A. 1 Maccabees (2nd C. BCE)

4:36: Then said Judas and his brothers, "Behold, our enemies are crushed; let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it." 37: So all the army assembled and they went up to Mount Zion. 38: And they saw the sanctuary desolate, the altar profaned, and the gates burned. In the courts they saw bushes sprung up as in a thicket, or as on one of the mountains. They saw also the chambers of the priests in ruins. 39: Then they rent their clothes, and mourned with great lamentation, and sprinkled themselves with ashes. 40: They fell face down on the ground, and sounded the signal on the trumpets, and cried out to Heaven. 41: Then Judas detailed men to fight against those in the citadel until he had cleansed the sanctuary. 42: He chose blameless priests devoted to the law, 43: and they cleansed the sanctuary and removed the defiled stones to an unclean place. 44: They deliberated what to do about the altar of burnt offering, which had been profaned. 45: And they thought it best to tear it down, lest it bring reproach upon them, for the Gentiles had defiled it. So they tore down the altar, 46: and stored the stones in a convenient place on the Temple hill until there should come a prophet to tell what to do with them. 47: Then they took unhewn stones, as the law directs, and built a new altar like the former one. 48: They also rebuilt the sanctuary and the interior of the Temple, and consecrated the courts. 49: They made new holy vessels, and brought the lampstand, the altar of incense, and the table into the Temple. 50: Then they burned incense on the altar and lighted the lamps on the lampstand, and these gave light in the Temple. 51: They placed the bread on the table and hung up the curtains. Thus they finished all the work they had undertaken.
52: Early in the morning on the twenty?fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty?eighth year, 53: they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering which they had built. 54: At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals. 55: All the people fell on their faces and worshiped and blessed Heaven, who had prospered them. 56: So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days, and offered burnt offerings with gladness; they offered a sacrifice of deliverance and praise. 57: They decorated the front of the Temple with golden crowns and small shields; they restored the gates and the chambers for the priests, and furnished them with doors. 58: There was very great gladness among the people, and the reproach of the Gentiles was removed. 59: Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with gladness and joy for eight days, beginning with the twenty?fifth day of the month of Chislev.

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B. 2 Maccabees (2nd C. BCE)

1:1: The Jewish brethren in Jerusalem and those in the land of Judea, To their Jewish brethren in Egypt, Greeting, and good peace. 2: May God do good to you, and may he remember his covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, his faithful servants. 3: May he give you all a heart to worship him and to do his will with a strong heart and a willing spirit. 4: May he open your heart to his law and his commandments, and may he bring peace. 5: May he hear your prayers and be reconciled to you, and may he not forsake you in time of evil. 6: We are now praying for you here. 7: In the reign of [the Seleucid King] Demetrius, in the one hundred and sixty?ninth year, we Jews wrote to you, in the critical distress which came upon us in those years after [the corrupt High Priest] Jason and his company revolted from the holy land and the kingdom 8: and burned the [Temple] gate and shed innocent blood. We besought the Lord and we were heard, and we offered sacrifice and cereal offering, and we lighted the lamps and we set out the loaves. 9: And now see that you keep the feast of booths in the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and eighty?eighth year.

C. 2 Maccabees

1:18: Since on the twenty-fifth day of Chislev we shall celebrate the purification of the Temple, we thought it necessary to notify you, in order that you also may celebrate the feast of booths and the feast of the fire given when Nehemiah, who built the Temple and the altar, offered sacrifices. 19: For when our fathers were being led captive to Persia, the pious priests of that time took some of the fire of the altar and secretly hid it in the hollow of a dry cistern, where they took such precautions that the place was unknown to any one. 20: But after many years had passed, when it pleased God, Nehemiah, having been commissioned by the king of Persia, sent the descendants of the priests who had hidden the fire to get it. And when they reported to us that they had not found fire but thick liquid, he ordered them to dip it out and bring it. 21: And when the materials for the sacrifices were presented, Nehemiah ordered the priests to sprinkle the liquid on the wood and what was laid upon it. 22: When this was done and some time had passed and the sun, which had been clouded over, shone out, a great fire blazed up, so that all marveled.
23: And while the sacrifice was being consumed, the priests offered prayer -- the priests and every one. Jonathan [a Temple official] led, and the rest responded, as did Nehemiah. 24: The prayer was to this effect: "O Lord, Lord God, Creator of all things, who art awe-inspiring and strong and just and merciful, who alone art King and art kind, 25: who alone art bountiful, who alone art just and almighty and eternal, who dost rescue Israel from every evil, who didst choose the fathers and consecrate them, 26: accept this sacrifice on behalf of all thy people Israel and preserve thy portion and make it holy. 27: Gather together our scattered people, set free those who are slaves among the Gentiles, look upon those who are rejected and despised, and let the Gentiles know that thou art our God. 28: Afflict those who oppress and are insolent with pride. 29: Plant thy people in thy holy place, as Moses said." 30: Then the priests sang the hymns. 31: And when the materials of the sacrifice were consumed, Nehemiah ordered that the liquid that was left should be poured upon large stones. 32: When this was done, a flame blazed up; but when the light from the altar shone back, it went out.
33: When this matter became known, and it was reported to the king of the Persians that, in the place where the exiled priests had hidden the fire, the liquid had appeared with which Nehemiah and his associates had burned the materials of the sacrifice, 34: the king investigated the matter, and enclosed the place and made it sacred. 35: And with those persons whom the king favored he exchanged many excellent gifts. 36: Nehemiah and his associates called this "nephthar," which means purification, but by most people it is called naphtha¼
2:9: It was also made clear that being possessed of wisdom Solomon offered sacrifice for the dedication and completion of the Temple. 10: Just as Moses prayed to the Lord, and fire came down from heaven and devoured the sacrifices, so also Solomon prayed, and the fire came down and consumed the whole burnt offerings. 11: And Moses said, "They were consumed because the sin offering had not been eaten." 12: Likewise Solomon also kept the eight days¼
16: Since, therefore, we are about to celebrate the purification, we write to you. Will you therefore please keep the days? 17: It is God who has saved all his people, and has returned the inheritance to all, and the kingship and priesthood and consecration, 18: as he promised through the law. For we have hope in God that he will soon have mercy upon us and will gather us from everywhere under heaven into his holy place, for he has rescued us from great evils and has purified the place.

D. 2 Maccabees

6:1: Not long after this, the king sent an Athenian senator to compel the Jews to forsake the laws of their fathers and cease to live by the laws of God, 2: and also to pollute the Temple in Jerusalem and call it the Temple of Olympian Zeus, and to call the one in Gerizim the Temple of Zeus the Friend of Strangers, as did the people who dwelt in that place. 3: Harsh and utterly grievous was the onslaught of evil. 4: For the Temple was filled with debauchery and reveling by the Gentiles, who dallied with harlots and had intercourse with women within the sacred precincts, and besides brought in things for sacrifice that were unfit. 5: The altar was covered with abominable offerings which were forbidden by the laws. 6: A man could neither keep the Sabbath, nor observe the feasts of his fathers, nor so much as confess himself to be a Jew.
7: On the monthly celebration of the king's birthday, the Jews were taken, under bitter constraint, to partake of the sacrifices; and when the feast of Dionysus came, they were compelled to walk in the procession in honor of Dionysus, wearing wreaths of ivy. 8: At the suggestion of Ptolemy a decree was issued to the neighboring Greek cities, that they should adopt the same policy toward the Jews and make them partake of the sacrifices, 9: and should slay those who did not choose to change over to Greek customs. One could see, therefore, the misery that had come upon them.
10: For example, two women were brought in for having circumcised their children. These women they publicly paraded about the city, with their babies hung at their breasts, then hurled them down headlong from the wall. 11: Others who had assembled in the caves near by, to observe the seventh day secretly, were betrayed to Philip and were all burned together, because their piety kept them from defending themselves, in view of their regard for that most holy day. 12: Now I urge those who read this book not to be depressed by such calamities, but to recognize that these punishments were designed not to destroy but to discipline our people. 13: In fact, not to let the impious alone for long, but to punish them immediately, is a sign of great kindness. 14: For in the case of the other nations the Lord waits patiently to punish them until they have reached the full measure of their sins; but he does not deal in this way with us, 15: in order that he may not take vengeance on us afterward when our sins have reached their height. 16: Therefore he never withdraws his mercy from us. Though he disciplines us with calamities, he does not forsake his own people. 17: Let what we have said serve as a reminder; we must go on briefly with the story.
18: Eleazar, one of the scribes in high position, a man now advanced in age and of noble presence, was being forced to open his mouth to eat swine's flesh. 19: But he, welcoming death with honor rather than life with pollution, went up to the rack of his own accord, spitting out the flesh, 20: as men ought to go who have the courage to refuse things that it is not right to taste, even for the natural love of life. 21: Those who were in charge of that unlawful sacrifice took the man aside, because of their long acquaintance with him, and privately urged him to bring meat of his own providing, proper for him to use, and pretend that he was eating the flesh of the sacrificial meal which had been commanded by the king, 22: so that by doing this he might be saved from death, and be treated kindly on account of his old friendship with them. 23: But making a high resolve, worthy of his years and the dignity of his old age and the gray hairs which he had reached with distinction and his excellent life even from childhood, and moreover according to the holy God?given law, he declared himself quickly, telling them to send him to Hades. 24: "Such pretense is not worthy of our time of life," he said, "lest many of the young should suppose that Eleazar in his ninetieth year has gone over to an alien religion, 25: and through my pretense, for the sake of living a brief moment longer, they should be led astray because of me, while I defile and disgrace my old age. 26: For even if for the present I should avoid the punishment of men, yet whether I live or die I shall not escape the hands of the Almighty. 27: Therefore, by manfully giving up my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age 28: and leave to the young a noble example of how to die a good death willingly and nobly for the revered and holy laws." When he had said this, he went at once to the rack. 29: And those who a little before had acted toward him with good will now changed to ill will, because the words he had uttered were in their opinion sheer madness.
30: When he was about to die under the blows, he groaned aloud and said: "It is clear to the Lord in his holy knowledge that, though I might have been saved from death, I am enduring terrible sufferings in my body under this beating, but in my soul I am glad to suffer these things because I fear him." 31: So in this way he died, leaving in his death an example of nobility and a memorial of courage, not only to the young but to the great body of his nation.

E. 2 Maccabees

7:1: It happened also that seven brothers and their mother were arrested and were being compelled by the king, under torture with whips and cords, to partake of unlawful swine's flesh. 2: One of them, acting as their spokesman, said, "What do you intend to ask and learn from us? For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our fathers." 3: The king fell into a rage, and gave orders that pans and caldrons be heated. 4: These were heated immediately, and he commanded that the tongue of their spokesman be cut out and that they scalp him and cut off his hands and feet, while the rest of the brothers and the mother looked on. 5: When he was utterly helpless, the king ordered them to take him to the fire, still breathing, and to fry him in a pan. The smoke from the pan spread widely, but the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die nobly, saying, 6: "The Lord God is watching over us and in truth has compassion on us, as Moses declared in his song which bore witness against the people to their faces, when he said, `And he will have compassion on his servants.'"
7: After the first brother had died in this way, they brought forward the second for their sport. They tore off the skin of his head with the hair, and asked him, "Will you eat rather than have your body punished limb by limb?" 8: He replied in the language of his fathers, and said to them, "No." Therefore he in turn underwent tortures as the first brother had done. 9: And when he was at his last breath, he said, "You accursed wretch, you dismiss us from this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, because we have died for his laws."
10: After him, the third was the victim of their sport. When it was demanded, he quickly put out his tongue and courageously stretched forth his hands, 11: and said nobly, "I got these from Heaven, and because of his laws I disdain them, and from him I hope to get them back again." 12: As a result the king himself and those with him were astonished at the young man's spirit, for he regarded his sufferings as nothing.
13: When he too had died, they maltreated and tortured the fourth in the same way. 14: And when he was near death, he said, "One cannot but choose to die at the hands of men and to cherish the hope that God gives of being raised again by him. But for you there will be no resurrection to life!"
15: Next they brought forward the fifth and maltreated him. 16: But he looked at the king, and said, "Because you have authority among men, mortal though you are, you do what you please. But do not think that God has forsaken our people. 17: Keep on, and see how his mighty power will torture you and your descendants!"
18: After him they brought forward the sixth. And when he was about to die, he said, "Do not deceive yourself in vain. For we are suffering these things on our own account, because of our sins against our own God. Therefore astounding things have happened. 19: But do not think that you will go unpunished for having tried to fight against God!"
20: The mother was especially admirable and worthy of honorable memory. Though she saw her seven sons perish within a single day, she bore it with good courage because of her hope in the Lord. 21: She encouraged each of them in the language of their fathers. Filled with a noble spirit, she fired her woman's reasoning with a man's courage, and said to them, 22: "I do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you. 23: Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of man and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws."
24: Antiochus felt that he was being treated with contempt, and he was suspicious of her reproachful tone. The youngest brother being still alive, Antiochus not only appealed to him in words, but promised with oaths that he would make him rich and enviable if he would turn from the ways of his fathers, and that he would take him for his friend and entrust him with public affairs. 25: Since the young man would not listen to him at all, the king called the mother to him and urged her to advise the youth to save himself. 26: After much urging on his part, she undertook to persuade her son. 27: But, leaning close to him, she spoke in their native tongue as follows, deriding the cruel tyrant: "My son, have pity on me. I carried you nine months in my womb, and nursed you for three years, and have reared you and brought you up to this point in your life, and have taken care of you. 28: I beseech you, my child, to look at the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed. Thus also mankind comes into being. 29: Do not fear this butcher, but prove worthy of your brothers. Accept death, so that in God's mercy I may get you back again with your brothers."
30: While she was still speaking, the young man said, "What are you waiting for? I will not obey the king's command, but I obey the command of the law that was given to our fathers through Moses. 31: But you, who have contrived all sorts of evil against the Hebrews, will certainly not escape the hands of God. 32: For we are suffering because of our own sins. 33: And if our living Lord is angry for a little while, to rebuke and discipline us, he will again be reconciled with his own servants. 34: But you, unholy wretch, you most defiled of all men, do not be elated in vain and puffed up by uncertain hopes, when you raise your hand against the children of heaven. 35: You have not yet escaped the judgment of the almighty, all?seeing God. 36: For our brothers after enduring a brief suffering have drunk of everflowing life under God's covenant; but you, by the judgment of God, will receive just punishment for your arrogance. 37: I, like my brothers, give up body and life for the laws of our fathers, appealing to God to show mercy soon to our nation and by afflictions and plagues to make you confess that he alone is God, 38: and through me and my brothers to bring to an end the wrath of the Almighty which has justly fallen on our whole nation."
39: The king fell into a rage, and handled him worse than the others, being exasperated at his scorn. 40: So he died in his integrity, putting his whole trust in the Lord. 41: Last of all, the mother died, after her sons. 42: Let this be enough, then, about the eating of sacrifices and the extreme tortures.

F. 2 Maccabees

10:1: Now Maccabeus and his followers, the Lord leading them on, recovered the Temple and the city; 2: and they tore down the altars which had been built in the public square by the foreigners, and also destroyed the sacred precincts. 3: They purified the sanctuary, and made another altar of sacrifice; then, striking fire out of flint, they offered sacrifices, after a lapse of two years, and they burned incense and lighted lamps and set out the bread of the Presence. 4: And when they had done this, they fell prostrate and besought the Lord that they might never again fall into such misfortunes, but that, if they should ever sin, they might be disciplined by him with forbearance and not be handed over to blasphemous and barbarous nations. 5: It happened that on the same day on which the sanctuary had been profaned by the foreigners, the purification of the sanctuary took place, that is, on the twenty?fifth day of the same month, which was Chislev. 6: And they celebrated it for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the feast of booths, remembering how not long before, during the feast of booths, they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals. 7: Therefore bearing ivy?wreathed wands and beautiful branches and also fronds of palm, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to him who had given success to the purifying of his own holy place. 8: They decreed by public ordinance and vote that the whole nation of the Jews should observe these days every year.

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G. Babylonian Talmud Tractate Shabbat 21b [The Babylonian Talmud was composed over many centuries and finally redacted-i.e. completed and edited-around the 6th or 7th C. CE.]

What is Hanukkah? The Rabbis taught: on the 25th of Kislev, for the eight days of Hanukkah, one may not eulogize the dead or fast. When the Greeks entered the Sanctuary they contaminated all the oil there. When the Hasmoneans were victorious over them, they searched and found but one jug of oil with the seal of the High Priest intact, and it contained only enough oil to light the lamp for one day. A miracle happened and the oil lasted for eight days. The next year these days were decreed a festival with the recitation of Hallel and thanksgiving. [What follows is a discussion of oil, wicks, lighting process, how to display menorah, proper uses for menorah, etc.]

H. Babylonian Talmud Tractate Shabbat 23b

Raba propounded, "What [if the choice lies between] the Hanukkah lamp and the Sanctification of the Day [Shabbat]? Is the latter more important, because it is permanent [coming every week], or perhaps the Hanukkah lamp is preferable, on account of advertising the miracle?" After propounding, he himself solved it. "The Hanukkah lamp is preferable, on account of advertising the miracle."

I. Babylonian Talumd Tractate Rosh HaShana 24a-b

...[I]t is written, "You shall not make with me..." (Exodus 20), which we interpret, "You shall not make the likeness of my attendants?" Abaye replied, "The Torah forbade only those attendants of which it is possible to make copies, as it has been taught, A man may not make a house in the form of the Temple,...or a court corresponding to the Temple court, or a table corresponding to the [sacred Temple] table or a candlestick corresponding to the [sacred Temple] candlestick, but he may make one with five or six or eight lamps, but with seven he should not make, even of other metals." R. Jose b. Judah said, "He should not make one even of wood, this being the way in which the kings of the house of the Hasmoneans made it." They said to him, "Can you adduce this as a proof?" "The spits were made of iron and they overlaid them with tin. When they grew richer they made them of silver. When they grew richer still, they made them of gold."

I. Mishnah Sukkah 5:1-4 (Redacted [i.e. completed] ca. 200 CE)

They said that anyone who has not witnessed the rejoicing at the Libation Water-Well ceremony (in Hebrew Bet Ha-Shoevah: ancient festival celebrated in the Temple) had never seen rejoicing in his life. At the close of the first holy day of the Festival of Tabernacles / Sukkot they went down to the court of the women where they made an important rearrangement (i.e. made some alteration to the seating arrangement). And golden candlesticks were there with four golden bowls at their tops and four ladders to each one, and four youths from the young priests with pitchers of oil, holding a hundred and twenty logs (unit of measurement) in their hands, which they used to pour into every bowl. From the worn-out drawers and girdles of the priests they made wicks and with them set alight (the oil), and there was no courtyard in Jerusalem that was not lit up with the light at the Libation Water-Well ceremony. Pious men and men of good deeds used to dance before them with burning torches in their hands and sang before them songs and praises…(When) they arrived at the gate that led forth to the east they turned their faces to the west and said, "Our ancestors when they were in this place turned 'with their backs to the Temple and their faces toward the east and they prostrated themselves eastward toward the sun' (Ezekiel 8:16), but as for us our eyes are turned to the Eternal."
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J. Al HaNissim ("On the miracles") [A Rabbinic prayer which may date from the time of the Hasmonean Dynasty.]

We thank you also for the miraculous deeds and for the redemption and for the mighty deeds and the victories, as well as for the wars which you waged for our forefathers in those days, at this time. In the days of the Hasmonean, Mattathias son of Johanan, the High Priest, and his sons, when the iniquitous power of Greece rose up against your people Israel to make them forgetful of your Torah, and to force them to transgress the statutes of your will, then did you in your abundant mercy rise up for them in the time of their trouble; you pleaded their cause, you judged their suit, you avenged their wrong; you delivered the strong into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few, the impure into the hands of the pure, the wicked into the hands of the righteous, and the arrogant into the hands of them that occupied themselves with your Torah: for yourself you made a great and holy name in your world, and for your people Israel you did work a great deliverance and redemption as at this day. And thereupon your children came into the inner sanctuary of your House, cleansed your Temple, purified the holy place, kindled lights in your sacred courts, and appointed these eight days of Hanukkah in order to give thanks and praises unto your great Name.

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K. Josephus, The Jewish War 1:38-39 (ca. 75 CE) [Josephus was a Jewish historian who fought against the Romans at first in the 66-70 CE war and later wrote works explaining Jewish history and aspirations to the Romans.]

Judas, assuming that Antiochus would not remain inactive, besides recruiting a native force, made an alliance-he was the first to do so-with the Romans; and when [Antiochus] Epiphanes again invaded the country struck hard and forced him to retire. Flushed with success, he attacked the garrison, not yet ousted from the capital, expelled the troops from the upper city and confined them to the lower portion of the town, known as Acra. Being now master of the Temple, he cleansed the whole area and walled it round, replaced the old and polluted vessels for the services by others which he caused to be made and brought into the sanctuary, built another altar and reinstalled the expiatory sacrifices.

L. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 12:316-25 (ca. 95 CE)

When therefore the generals of Antiochus's armies had been beaten so often, Judas assembled the people together, and told them, that after these many victories which God had given them, they ought to go up to Jerusalem, and purify the Temple, and offer the appointed sacrifices. But as soon as he, with the whole multitude, was come to Jerusalem, and found the Temple deserted, and its gates burnt down, and plants growing in the Temple of their own accord, on account of its desertion, he and those that were with him began to mourn, and were quite confounded at the sight of the Temple; so he chose out some of his soldiers, and gave them order to fight against those guards that were in the citadel, until he should have purified the Temple. When therefore he had carefully purged it, and had brought in new vessels, the candlestick, the table [of shew?bread], and the altar [of incense], which were made of gold, he hung up the veils at the gates, and added doors to them. He also took down the altar [of burnt?offering], and built a new one of stones that he gathered together, and not of such as were hewn with iron tools.
So on the five and twentieth day of the month Kislev, which the Macedonians call Apeliens, they lighted the lamps that were on the candlestick, and offered incense upon the altar [of incense], and laid the loaves upon the table [of shew? bread], and offered burnt?offerings upon the new altar [of burnt? offering]. Now it so fell out, that these things were done on the very same day on which their Divine worship had fallen off, and was reduced to a profane and common use, after three years' time; for so it was, that the Temple was made desolate by Antiochus, and so continued for three years....
Now Judas celebrated the festival of the restoration of the sacrifices of the Temple for eight days, and omitted no sort of pleasures thereon; but he feasted them upon very rich and splendid sacrifices; and he honored God, and delighted them by hymns and psalms. Nay, they were so very glad at the revival of their customs, when, after a long time of intermission, they unexpectedly had regained the freedom of their worship, that they made it a law for their posterity, that they should keep a festival, on account of the restoration of their Temple worship, for eight days. And from that time to this we celebrate this festival, and call it Lights. I suppose the reason was, because this liberty beyond our hopes appeared to us; and that thence was the name given to that festival.

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M. Pesikta Rabbati 2:1 (775?900 CE) [Pesikta Rabbati is a post-talmudic rabbinic text.]

And why are lamps kindled during Hanukkah? At the time that the sons of the Hasmonean, the High Priest, triumphed over the kingdom of Greece ? the time referred to in the verse "When...I raised up they sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece" (Zech. 9:13) ? upon entering the Temple they found there [seven] rods of iron which they grooved out and then kindled wicks in the oil which they poured into the grooves. And why is Hallel read? Because [one of the Hallel Psalms] declares "The Lord is God, and has given us light" (Ps 118:27).

N. Pesikta Rabbati 6:1

You find that Hanukkah ? this feast of dedication which we celebrate ? is in remembrance of the dedication (of the altar) by the Hasmonean family. Because they carried on a war and were victorious over the people of Greece, we kindle lamps to this day. So too, after the work of the Tabernacle was finished, a hanukkah ? a rite of dedication ? was celebrated, as is written, This was the dedication of the altar (Num. 7:84). And the same of the Temple: after it was built, a hanukkah ? a rite of dedication ? was celebrated for it, as is written, So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the House of the Lord (I Kings 8:63). When did they dedicate it? Directly after all of the work on it was finished. And the proof? The lesson for the day in the Prophets: Thus all the work that king Solomon wrought in the House of the Lord was finished, [the word finished indicating an occasion calling for rites of dedication].
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O. Megillath Antiochus [Part of the Jewish liturgy for Hanukkah; widely believed to be post-talmud, i.e. after the 7th C. CE.]

When the sons of Mattathias discovered that Judah had been slain, they returned to their father who asked, "Why did you come back?" They replied, "Our brother Judah, who alone equaled all of us, has been killed." "I will join you in the battle against the heathen," Mattathias said, "lest they destroy the house of Israel; why be so dismayed over your brother?" He joined his sons that same day and waged war against the enemy. The God of heaven delivered into their hands all swordsmen and archers, army officers, and high officials. None of these survived. Others were compelled to take refuge in the coastal cities. In attacking the elephants, Elazar was engulfed in their dung. His brothers searched for him among the living and the dead and could not find him. Eventually, however, they did find him.
The Jews rejoiced over the defeat of their enemies, some of whom were burned while others were hanged on the gallows. Wicked Bagris was included among those who were burned to death. When King Antiochus heard that his governor Bagris and the army officers had been killed, he boarded a ship and fled to the coastal cities. Wherever he went the people rebelled and called him "The Fugitive," so he drowned himself in the sea.
The Hasmoneans entered the sanctuary, rebuilt the gates, closed the breaches, and cleansed the Temple court from the slain and the impurities. They looked for pure olive oil to light the Menorah, and found only one bottle with the seal of the high priest so that they were sure of its purity. Though its quantity seemed sufficient only for one day's lighting, it lasted for eight days owing to the blessing of the God of heaven who had established his name there. Hence, the Hasmoneans and all the Jews alike instituted these days as a time of feasting and rejoicing, like any festival prescribed in the Torah, and of kindling lights to commemorate the victories God had given them. Mourning and fasting are forbidden on Hanukkah, except in the case of an individual's vow which must be discharged. Nevertheless, the Hasmoneans did not prohibit work on this holiday.
From that time on the Greek government was stripped of its renown. The Hasmoneans and their descendants ruled for two hundred and six years, until the destruction of the Temple.
And so Jews everywhere observe this festival for eight days, beginning on the twenty-fifth of Kislev. These days, instituted by priests, Levites, and sages of Temple times, shall be celebrated by their descendants forever.

P. 1 Maccabees 2

29: Then many who were seeking righteousness and justice went down to the wilderness to dwell there, 30: they, their sons, their wives, and their cattle, because evils pressed heavily upon them. 31: And it was reported to the king's officers, and to the troops in Jerusalem the city of David, that men who had rejected the king's command had gone down to the hiding places in the wilderness. 32: Many pursued them, and overtook them; they encamped opposite them and prepared for battle against them on the sabbath day. 33: And they said to them, "Enough of this! Come out and do what the king commands, and you will live." 34: But they said, "We will not come out, nor will we do what the king commands and so profane the sabbath day." 35: Then the enemy hastened to attack them. 36: But they did not answer them or hurl a stone at them or block up their hiding places, 37: for they said, "Let us all die in our innocence; heaven and earth testify for us that you are killing us unjustly." 38: So they attacked them on the sabbath, and they died, with their wives and children and cattle, to the number of a thousand persons.
39: When Mattathias and his friends learned of it, they mourned for them deeply. 40: And each said to his neighbor: "If we all do as our brethren have done and refuse to fight with the Gentiles for our lives and for our ordinances, they will quickly destroy us from the earth." 41: So they made this decision that day: "Let us fight against every man who comes to attack us on the sabbath day; let us not all die as our brethren died in their hiding places." 42: Then there united with them a company of Hasideans, mighty warriors of Israel, every one who offered himself willingly for the law. 43: And all who became fugitives to escape their troubles joined them and reinforced them.

Q. 2 Maccabees 5

23: ….In his malice toward the Jewish citizens, 24: Antiochus sent Apollonius, the captain of the Mysians, with an army of twenty-two thousand, and commanded him to slay all the grown men and to sell the women and boys as slaves. 25: When this man arrived in Jerusalem, he pretended to be peaceably disposed and waited until the holy sabbath day; then, finding the Jews not at work, he ordered his men to parade under arms. 26: He put to the sword all those who came out to see them, then rushed into the city with his armed men and killed great numbers of people. 27: But Judas Maccabeus, with about nine others, got away to the wilderness, and kept himself and his companions alive in the mountains as wild animals do; they continued to live on what grew wild, so that they might not share in the defilement.

Appendix: Roman historians on Antiochus IV

R. Polybius, Histories Fragment 26:1 (2nd C BCE)

Athenagorus writes, "Polybius in his 26th Book calls [Antiochus IV] Epimanes (the madman) instead of Epiphanes (manifest) owing to his conduct. For not only did he condescend to converse with common people, but even with the meanest of the foreigners who visited Antioch. And whenever he heard that any of the younger men were at an entertainment, no matter where, he would come in with a fife and other music so that most of the guests got up and ran off in astonishment. …He would frequently put off his royal robes, and, assuming a white toga, go round the market-place like a candidate, and, taking some by the hand and embracing others, would beg them to give him their vote, sometimes for the office of aedile and sometimes for that of tribune. Upon being elected, he would sit upon the ivory curule chair, as the Roman custom is, listening to the lawsuits tried there, and pronouncing judgment with great pains and display of interest. In consequence all respectable men were entirely puzzled about him, some looking upon him as a plain simple man and others as a madman. …But in the sacrifices he furnished to the cities and in the honors he paid to the gods he far surpassed all his predecessors, as we can tell from the temple of Olympian Zeus at Athens and the statues round the altar at Delos."

S. Diodorus 31:16 (1st C. BCE)

Certain of the enterprises and acts of Antiochus were kingly and altogether admirable, while others again were so cheap and so tawdry as to bring upon him the utter scorn of mankind. For example, in celebrating his festal games he adopted, in the first place, a policy contrary to that of the other kings. They, while strengthening their kingdoms both in arms and in wealth, as far as possible tried to conceal their intentions because of the superiority of Rome. He, however, taking the opposite approach, brought together at his festival the most distinguished men from virtually the whole world, adorned all parts of the capital in magnificent fashion, and having assembled in one spot, and, as it were, put upon the stage his entire kingdom, left them ignorant of nothing that concerned him….
[By contrast,] once, when the merrymaking [at his drinking parties] was well advanced and the greater part of the guests had already departed, he made an entrance, all bundled up and carried in procession by mimes. Placed on the ground by his fellow actors, as soon as the symphony sounded his cue he leapt to his feet naked, and jesting with the mimes performed the kind of dances that usually provoke laughter and hoots of derision-to the great embarrassment of the company, who all left the party in haste. Each and every person, in fact, who attended the festival found that when he regarded the extravagance of the outlay and the general management and administration of the games and processions, he was astounded, and that he admired both the king and the kingdom; when, however, he focused his attention on the king himself and his unacceptable behavior, he could not believe that it was possible for such excellence and such baseness to exist in one and the same character.