy war and elevating the stature of Judas and his brothers to heroic levels. In comparison, Josephus did not want to offend Greek pagan readers of his work, and is ambivalent toward the Maccabees.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: The book of 1 Maccabees is considered mostly reliable, as it was seemingly written by an eyewitness early in the reign of the Hasmoneans, most likely during John Hyrcanus's reign. Its depictions of battles are detailed and seemingly accurate, although it portrays implausibly large numbers of Seleucid soldiers, to better emphasize God's aid and Judas's talents. The book also acts as Hasmonean dynasty propaganda in its editorial slant on events. The new rule of the Hasmoneans was not without its own internal enemies; the office of High Priest had been occupied for generations by a descendent of the High Priest Zadok. The Hasmoneans, while of the priestly line (Kohens), were seen by some as usurpers, did not descend from Zadok, and had taken the office originally only via a deal with a Seleucid king. As such, the book emphasizes that the Hasmoneans' actions were in line with heroes of older scripture; they were God's new chosen and righteous rulers. For example, it dismisses a defeat suffered by other commanders named Joseph and Azariah as because "they did not listen to Judas and his brothers. But they did not belong to the family of those men through whom deliverance was given to Israel."


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: 2 Maccabees is an abridgment by an unknown Egyptian Jew of a lost five-volume work by an author named Jason of Cyrene. It is a separate work from 1 Maccabees and not a continuation of it. 2 Maccabees has a more directly religious focus than 1 Maccabees, crediting God and divine intervention for events more prominently than 1 Maccabees; it also focuses personally on Judas rather than other Hasmoneans. It has a special focus on the Second Temple: the controversies over the position of High Priest, its pollution by Menelaus into a Greek-Jewish mix, its eventual cleansing, and the threats by Nicanor at the Temple. 2 Maccabees also represents an attempt to take the cause of the Maccabees outside Judea, as it encourages Egyptian Jews and other diaspora Jews to celebrate the cleansing of the temple (Hanukkah) and revere Judas Maccabeus. In general, 2 Maccabees portrays the prospects of peace and cooperation more positively than 1 Maccabees. In 1 Maccabees, the only way for the Jews to honorably make a deal with the Seleucids involved first defeating them militarily and attaining functional independence. In 2 Maccabees, intended for an audience of Egyptian Jews who still lived under Greek rule, peaceful coexistence was possible, but misunderstandings or troublemakers forced the Jews into defensive action.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: Josephus wrote over two centuries after the revolt, but his friendship with the Flavian dynasty Roman emperors meant he had access to resources undreamt of by other scholars. Josephus appears to have used 1 Maccabees as one of his main sources for his histories, but supplements it with knowledge of events of the Seleucid Empire from Greek histories as well as unknown other sources. Josephus seems to be familiar with the work of historians Polybius and Strabo, as well as the mostly lost works of Nicolaus of Damascus.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: The Book of Daniel appears to have been written during the early stages of the revolt around 165 BCE, and would eventually be included in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. While the setting of the book is 400 years earlier in Babylon, the book is a literary response to the situation in Judea during the revolt ("Sitz im Leben"); the writer chose to move the setting either for esoteric reasons or to evade scrutiny from would-be censors. It urges its readers to remain steadfast in the face of persecution. For example, Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar orders his court to eat the king's rich food; the prophet Daniel and his companions keep kosher and eat a diet of vegetables and water, yet emerge healthier than all the king's courtiers. The message is clear: defy Antiochus's decree and keep Jewish dietary law. Daniel predicts the king will go insane; Antiochus's title, "Epiphanes" ("Chosen of God"), was mocked by his enemies as "Epimanes" ("Madman"), and he was known to keep odd habits. When Daniel and the Jews are threatened with death, they face it calmly, and are saved in the end, a relevant message among Jewish opposition to Antiochus IV.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: The final chapters of the book of Daniel include apocalyptic visions of the future. One of the motives for the author was to give heart to devout Jews that their victory was foreseen by prophecy 400 years earlier. Daniel's final vision refers to Antiochus Epiphanes as the "king of the north" and describes his earlier actions, such as being repelled and humiliated by the Romans in his second campaign in Egypt, but also that the king of the north would "meet his end". Additionally, all those who had died under the king of the north would be revived, with those who suffered rewarded while those who had prospered would be subjected to shame and contempt. The main historical items taken away from Daniel is in its depiction of the king of the north desecrating the temple with an abomination of desolation, and stopping the tamid, the daily sacrifice at the Temple; these agree with the depictions in 1 and 2 Maccabees of the changes at the Second Temple.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: Other works appear to have at least been influenced by the Maccabean Revolt include the Book of Judith, the Testament of Moses, and parts of the Book of Enoch. The Book of Judith is a historical novel that describes Jewish resistance against an overwhelming military threat. While the parallels are not as stark as Daniel, some of its depictions of oppression seem influenced by Antiochus's persecution, such as General Holofernes demolishing shrines, cutting down sacred groves, and attempting to destroy all worship other than of the king. Judith, the story's heroine, also bears the feminine form of the name "Judas". The Testament of Moses, similar to the Book of Daniel, provides a witness to Jewish attitudes leading up to the revolt: it describes persecution, denounces impious leaders and priests as collaborators, praises the virtues of martyrdom, and predicts God's retribution upon the oppressors. The Testament is usually considered to have been written in the first century CE, but it is at least possible it was written much earlier, in the Maccabean or Hasmonean era, and then appended onto with first century CE updates. Even if it was entirely written in the first century CE, it was still likely influenced by the experience of Antiochus IV's reign. The Book of Enoch's early chapters were written around 300–200 BCE, but new sections were appended over time invoking the authority of Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. One section, the "Apocalypse of Weeks", is hypothesized to have been written around 167 BCE, just after Antiochus's persecution began. Similar to Daniel, after the Apocalypse of Weeks recounts world history up to the point of the persecution, it predicts that the righteous will eventually triumph, and encourages resistance. Another section of Enoch, the "Book of Dreams", was likely written after the Revolt had at least partially succeeded; it portrays the events of the revolt in the form of prophetic dream visions.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: A more uncertain work that has nevertheless attracted much interest is the Qumran Habakkuk Commentary, part of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Qumran religious community was not on good terms with the Hasmonean religious establishment in Jerusalem, and is believed to have favored the Zadokite line of succession to the High Priesthood. The commentary ("pesher") describes a situation wherein a "Righteous Teacher" is unfairly driven from their post and into exile by a "Wicked Priest" and a "Man of the Lie" (possibly the same person). Many figures have been proposed as the identity of the people behind these titles; one theory goes that the Righteous Teacher was whoever held the High Priest position after Alcimus's death in 159 BCE, perhaps a Zadokite. If this person even existed, they lost their position after Jonathan Apphus, backed by his Maccabee army and his new alliance with Seleucid royal claimant Alexander Balas, took over the High Priest position in 152 BCE. Thus, the Wicked Priest would be Jonathan, and the Qumran community of the era would have consisted of religious opposition to the Hasmonean takeover: the first Essenes. The date of the work is unknown, and others scholars have proposed different candidates as possible identities of the Wicked Priest, so the identification with Jonathan is only a possibility, yet an intriguing and plausible one.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: In the First and Second Books of the Maccabees, the Maccabean Revolt is described as a collective response to cultural oppression and national resistance to a foreign power. Written after the revolt was complete, the books urged unity among the Jews; they describe little of the Hellenizing faction other than to call them lawless and corrupt, and downplay their relevance and power in the conflict. While many scholars still accept this basic framework, that the Hellenists were weak and dependent on Seleucid aid to hold influence, this view has since been challenged. In the revisionist view, the heroes and villains were both Jews: a majority of the Jews cautiously supported Hellenizing High Priest Menelaus; Antiochus IV's edicts only came about due to pressure from Hellenist Jews; and the revolt was best understood as a civil war between traditionalist Jews in the countryside and Hellenized Jews in the cities, with only occasional Seleucid intervention. Elias Bickerman is generally credited as popularizing this alternative viewpoint in 1937, and other historians such as Martin Hengel have continued the argument. For example, Josephus's account directly blames Menelaus for convincing Antiochus IV to issue his anti-Jewish decrees. Alcimus, Menelaus's replacement as High Priest, is blamed for instigating a massacre of devout Jews in 1 Maccabees, rather than the Seleucids directly. The Maccabees themselves fight and exile Hellenists as well, most clearly in the final expulsion from the Acra, but also in the earlier countryside struggles against the Tobiad clan of Hellenist-friendly Jews.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: In general, scholarly opinion is that Hellenistic historians were biased, but also that the bias did not result in excessive distortion or fabrication of facts, and they are mostly reliable sources once the bias is removed. There exist revisionist scholars who are inclined to discount the reliability of the primary histories more aggressively, however. Daniel R. Schwartz argues that Antiochus IV's initial attacks on Jerusalem from 168–167 BCE were not out of pure malice, as 1 Maccabees depicts, or a misunderstanding as 2 Maccabees depicts (and most scholars accept), but rather suppressing an authentic rebellion whose members were lost to history, as the Hasmoneans wished to show only themselves as capable of bringing victory. Sylvie Honigman argues that the depictions of Seleucid religious oppression are misleading and likely false. She advances the view that the loss of civil rights by the Jews in 168 BCE was an administrative punishment in the aftermath of local unrest over increased taxes; that the struggle was fundamentally economic, and merely interpreted as religiously driven in retrospect. She also argues against that the moralistic slant of the sources mean that their depictions of impious acts by Hellenists cannot be trusted as historical. For example, the claim that Menelaus stole temple vessels to pay the bribe is merely slander aimed at delegitimizing opponents. John Ma argues that the Temple was restored in 164 BCE upon petition by Menelaus to Antiochus, not liberated and rededicated by the Maccabees. These views have attracted partial support, but have not become a new consensus themselves. Modern defenders of more direct readings of the sources cite that evidence of such an unrecorded popular rebellion is thin-to-nonexistent. Assuming that Antiochus IV would not have started an ethno-religious persecution for irrational reasons is an ahistorical position in this criticism, as many leaders both ancient and modern clearly were motivated by religious concerns.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: Later scholars and archaeologists have found and preserved various artifacts from the time period and analyzed them, which have informed historians on the plausibility of various elements in the books. For recent examples, a stele was discovered and deciphered in 2007 that dated from around 178 BCE, and gives insight to Seleucid government appointments and policy in the era immediately preceding the revolt. The Givati Parking Lot dig in Jerusalem from 2007–2015 has found possible evidence of the Acra; it might resolve a seeming contradiction between Josephus's account of the Acra's fate (he claimed it was torn down) and 1 Maccabees's account (it was merely occupied) in favor of the 1 Maccabees version.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: The Jewish festival of Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Temple following Judas Maccabeus's victory over the Seleucids. According to rabbinic tradition, the victorious Maccabees could only find a small jug of oil that had remained pure and uncontaminated by virtue of a seal, and although it only contained enough oil to sustain the Menorah for one day, it miraculously lasted for eight days, by which time further oil had been procured. During the era of the Hasmonean kingdom, Hanukkah was observed prominently; it acted as a "Hasmonean Independence Day" to commemorate the success of the revolt and the legitimacy of the Hasmonean rulers. Diaspora Jews celebrated it as well, fostering a sense of Jewish collective identity: it was a liberation day for all Jews, not merely Judean Jews. As a result, Hanukkah outlasted Hasmonean rule, although its importance receded as time passed. Hanukkah would gain new prominence in the 20th century and rekindle interest in its origins in the Maccabees.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: The Jewish victory at the Battle of Adasa led to an annual festival as well, albeit one less prominent and remembered than Hanukkah. The defeat of Seleucid general Nicanor is celebrated on 13 Adar as "Yom Nicanor".


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: The traumatic time period helped define the genre of the apocalypse and heightened Jewish apocalypticism. The portrayal of an evil tyrant like Antiochus IV attacking the holy city of Jerusalem in the Book of Daniel became a common theme during later Roman rule of Judea, and would contribute to Christian conceptions of the Antichrist.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: The persecution of the Jews under Antiochus, and the Maccabees response, would influence and create new trends in Jewish strains of thought with regard to divine rewards and punishments. In earlier Jewish works, devotion to God and adherence to the law led to rewards and punishments in life: the observant would prosper, and disobedience would result in disaster. The persecution of Antiochus IV directly contradicted this teaching: for the first time, Jews were suffering precisely because they refused to violate Jewish law, and thus the most devout and observant Jews were the ones suffering the most. This resulted in literature suggesting that those who suffered in their earthly life would be rewarded afterward, such as the Book of Daniel describing a future resurrection of the dead, or 2 Maccabees describing in detail the martyrdom of a woman and her seven sons under Antiochus, but who would be rewarded after their deaths.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: As a victory of the "few over the many", the revolt served as inspiration for future Jewish resistance movements, such as the Zealots. The most famous of these later revolts are the First Jewish–Roman War in 66–73 CE (also called the "Great Revolt") and the Bar Kochba revolt from 132–136 CE. After the failure of these revolts, Jewish interpretation of the Maccabean Revolt became more spiritual; it instead focused on stories of Hanukkah and God's miracle of the oil, rather than practical plans for an independent Jewish polity backed by armed might. The Maccabees were also discussed less as time went on; they appear only rarely in the mishnah, the writings of the Tannaim, after these Jewish defeats. Rabbinical displeasure with the later rule of the Hasmoneans after the revolt also contributed to this; even when stories were explicitly set during the Maccabean period, references to Judas by name were explicitly removed to avoid hero-worship of the Hasmonean line. The books of Maccabees were downplayed and relegated to secondary canon status in the Jewish tradition and excluded from the Jewish Bible; it would be Christians who would produce more art and literature referencing the Maccabees during the medieval era, as the books of Maccabees were included in the Catholic and Orthodox Biblical canon. Medieval Christians during the Carolingian era esteemed the Maccabees as early examples of chivalry and knighthood, and the Maccabees were invoked in the later Middle Ages as holy warriors to emulate during the Crusades. In the 14th century, Judas Maccabeus was included in the Nine Worthies, medieval exemplars of chivalry for knights to model their conduct on.


title: Maccabean Revolt

text: The Jewish downplaying of the Maccabees would be challenged centuries later in the 19th century and early 20th century, as Jewish writers and artists held up the Maccabees as examples of independence and victory. Proponents of Jewish nationalism of that era saw past events, such as the Maccabees, as a hopeful suggestion to what was possible, influencing the nascent Zionist movement. A British Zionist organization formed in 1896 is named the Order of Ancient Maccabeans, and the Jewish sporting organization Maccabi World Union names itself after them. The revolt is featured in plays of the playwrights , , and Moshe Shamir. Various organizations in the modern state of Israel name themselves after the Maccabees and the Hasmoneans or otherwise honor them.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Jonathan Anthony Wisniski (born September 20, 1951) is a retired American professional wrestler, better known as Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. He is the son of wrestler Johnny Valentine.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Over five decades, Valentine held more than 40 championships, including the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship, WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship, NWA World Tag Team Championship, and WWF World Tag Team Championship. An alumnus of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2004 and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2016.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Born in Seattle, Washington, Wisniski traveled around Texas in his teens with his father; Johnny Valentine. During a summer vacation, he decided to drop out of college and become a wrestler. His father initially tried to deter him, but eventually ceded to his wishes and sent him to Canada in 1970 to train under Stu Hart in Calgary.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Wisniski was trained to wrestle by Stu Hart, wrestling his debut match in July 1970 against Angelo "King Kong" Mosca (he lost in around five minutes). Six months later, Wisniski relocated to Detroit to complete his training under the Sheik.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Initially reluctant to take his father's ring name, Wisniski wrestled as Baby Face Nelson before becoming Johnny Fargo, one half of the Fargo Brothers with Don Fargo between 1971 and 1974. The Fargo Brothers initially competed in the Buffalo and Cleveland based National Wrestling Federation before moving on to Texas. They split in 1974 and Wisniski went to Florida, where he began performing as Johnny Valentine Jr., hopeful that he could live up to his father's legacy. He later changed his ring name to Greg "the Hammer" Valentine, and was billed as Johnny Valentine's brother, not his son, because of fears that the elder Valentine would be thought of as too old to be a legitimate threat. Valentine remained in Florida for a year while also working in Los Angeles and in Japan under Antonio Inoki in 1975 and early 1976.


title: Greg Valentine

text: In August 1976, Valentine debuted in Jim Crockett Jr. and George Scott's Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, an affiliate of the National Wrestling Alliance based in the Carolinas and Virginias. Valentine was hired to replace his father, who had been forced to retire after he broke his back in a plane crash in 1975. He immediately began feuding with Johnny Weaver, who he "retired" with a top rope elbow drop. Valentine's elbow drop was promoted as a deadly move, with tapes of him breaking wooden boards with his elbow shown to the audiences before his debut.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Valentine then formed a tag team with Ric Flair, with whom he twice won the NWA World tag team title and held the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship (between June 30 and August 22, 1977). They first defeated Gene and Ole Anderson on December 26, 1976 (who nine years later would become in storyline Flair's "cousins") in Greensboro, injuring Gene so badly that he had to be stretchered out. They held the titles until May 8, 1977, when the Andersons defeated them in a steel cage match in the old Charlotte Coliseum.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Flair and Valentine regained the tag titles from the Andersons on October 30, this time leaving Ole unable to leave under his own power. The team split after they were stripped of the titles in April 1978 by NWA president Eddie Graham as a result of their "unprofessional conduct". Flair then set his sights on the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, while Valentine held the NWA World Tag Team Championships once more with Baron von Raschke in 1978.


title: Greg Valentine

text: At the same time, Valentine feuded with Chief Wahoo McDaniel over the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship. Wahoo had cost Valentine and Flair their first tag team championships (Wahoo, the then-nemesis of Flair, had been the special referee in the steel cage match), so Valentine was eager for revenge. On June 11, 1977 in Raleigh he defeated Wahoo, breaking his leg in the process. Though Wahoo's legs were too thick for Valentine to apply his signature Figure Four leglock, he managed to break Wahoo's ankle using a leg/ankle suplex. The heel Valentine then began wearing a T-shirt with the slogan ""I broke Wahoo's leg"" on the front and ""No more Wahoo"" on the back. Wahoo returned on August 9, 1977 and took back the title. Valentine would hold the title once more, defeating Wahoo again on September 10 and losing to Ken Patera on April 9, 1978.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Valentine began working on a casual basis for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), then owned by Vincent J. McMahon, in November 1978. Managed by The Grand Wizard, he was given the gimmick of a methodical wrestler who broke the legs of all his opponents, including Chief Jay Strongbow. In February 1979, he wrestled then WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund to a one-hour time-limit draw at Madison Square Garden.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Valentine returned to the NWA in late 1979 and asked Flair to reform their tag team. Flair, by then a face, declined. Valentine held the NWA World Tag Team Championship once more with Ray Stevens in 1980. Four days after their victory, the promoter, David Crockett told Valentine and Stevens that he possessed film which proved that the illegal man had been pinned in the tag match, nullifying the win. When Crockett threatened to send the film to NWA president Bob Geigel who said he would overturn their victory, Stevens and Valentine attacked him and cut the film up with a pocketknife, destroying the evidence.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Valentine later claimed to have "seen the light", and re-formed his team with Flair, who believed that Valentine was now a face. In a tag match against Jimmy Snuka and the Iron Sheik, Valentine abandoned Flair, leaving him outnumbered. Flair was beaten, and then Valentine snapped Gene Anderson's hickory cane over Flair's head, legitimately breaking his nose and splitting his lips. The former partners began feuding over Flair's NWA United States Heavyweight Championship, with Valentine finally defeating Flair for the title on July 26 in Flair's adopted hometown of Charlotte. He held the title until November 24, when he was beaten by Flair; Flair became one of Valentine's main opponents in the Mid-Atlantic territory.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Valentine returned to the WWF, now known as the World Wrestling Federation, for a year in 1981 and continued to pursue the title. On October 19, he was pinned by Backlund, but then handed the title belt by the dazed referee. The title was held up, and Backlund defeated Valentine cleanly in the November 23 rematch. In January 1982, Valentine met Backlund yet again, this time in a steel cage, for the WWF Heavyweight Championship at the Philadelphia Spectrum, which Backlund won.


title: Greg Valentine

text: He also feuded with Pedro Morales over the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship, who he "injured" by suplexing him on the concrete floor of the arena. Valentine was not successful in winning this title either, and in mid-1982 left the promotion.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Valentine would hold the United States Championship twice more, renewing his feud with Wahoo in 1982 and defeating him for the title on November 4 with the assistance of his manager, Sir Oliver Humperdink. Roddy Piper began pursuing the title, and, after Piper gave Valentine a cake with a dog collar inside, the two had a series of brutal dog collar matches, most notably at Starrcade 1983, where Piper pinned Valentine in a non-title match after repeatedly whipping him with the steel chain. The feud was intensified by Valentine's propensity to focus on Piper's ear, which had been injured earlier in his career and would bleed easily. Piper would eventually defeat Valentine on April 16, 1983, but Valentine regained the title on April 30 in Greensboro, NC; after the match, where he regained the US Title from Piper, Valentine hit Piper in the ear with US Title. He dropped the title to Dick Slater on December 14, just before leaving them for the World Wrestling Federation.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Valentine went back to the WWF in 1984, predicting that Vince McMahon's plan for national expansion would succeed. His first manager was Captain Lou Albano, and he was later managed by Jimmy Hart.


title: Greg Valentine

text: On September 24, 1984 in London, Ontario Valentine defeated Tito Santana for the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship, focusing on Santana's injured knee throughout the match. Santana initially thought he had the match won, but had in fact only achieved a two-count. As Santana was celebrating, Valentine rolled him up for the pin and the title. Following the win, Valentine put Santana in the figure four leglock, reinjuring him. While Santana was sidelined having leg surgery, Valentine feuded with the Junkyard Dog, who he faced in an Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship Title match at the very first WrestleMania held in Madison Square Garden. Valentine pinned the JYD after using the ropes, but Santana came to ringside and informed the referee, who restarted the match. Valentine then walked out, losing the match by count-out but saving his title. Santana eventually healed and fought Valentine in many matches. He went on to win the title back on July 6, 1985 in a steel cage match in Baltimore, ending Valentine's 285-day reign, the fifth-longest in Intercontinental title history. Valentine, incensed over losing the championship belt, destroyed it in the steel cage, forcing the WWF to get a new Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship belt (in reality, this was pre-planned as the WWF already had a newer, more modern Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship belt made and destroying the old title belt was seen as the perfect way to introduce the new one).


title: Greg Valentine

text: Valentine would then form a tag team with Brutus Beefcake known as The Dream Team, managed by Luscious Johnny V. Initially the team was managed by both Jimmy Hart and Johnny V, but the WWF dropped Hart from the group and he went on to manage The Hart Foundation (Bret "Hitman" Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart). On August 24, 1985 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, the Dream Team defeated The U.S. Express (Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo) for the WWF Tag Team Championship when Beefcake (kayfabe) rubbed Johnny V's lit cigar in Windham's eyes allowing him to be pinned. They held the titles until April 7, 1986 when they were defeated at WrestleMania 2 by The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid). At WrestleMania III, The Dream Team defeated The Rougeau Brothers (Jacques and Raymond) as a result of interference by Johnny V and Dino Bravo. Upset because of a missed move by Beefcake during the match, Valentine left with Bravo and abandoned Beefcake, resulting in Brutus turning face later on in the night.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Replacing Beefcake with Dino Bravo, Valentine formed The New Dream Team. Valentine was unhappy about teaming with Bravo, who he felt he had little chemistry with. After the WWF asked him to "kidnap" Matilda, the bulldog mascot of The British Bulldogs, Valentine resigned. He was brought back soon after, with Jimmy Hart again as his new manager (while the "kidnap" angle was reassigned to The Islanders) but was used in a much diminished role between 1987 and 1990.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Valentine was entered in the WWF World Heavyweight Championship tournament at WrestleMania IV, where he defeated Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat in the first round before losing to "Macho Man" Randy Savage, the eventual winner of the tournament, in the quarter-finals.


title: Greg Valentine

text: In May 1988, Jimmy Hart fitted Valentine's left shin with a shin guard, citing a mysterious injury to his wrestler, and proclaiming the shin guard as Valentine's "road to the gold."


title: Greg Valentine

text: Later in 1988, Valentine feuded with "The Rock" Don Muraco, who had turned face a year earlier. The feud was triggered when Valentine viciously attacked Muraco's manager, former WWF Heavyweight Champion Superstar Billy Graham. Graham, walking with a cane, tried to intervene when Valentine held the figure-four leglock on jobber Ricky Ataki, after already winning the match. Valentine then put the figure-four leglock on Graham, who had a plastic hip. The feud was abruptly halted when Muraco was dismissed by the WWF, despite Valentine's pleas for Muraco not to be fired so that the promising program could be allowed to run. (Kayfabe magazine "Inside Wrestling" had run a story on the feud, conversely claiming that it was Muraco, yearning to personally avenge Graham's injuries, who had begged the WWF not to dismiss Valentine).


title: Greg Valentine

text: In April 1989 he began feuding with "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin. Two weeks after WrestleMania V (where he teamed with the Jimmy Hart managed Honky Tonk Man in a loss to the now babyface Hart Foundation), he defeated Garvin in a retirement match on "Superstars of Wrestling" by reversing a small package and holding on to the ropes. Garvin became a referee until Valentine and Hart managed to have him fired. Garvin then became a ring announcer, and began aggravating Valentine. At "SummerSlam 1989", for his match with Hercules, Garvin announced Valentine as being Hercules' "so-called opponent" and at 249 lbs looking to Garvin like he was "overweight by thirty pounds" as he approached the ring. Other insults by Garvin during the introduction included Valentine not knowing whether he was "coming or going" and being the only wrestler Garvin knew who had "two left feet" and that he had a "pipsqueak, poor excuse for a manager". Following the match, Garvin then announced Hercules as the winner when Valentine cheated to win, despite the referee declaring Valentine the winner. Valentine knocked Garvin out of the ring before having a further punching match with Hercules while Garvin climbed back in the ring and nailed Valentine. Valentine and Jimmy Hart eventually demanded that Garvin be reinstated so that they could fight in the ring.


title: Greg Valentine

text: For some time Valentine had been wearing a shin guard, which he would rotate (so it covered his calf, not his shin) in order to increase the pressure exerted by the Figure Four Leglock. He referred to the shin guard as the "Heartbreaker". Valentine would also (illegally) attach the shin guard to his arm in order to accentuate his elbow drops. In the course of the feud, Garvin countered with a rotated shin guard of his own, which he dubbed "the Hammer Jammer". The feud culminated in a submission match at the 1990 Royal Rumble. Garvin utilized the "Hammer Jammer" during the match, using it to "counter" Valentine's figure-four leglock when Valentine applied it on Garvin during the match (rather than writhing in pain as normal during the hold, Garvin was smiling and making faces at Valentine). Jimmy Hart managed to remove the "Hammer Jammer" from Garvin's leg, after which Valentine systematically wore down Garvin's leg, but eventually lost after Garvin hit him with the Heartbreaker and applied a sharpshooter, forcing Valentine to submit.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Shortly after, Valentine formed a tag team with The Honky Tonk Man. For around eight months Valentine resisted dying his hair black (an idea of Jesse "The Body" Ventura) but eventually relented and the team became known as Rhythm and Blues and were managed by Jimmy Hart. Rhythm and Blues feuded with The Bushwhackers (Butch and Luke) and The Hart Foundation, but were overshadowed by the Legion Of Doom (Animal and Hawk), who were by then dominating the tag division. Famously during the time of Rhythm and Blues, WWF announcer Gorilla Monsoon would proclaim every time Valentine got on the microphone and sang (while also attempting to play a guitar) that "if you hung The Hammer for being a good singer you would hang an innocent person".


title: Greg Valentine

text: In mid December his partner The Honky Tonk Man departed the World Wrestling Federation. An angle was recorded on December 28, 1990 at Madison Square Garden where he was defeated by Saba Simba after accidentally being hit by Jimmy Hart's guitar; afterwards he almost attacked his manager and began to be cheered by the fans. On January 7, 1991 the angle was furthered. In a match that saw Davey Boy Smith defeat Dino Bravo, Valentine was again accidentally hit by Jimmy Hart's megaphone. This time Valentine attacked Jimmy Hart and turned face. However, Valentine abruptly departed the company and along with the Honky Tonk Man's aforementioned departure from the WWF this effectively cancelled the planned feud with Valentine.


title: Greg Valentine

text: On January 19, 1991, Valentine participated in the fourth annual Royal Rumble match. He lasted forty four minutes. He continued to wrestle face opponents in his first month back. On the February 17, 1991 edition of "Wrestling Challenge", the WWF aired footage from the incident with Jimmy Hart at Madison Square Garden at the end of 1990. This began the televised process of his face turn. Valentine lost to the Jimmy Hart managed Earthquake at WrestleMania VII, and was defeated again at SummerSlam 1991 by Irwin R. Schyster. He participated in the 1992 Royal Rumble for the vacated WWF Championship, where he attacked his old rival Ric Flair before being eliminated by the Repo Man. Later that month he finished his run with the company, defeating Skinner at a house show on January 25, 1992 in Chicago, Illinois.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Herb Abrams had aggressive plans for his Universal Wrestling Federation, announcing the signings of name wrestlers such as Andre the Giant, Steve Williams, The Killer Bees, and Bob Orton. Added to this list was Greg Valentine, who joined the company on January 9, 1991. He made his debut that night at a television taping in the Penta Hotel in New York City, defeating Sonny Blaze. He later defeated Mike Durham at the same taping, and was interviewed by Albano, his former WWF manager in the "Captain Lou's Corner" segment on UWF television. However his stay in the UWF was technically only for that TV taping; as with Andre the Giant, Vince McMahon responded to Abram's announcement by luring Greg Valentine back to the WWF. In an interview in 2000, Valentine stated that Abrams retaliated by withholding payment for his appearances in the UWF.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Conscious of his diminishing status, Valentine left the WWF and signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1992. He made his debut on February 4, 1992 at a house show in Norfolk, Virginia. Teaming with Terry Taylor, the duo defeated Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Tom Zenk. On February 15, 1992 he made his debut on television. Two weeks later, he teamed again with Terry Taylor to defeat Ron Simmons and Big Josh to win the WCW United States Tag Team Championship. Throughout the spring the duo successfully defended the belts against Zenk and Bagwell on various house shows. On May 17, 1992 at WrestleWar 92 they lost the titles to The Freebirds. At Beach Blast, Valentine pinned Marcus Bagwell. In July, he became involved in an angle with Dusty Rhodes and Dustin Rhodes where he confronted the father/son duo on "WCW Worldwide". Both Rhodes attacked Valentine, only to then be retaliated upon by Dick Slater and The Barbarian.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Valentine faced Dustin Rhodes on multiple house shows that summer and was winless. While in this series, Valentine also began to regularly team with Dick Slater. The duo wrestled The Freebirds and Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes. On Clash of the Champions XX, Bobby Eaton & Arn Anderson defeated Slater and Valentine in a rare heel vs heel match. In September 1992 Valentine engaged in a house show feud with Van Hammer and was undefeated. In the fall he continued to team with Slater in matches against The Steiner Brothers. On television, Valentine's fortunes continued to wane. On the October 11, 1992 edition of "WCW Pro" he was defeated by Shane Douglas. On the October 19, 1992 taping of "WCW Saturday Night" he arrived to learn that he was to lose to Sting on that night's taping. In addition he was not scheduled to be booked at any upcoming events, and Valentine resigned from the promotion.


title: Greg Valentine

text: He reappeared in the WWF at the 1993 Survivor Series under a mask as The Blue Knight in an elimination match pitting Shawn Michaels (who was substituting for Jerry Lawler) and his three "knights" (who also included Barry Horowitz as the Red Knight and Jeff Gaylord as the Black Knight) against the Hart Family. He would return again, as Greg Valentine, at the 1994 Royal Rumble, lasting over twenty minutes before being eliminated by Rick Martel. That summer Valentine would wrestle three times on a July house show tour, facing Bob Backlund on each occasion.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Valentine went on to tour the independent circuit, wrestling in Japan, with the Hamilton based International Championship Wrestling promotion and with the American Wrestling Federation.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Starting in the summer of 1996, Valentine made several appearances with WCW over the course of the next two years. He was used on a pay-per-appearance basis, but was rarely utilized and was allowed to continue wrestling on the independent circuit. On July 1, 1996, Valentine faced Randy Savage on "WCW Monday Nitro" in Landover, Maryland. Valentine was used primarily on television, facing The Giant, Harlem Heat, and Lex Luger. The following year he was used sparingly as well, again on television but had a 6–2 record, defeating Mike Enos, Bobby Eaton, and Billy Kidman. Valentine wrestled four times for the promotion in 1998 and was 3–1. He finished his WCW run with a victory over Pat Tanaka on February 17, 1998.


title: Greg Valentine

text: On October 10, 1999 he appeared on the infamous Heroes of Wrestling pay-per-view, pinning George "The Animal" Steele with the assistance of Sherri Martel. He wrestled on the 2000 tour of the United Kingdom in which Yokozuna died. He was also involved with the short-lived X Wrestling Federation as an investor and as an in-ring performer. In the 2000s, he began reducing his independent dates in order to pursue a career in real estate.


title: Greg Valentine

text: On March 13, 2004, Valentine was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004 by his former manager Jimmy Hart. The following night, at WrestleMania XX at Madison Square Garden, Valentine received loud applause when the class of 2004 was introduced. Shortly after being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, Valentine dedicated the plaque he received to his late father by saying: "This one's for you pop, Johnny Valentine".


title: Greg Valentine

text: On January 29, 2005 at "WrestleReunion", Valentine won a seventeen-man battle royal to become the IWA Heavyweight Champion. He lost the title to Tito Santana at "WrestleReunion #2" on August 27 of that year. Valentine also wrestled for several independent promotions, including AWA Superstars of Wrestling, which toured New England. In AWA Superstars of Wrestling, Valentine regularly wrestled Tony Atlas.


title: Greg Valentine

text: On October 3, 2005, Valentine made an appearance at WWE Homecoming, and on October 23 he was defeated by Rob Conway (then using a gimmick similar to that of Randy Orton's gimmick of "the legend killer") on an episode of WWE Heat after Eugene interfered on his behalf, causing the referee to award a victory via disqualification to Conway.


title: Greg Valentine

text: In May 2007, Valentine defeated Quinson Valentino to win the Canadian Grand-Prix Wrestling Championship in Morrisburg, Ontario. On August 24, 2007, Valentine returned to Ontario to defend the CGPW Championship against Koko B. Ware in Cornwall, after Koko defeated Valentine in a non-title match, on the previous night, in Ottawa. Valentine was successful in defeating Koko in Cornwall, though the title was vacated due to inactivity.


title: Greg Valentine

text: In late 2007, Valentine made an appearance in JCW or Juggalo Championship Wrestling reforming the Dream Team with Brutus Beefcake. in an 8 team elimination match for the then vacant JCW Tag-Team Titles. Where they were the first team to be eliminated after a slightly botched sunset flip from Necro Butcher.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Valentine was present at the retirement ceremony of his long-time friend, Ric Flair, on the March 31, 2008 episode of "WWE Raw".


title: Greg Valentine

text: On January 29, 2011, Valentine was inducted into the Legends Pro Wrestling "Hall of Fame" by Jack Blaze in Wheeling, West Virginia, at their annual "LPW Over The Edge" event. Valentine competed in two matches during 2018, both being tag team matches.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Greg married Julie on February 14, 1995. He had two daughters, Vanessa and Romaine, with his first wife, who once appeared on WWF TV in 1984 to give Valentine a back rub, which he claimed was the secret of his success. Vanessa began training with the Hart Brothers in the late 1990s. Vanessa died of cancer in 2014. He is a born again Christian and occasionally speaks at high schools and colleges with Ted DiBiase. He is also a part of Christian wrestling organization, World Impact Wrestling. He is the brother-in-law of wrestler Brian Knobbs.


title: Greg Valentine

text: Valentine has appeared on an episode of "Hogan Knows Best" as one of Hulk's party guests. He also co-starred in Fuse's "Insane Clown Posse Theater" along with Insane Clown Posse members Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope. The cast was rounded out with Michelle "Sugar Slam" Rapp, Kevin Gill, and Vampiro. Valentine played an usher who ejected guests from the theater when their time is up on the show.


title: Greg Valentine

text: He appeared as a playable character on "Legends of Wrestling", "Legends of Wrestling II", "WWE Day of Reckoning", "" and "WWE Legends of WrestleMania". He was also downloadable content in "WWE 2K17" and also appears in "WWE 2K18" along with Brutus Beefcake as The Dream Team. He also appears in "WWE 2K19".


title: Greg Valentine

text: In 2008 Valentine co-starred with George "The Animal" Steele in a short film entitled "Somethin Fishy", in which the two former wrestlers purchase a fishing camp. The film served as the pilot for a comedy series that was not developed further.


title: Greg Valentine

text: British wrestler Steve Crabtree (the son of promoter Max Crabtree and nephew of headline star Big Daddy) was billed as "Greg Valentine" while wrestling for Joint Promotions in the 1980s. His brother Spencer also wrestled as "Scott Valentine".


title: Miss Trunchbull

text: Agatha Trunchbull, also known as Miss Trunchbull or simply The Trunchbull, the fictional headmistress of Crunchem Hall Primary School (or Elementary School), is the main antagonist in Roald Dahl’s 1988 novel "Matilda" and its spinoffs: the 1996 film "Matilda" (played by Pam Ferris), the 2011 musical "Matilda" (played by Bertie Carvel) and the 2022 film "Matilda the Musical" (played by Emma Thompson). She is said to look "more like a rather eccentric and bloodthirsty follower of the stag-hounds than the headmistress of a nice school for children".


title: Miss Trunchbull

text: Miss Trunchbull is depicted as an unwholesome role model, a fierce tyrannical monster who "frightened the life out of pupils and teachers alike", notorious for her cruel and wildly idiosyncratic discipline: trivial misdeeds (including simply wearing pigtails) incurring punishments up to potentially-fatal physical discipline.


title: Miss Trunchbull

text: Miss Trunchbull's contempt for children is so great that she denies ever having been a child herself aside from one instance in the novel where she claims she was not a child for very long and became a woman very quickly. After finishing high school, she competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics.


title: Miss Trunchbull

text: Miss Trunchbull is the maternal aunt of Jennifer Honey. Miss Trunchbull served as Jennifer's childhood guardian after the passing of her parents. It's strongly implied that Agatha murdered Magnus Honey, Jennifer's father, and made it appear as a suicide. Miss Trunchbull blames Miss Honey for her sister's death. Agatha then became the legal owner of the Honey estate and Jennifer's legal guardian. Jennifer's exposure as a little girl to Agatha's abuse rendered her soft-spoken and timid. Jennifer admits she became Agatha's slave, doing the chores and housework. Once Jennifer graduated from school and teachers' training college, Agatha seized hold of Jennifer's salary.


title: Miss Trunchbull

text: Out of adoration for her schoolteacher, Matilda uses her telekinetic abilities to drive Agatha from her own house one day by posing as Magnus' spirit and levitating a chalk stick to scrawl a message on the board. Terrified, Miss Trunchbull subsequently vanishes and gives back her house to her niece, after which Miss Honey becomes the new headmistress.


title: Miss Trunchbull

text: It is revealed that Miss Trunchbull is very superstitious and has an intense fear of ghosts, black cats, and the supernatural in general. Her fear is later used as a weakness for Matilda to scare her thus teaching Miss Trunchbull a lesson.


title: Miss Trunchbull

text: Miss Trunchbull was a past shot putter, hammer, and javelin thrower in the Munich Olympics. She often throws children and uses a crop to scare children as punishment, which often ends in accidents or injuries. She is brutal to all children and also made a boy (Bruce Bogtrotter) eat a colossal chocolate cake as punishment for apparently eating a piece of her own chocolate cake only to make the children rewrite the dictionary by hand and blame Bruce for eating the whole cake in the first place.


title: Miss Trunchbull

text: As children, Roald Dahl and his friends played a trick on the local sweet-shop owner—a "mean and loathsome" old woman named Mrs Pratchett—by putting a dead mouse in a gobstopper jar. This would inspire Dahl to include a scene in "Matilda" where Matilda's friend Lavender puts a newt into Miss Trunchbull's water jug.


title: Miss Trunchbull

text: Miss Trunchbull is portrayed by Pam Ferris in the 1996 film, and by Bertie Carvel in the musical, later replaced by former "Two of a Kind" and "Shrek The Musical" star Christopher Sieber. Emma Thompson plays the role in the 2022 film adaptation of the musical.


title: Miss Trunchbull

text: Miriam Margolyes confirmed that she auditioned for the role (before Ferris was cast) during a filmed interview with Jo Brand for the UK television special "Roald Dahl's Revolting Rule Book" which was hosted by Richard E. Grant and aired on September 22, 2007. This documentary commemorated Dahl's 90th birthday and also celebrated his impact as a children's author in popular culture.


title: The Hex Girls

text: The Hex Girls are a fictional female eco-goth-rock band created by writers Rick Copp and David A. Goodman, and portrayed by actresses and singer-songwriters Jennifer Hale (as lead singer and guitarist Thorn, real name Sally McKnight), Jane Wiedlin (as drummer and back-up singer Dusk) and Kimberly Brooks (as keyboardist and back-up singer Luna). Hale, Wiedlin and Brooks write and perform original songs for the band.


title: The Hex Girls

text: The band first appeared in "Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost", and reappeared in "Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire", "What's New, Scooby-Doo?", "Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated" and "Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?". The subsequent cult classic success of "Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost" has been attributed to the presence of the Hex Girls, with the characters being seen as queer culture and girl-power icons. The continuing appeal of the band over two decades has been demonstrated in 2021 by the release of a set of Funko Pop Vinyl figures.


title: The Hex Girls

text: In "Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost", the Hex Girls are first introduced as potential suspects of the mystery that is going on in their hometown, Oakhaven, Salem, Massachusetts. After seeing them perform, the gang decides to follow them and see if they have anything to do with the mystery they are trying to unveil. Fred and Daphne even suspect that they are real witches, after seeing Thorn performing a strange ritual. Later, it is revealed that what they had in fact seen was a mere trick that Thorn had come up with to soothe their vocal cords, and they even explain that they are actually eco-goths, and Thorn is actually a Wiccan. They accompany the rest of the group in the search for Sarah Ravencroft's diary, ultimately revealed to be an actual witch's grimoire, and later on, Thorn is the one who is able to trap her and Ben back in the book, by using it to cast a spell on them due to her biological Wiccan heritage. To pay for the damage caused in the battle, the Hex Girls, along with Scooby and the gang perform for the town's folks. In the film they sing two songs called "I'm a Hex Girl" and "Earth, Wind, Fire and Air."


title: The Hex Girls

text: In "Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire", Scooby and the gang find out that Thorn, Luna, and Dusk, now successful as the Hex Girls, are to open the Vampire Rock Music Festival in Australia. When they are about to start to sing their act, they are kidnapped by Yowie Yahoo's vampire minions, which leads the gang to look for them, while trying to solve the mystery regarding Vampire Rock. It is later revealed that they had been offered by rival band Wildwind a free scuba diving tour in the Great Barrier Reef, if they quit from the festival, to which they refused, to which in return Wildwind refused to stop the kidnapping when given the opportunity. The Hex Girls are eventually able to come back to the place where the festival is being held, just in time to see Mystery Inc. solve the mystery, also join Scooby and the gang in their own performance as "The Meddlin' Kids," alongside their new song "We Do Voodoo."


title: The Hex Girls

text: In "Scoob!", during the arcade chase sequence, a Hex Girls concert poster can be seen immediately to the right of the arcade's entrance, with a Hex Girls pinball game additionally present among the various pinball machines on the right wall.