In 165 B.C., Judah Maccabee and his brothers successfully drove away the Seleucid king Antiochus IV, who controlled the land of Israel and had banned the practice of Judaism. When the Maccabees entered the Temple in Jerusalem, they removed the altar to Zeus and other Greek religious elements installed by Antiochus, built a new altar and replaced the holy vessels. Here, however, reasons for the holiday’s basic elements start to multiply. There are at least two explanations for the eight-day length of the holiday. The more popular version is that when the Maccabees went to relight the menorah in the Temple, they found only enough oil to light it for one day. Miraculously, it burned for eight. A second explanation is that the Maccabees proclaimed an eight-day celebration of the rededication of the Temple which began on the 25th of the Hebrew month of Kislev, the date of the holiday of Hanukkah in the Jewish calendar, which usually falls in December.

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