Sources for the story of Chanukkah

First and formost there are the original sources, the Books the Maccabees.

Book I and Book II (each with hyperlinks!) and Book IV [The Revised Standard Version of the Bible is copyright© National Council of Churches of Christ in America and distributed to registered users (see User Agreement) with their kind permission.]

On the Maccabees in general culture, the Book of Maccabees is referred to in Moby Dick - CHAPTER 133 "THE CHASE - FIRST DAY" by Herman Melville

Joesphus' "Antiquities of the Jews" also tells the story.

This edition on the WWW is translated by William Whiston

Book XII CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF A HUNDRED AND SEVENTY YEARS. FROM THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT TO THE DEATH OF JUDAS MACCABEUS.

Book XIII CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS, FROM THE DEATH OF JUDAS MACCABEUS TO THE DEATH OF QUEEN ALEXANDRA.

The story of Chanukkah is told well in the historical novel by Howard Fast, My Glorious Brothers.

For a list of editions and a first edition available.

For a short telling of the plot.

This page was first published before the existence of the Wikipedia. At that time, I was pleased to see that someone had devoted an entire site to the works of Howard Fast. That is now gone, but Fast does have a Wikipedia page. The page that is now gone had an interesing piece by Fast on being Jewish. Howard Fast has written a number of novels of historical fiction of Jewish interest. With the existence of the Wikipedia page some of those others are no longer "necessary". However, one devotee has maintained his interest with a bibliography of Howard Fast (and all his aliases). My Glorious Brothers appeared in a list of texts for teaching Jewish History from the what was the UAHC Education Department, but that is no longer. Also gone is a list of texts for teaching Ancient & Medieval History from J. S. Arkenberg of ORB [The Online Resource Book for Medieval studies (ORB) which was a cooperative effort on the part of scholars across the internet to establish an online textbook source for medieval studies on the World-Wide Web. In principle, authors of the various articles that make up ORB maintain their own articles at their own locations. Each article is connected to ORB's Title Index, which can be accessed at any time by clicking on the ORB icon (see the top left corner above) anywhere it appears. In addition, each article will be linked directly to related articles and other information available on the Web. Some authors welcome your questions, comments and observations about their articles. This invitation is indicated by a sensitive mail icon after the author's name.] Another list that has disappeared is of texts of historical fiction maintained by Soon-Yong Choi, Ph.D. (Center for Research in Electronic Commerce, Graduate School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin Historical Fiction Site)

Yet another retelling that was on the WWW was The Maccabean Revolt (as part of A People's Epic by Walter L. Field [95 years young] .... as of this writing in 1997, he probably has the distinction of being the oldest living web publisher. Walter has authored numerous books including "A People's Epic," a 95 page history of the Jewish people done in an unusual rhyme form called tercet. He has also authored "The Tale of the Horse," "Symphony of Threes," and "Gleanings from the Bible." in rhyming verse). You can still find copies of the book in used bookstores on the Web

A history of the period appears at the Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies of Bar-Ilan University Second Temple Period (538 B.C.E. to 70 C.E.) Persian Rule.