The numbers of claimants to the Seleucid throne following the death of Antiochus make a continuous Seleucid policy toward Palestine impossible, because each claimant feels the need to seek support wherever it might be found.

The Roman Senate still keeps Demetrius, son of Seleucus IV and the rightful heir to the throne, as hostage, refusing to release him because they consider it better to have Syria nominally ruled by a boy and his regent than the twenty-two-year-old Demetrius.

The general Lysias, who had been left in charge of Syria by Epiphanes, had collected another army at Antioch, and after the recapture of Beth-zur had been besieging Jerusalem when he learned of the approach of Philip, to whom Antiochus, on his deathbed, had entrusted the guardianship of the first son of Laodice IV and Antiochus III.

This prince, a younger cousin of Demetrius, is only nine years old when he succeeds to the kingship as Antiochus V. Lysias, returning to Syria to claim the regency, defeats Philip in 163 BCE; he is supported at Rome.

Timarchus, a Greek satrap of the Seleucid province of Media, becomes the more or less independen, in opposition to the general Lysias, who acts as steward for the infant king Antiochus V.

Timarchus has distinguished himself by defending Media against the emergent Parthians.

On his coins, Timarchus introduces the epithet "Great King" (Basileus Megas) which is the traditional Achaemenid title and may reflect an effort to gather support from the natives in a time when the Seleucid empire has lost ground in Iran.

He is inspired by the Bactrian king Eucratides the Great, who had assumed the same  title a few years earlier.

The Essenes, a religious sect or brotherhood, had fled to the Judaean desert wilderness around Qumran during Antiochus IV Epiphanes' persecution of Palestinian Jews.

Like the Pharisees, the Essenes meticulously observe the Law of Moses, the Sabbath, and ritual purity.

They also profess belief in immortality and divine punishment for sin.

Unlike the Pharisees, the Essenes deny the resurrection of the body and refuse to immerse themselves in public life.

With few exceptions, they shun Temple worship and are content to live ascetic lives of manual labor in seclusion.

The Sabbath is reserved for daylong prayer and meditation on the Torah.

Oaths are frowned upon, but once taken they cannot be rescinded.

The Romans now partition the Ptolemaic realm, ordering Ptolemy VIII Euergetes into Cyrenaica and giving Philometer Egypt and …

…Cyprus.

The Roman senate, on hearing that the Syrian kingdom is keeping more warships and elephants than allowed by the peace treaty of Apamea made in 188 BCE, send a Roman embassy to travel along the cities of Syria and attempt to cripple Seleucid military power by sinking the Syrians' warships and hamstringing their elephants.

Lysias dares do nothing to oppose the Romans, but his subservience has so enraged his Syrian subjects that the Roman envoy Gnaeus Octavius (consul of 165 BCE) is assassinated in Laodicea in 162 BCE).

The Hasideans trace their origins to the so-called Hasidim ha-Rishonim ("early pious men") of the fourth century BCE, members of Judean agricultural communities who followed the teachings of simple piety and brotherly love.

Rebelling against Hellenistic influences, the Hasideans emphasize a meticulous observance of their own traditions.

The apolitical Hasideans, satisfied with the victory of the Jewish faith, withdraw from further fighting, as the Jews have secured liberty of conscience and worship.

At the same time, the regular practice of pagan worship, beside the Jewish, has been established, and a Seleucid nominee is appointed high priest.

The seeds of fresh revolt thus laid, the war soon resumes.

Judas almost immediately again takes the field, at one point sending a six-member delegation to Rome to seek help.

Demetrius, having escaped from confinement in Rome with the help of the historian Polybius, is received in Syria as the true king.

Welcomed back on the Syrian throne in 161 BCE, he immediately kills Antiochus V and Lysias.

This may well have been the provocation that caused Timarchus to take the final step to independence and declare himself king.

The Romans continue to prevent any resurgence of Seleucid power, confining the Seleucids to Syria.

Demetrius’ victory over the Jews in 161 has brought him into conflict with Attalus II of Pergamon.

Judas attacks the harbor of Jamnia in his anger at the inhabitants' hostility.

There is evidence that the ruthlessness exhibited by the Hasmoneans toward the Greek cities of Palestine has political rather than cultural origins, and that, in fact, they are fighting for personal power no less than for the Torah.

In any case, some of those who fight on the side of the Maccabees are idol-worshipping Jews.