The Fifth Book of the Maccabees is an ancient Jewish work relating the history in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC.
Contents
Content
The book chronicles the events from Heliodorus' attempt to rob the Temple treasury in 186 BC to the death of Herod the Great's two sons about 6 BC. It is little more than a summary of the events in first and second book of the Maccabees and the relevant chapters in Flavius Josephus. Only chapter 12 is original but also "teems with errors of various kinds".
Similar to other Books of the Maccabees, this work aims at consoling Jews in their sufferings and encouraging them to be steadfast "in their devotion to the Mosaic law".
Textual history
The book survives in Arabic, but was probably composed in Hebrew, judging from numerous Hebraisms. As no trace of a Hebrew text exists, some scholars (e.g. Zunz, Heinrich Graetz and Samuel Davidson) consider the work to have been in Arabic from Hebrew memoirs.
The author probably was a Jew living some time after the destruction of the temple in 70 AD.
The book bears some relationship to the history of Josippon.
The book has never been recognized as canonical by either Jews or Christians.
Title
The designation 5 Maccabees was introduced in 1832 by Henry Cotton and perpetuated by Samuel Davidson and others. Alternative titles include Arabic 2 Maccabees and Arabic Maccabees. The name is also used to denote a text contained in the Translatio Syra Peshitto, edited by Ceriani, which however is nothing more than a Syriac version of 6th book of Josephus' Jewish War.