8. Little can be said of the condition of literature and the arts which has not been already anticipated. In common intercourse the Jews used the Aramaic dialect which was established after the return : this was " their own language'" (2 Mace, vii, 8, 21, 27 ; xii, 37) ; but it is evident from the narrative quoted that the}' understood Greek, which must have spread widely through the in- fluence of Sj'rian officers. There is not, however, the slightest evidence that Greek was employed in Pales- tinian literature till a much later date. The descrip- tion of the monument which was erected by Simon at !Modin in memory of his family (1 Mace, xiii, 27-30) is the only record of the architecture of the time. The description is obscure, but in sorue features the structure appears to have presented a resemblance to the tombs of Porsena and the Curiatii (Pliiiv, ff. N, xxxvi, 13), and perhaps to one still found in Idumnea. An oblong basement, of which the two chief faces were built of polished white marble (Josephus, Ant. xiii, 0, 5), sup- ported " seven pyramids in a line ranged one against another," equal in number to the members of the Mac- cabiean family, including Simon himself. To these he added '■ other works of art {j.ii]xai'>ii.iaTa). placing round (on the two chief faces?) great columns (Josephus adds, each of a single block), bearing trophies of arms and sculptured shii)s, which might be visible from the sea below." The language of 1 IMacc. and .Josephus im- plies that these columns were placed upon the basement, otherwise it might be supposed that the columns rose only to the height of the basement supporting the tro- phies on the same level as the pyramids. So much, at least, is evident,.that the characteristics of this work — and probably of later Jewish architecture generally — bore closer affinity to the styles of Asia Minor and Greece than to that of Egj'pt or the East, a result which would follow equally from the Syrian dominion and the commerce which Simon opened by the Mediterranean (I iMacc. xiv, 5). See Mooix.
9. The only recognised relics of the time are the coins which bear the name of "Simon," or '" Simon, prince (luisi) of Israel," in Samaritan letters. The privilege of a national coinage was granted to Simon by Anti- ocluts VII, Sidetes (1 Mace, xv, 6, icoju/ua 'iciov i'6j.a<jjia Ty X"^"!'?) ; <ind numerous examples occur which have the dates of the first, second, third, and fourth years of the liberation of Jerusalem (Israel, Zion) ; and it is a re- markable confirmation of their genuineness, that in the first year the name Zion does not occur, as the citadel was not recovered till the second year of Simon's su- premacy, while after the second year Zion alone is found
(Bayer, De Nummis, p. 171). The privilege was first definitely accorded to Simon in B.C. 140, while the first year of Simon was B.C. 143 (1 Mace, xiii, 42) ; but this discrepancy causes little difficult}', as it is not unlikely that the concession of Antiochus was made in favor of a practice already existing. No date is given later than the fourth year, but coins of Simon occur without a date, which may belong to the last four years of his life. The emblems which the coins bear have generally a connection with Jewish history — a vine-leaf, a cluster of grapes, a vase (of manna?), a trifid flowering rod, a palm branch surrounded by a M'reafh of laurel, a lyre (1 Mace, xiii, 51), a bundle of branches symbolic of the Feast of Tabernacles. The coins issued in the last war of independence by Bar-cochba repeat many of these emblems, and there is considerable difficulty in distin- guishing the two series. The authenticity of all the Maccabiean coins was impugned by Tychsen {Die Uti- iichiheit d. Jud. Miinzen . . . beiviesen . . . O. G. Tych- sen, 1779), but on insufficient grounds. He was answer- ed by Bayer, whose admirable essays (De Nummis Ilehr. Sumaritanis, Val. Ed. 1781 ; Vindicice . . , 1790) give the most complete account of the coins, though he reck- ons some apparently later types as Maccabwan. Eck- hel {Doctr. Numm. iii, 455 sq.) has given a good account of the controversy, and an accurate description of the chief types of the coins. Compare De Saulcy, Numism. Judaique ; Ewald, GescJi. vii, 366, 476. See Moxey.
IV. Literature. — The original authorities for the his- tory of the Maccabees are extremely scanty ; but for the course of the war itself the first book of Maccabees is a most trustworthy, if an incomplete witness. See jMaccabees, Books of. The second book adds some important details to the history of the earlier part of the struggle, and of the events which immediately pre- ceded it ; but all the statements which it contains re- quire close examination, and must be received with caution. .Josephus follows 1 Mace, for the period which it embraces, very closely, but slight additions of names and minute particulars indicate that he was in posses- sion of other materials, probably oral traditions, M'hich have not been elsewhere preserved. On the other hand, there are cases in which, from haste or carelessness, he has misinterpreted his authority. From other sources little can be gleaned. Hebrew and classical literature furnishes nothing more tlian a few trifling fragments which illustrate Maccabsean history. So long an inter- val elapsed before the Hebrew traditions were commit- ted to writing, that facts, when not embodied in rites or precepts, became wholly distorted. Classical writers, again, were little likely to chronicle a conflict which probably they could not have understood. Of the great work of Polybius — who alone might have been expect- ed to appreciate the importance of the Jewish war — only fragments remain which refer to this period ; but the omission of all mention of the Maccabtean campaign in the corresponding sections of Li\y, who follows very closely in the track of the Greek historian,.seems to prove that Polybius also omitted them. The account of the Syrian kings in Appian is too meagre to make his si- lence remarkable; but intlifference or contempt must be the explanation of a general silence which is too wide- spread to be accidental. Even when the fall of Jerusa- lem had directed unusual attention to the past fortunes of Its defenders, Tacitus was able to dismiss the Macca- baaan conflict in a sentence remarkable for scornful care- lessness. " During the dominion of the Ass\Tians, the Medes, and the Persians, the .Jews," he says, "were the most abject of their dependent subjects. After the Mac- edonians obtained the supremacy of the East, king An- tiochus endeavored to do away with their superstition, and introduce Greek habits, but was hindered by a Par- thian war from reforming a most repulsive people" {te- ierrimain (jcntem, Tacitus, Ilist. v, 8).