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MACHABEE. Judas Maccabee, fl. second century A.D., was the famous Jewish general who led the revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes, king of Syria. Antiochus sent his generals Nicanor and Timotheus against the Jews in 161 B.C., but Judas Maccabee defeated them decisively. These triumphs are celebrated in the book of Maccabees. Maccabee is one of the Nine Worthies in Caxton's preface to the 1485 edition of Le Morte d'Arthur and in The Parlement of the Thre Ages 454-461.

Dame Prudence quotes I Mac 2:18, 19: victory lies in God's might, Mel 1658-1662. The Monk refers his listeners to II Maccabees 9 for Antiochus's story, MkT 2579. [Alexander: Arthour: David: Ector: Julius]

G. Cary, The Medieval Alexander, 246-268, 340-344; R.S. Loomis, "Verses on the Nine Worthies." MP 15 (1917): 19-27; Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, ed. J. Cowen, I: 3; The Parlement of the Thre Ages, ed. M.Y. Offord, 20-21; J.H. Roberts, "The Nine Worthies." MP 19 (1922): 297-305.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.
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