The Book of 2 Maccabees
2 Maccabees was written in Greek, likely by an anonymous Hellenistic Jew in the late 2nd or early 1st century BCE, who acted as an epitomizer (editor/summarizer) of a now-lost five-volume history by Jason of Cyrene. The author aimed to condense Jason's detailed, dramatic, and theological narrative to make it more accessible, focusing on the piety of the Maccabean martyrs and the purification of the Temple.
