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Bacchides (general)
Bacchides (Greek: Βακχίδης) (fl. 2nd-century BCE) was a Syrian-Greek general (strategos), governor, friend and advisor (philos) of King Demetrius I Soter of the Seleucid Empire. The Seleucid Empire was one of the Greek successor states (ruled by the diadochi) founded after the conquests of Alexander the Great, and was centered in Syria and Babylonia in the Hellenistic era.
Bacchides is only known from the books of Maccabees (1 Maccabees, possibly 2 Maccabees as well) and the works of the historian Josephus.
The main source on Bacchides is the book 1 Maccabees. The work was written in the Hasmonean kingdom after the success of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire, and is thus a source hostile to Bacchides. Nevertheless, the book is open about the successes Bacchides achieved on behalf of the government.
So the king chose Bacchides, one of the king's Friends, governor of the province Beyond the River; he was a great man in the kingdom and was faithful to the king. He sent him, and with him he sent the ungodly Alcimus, whom he made high priest; and he commanded him to take vengeance on the Israelites.
— 1 Maccabees 7:8-9 (NRSV)
According to Chapter 7, Demetrius sent Bacchides in 161 BCE to Judea with an army in order to invest Alcimus with the office of High Priest of Israel. This mission succeeded; the book of 1 Maccabees does not report any challenge to it, perhaps because the Maccabees were still rebuilding after their defeat at the Battle of Beth Zechariah. The book then reports a negotiation took place between Alcimus and the Hasideans, but Alcimus broke his oath, and seized and executed sixty of the Hasideans. Bacchides then left Jerusalem, encamped at a place called Beth Zaith, and then arrested and executed some locals. He then returned to the king at the capital. The reference to "Beyond the River" as where Bacchides ruled is more a linguistic quirk; the style of 1 Maccabees heavily uses archaic references and a biblical style, and so uses the Persian term for area west of Mesopatamia rather than the Greek one ("Syria").
When Demetrius heard that Nicanor and his army had fallen in battle, he sent Bacchides and Alcimus into the land of Judah a second time, and with them the right wing of the army. They went by the road that leads to Gilgal and encamped against Mesaloth in Arbela, and they took it and killed many people.
— 1 Maccabees 9:1-2 (NRSV)
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Bacchides (general)
Bacchides (Greek: Βακχίδης) (fl. 2nd-century BCE) was a Syrian-Greek general (strategos), governor, friend and advisor (philos) of King Demetrius I Soter of the Seleucid Empire. The Seleucid Empire was one of the Greek successor states (ruled by the diadochi) founded after the conquests of Alexander the Great, and was centered in Syria and Babylonia in the Hellenistic era.
Bacchides is only known from the books of Maccabees (1 Maccabees, possibly 2 Maccabees as well) and the works of the historian Josephus.
The main source on Bacchides is the book 1 Maccabees. The work was written in the Hasmonean kingdom after the success of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire, and is thus a source hostile to Bacchides. Nevertheless, the book is open about the successes Bacchides achieved on behalf of the government.
So the king chose Bacchides, one of the king's Friends, governor of the province Beyond the River; he was a great man in the kingdom and was faithful to the king. He sent him, and with him he sent the ungodly Alcimus, whom he made high priest; and he commanded him to take vengeance on the Israelites.
— 1 Maccabees 7:8-9 (NRSV)
According to Chapter 7, Demetrius sent Bacchides in 161 BCE to Judea with an army in order to invest Alcimus with the office of High Priest of Israel. This mission succeeded; the book of 1 Maccabees does not report any challenge to it, perhaps because the Maccabees were still rebuilding after their defeat at the Battle of Beth Zechariah. The book then reports a negotiation took place between Alcimus and the Hasideans, but Alcimus broke his oath, and seized and executed sixty of the Hasideans. Bacchides then left Jerusalem, encamped at a place called Beth Zaith, and then arrested and executed some locals. He then returned to the king at the capital. The reference to "Beyond the River" as where Bacchides ruled is more a linguistic quirk; the style of 1 Maccabees heavily uses archaic references and a biblical style, and so uses the Persian term for area west of Mesopatamia rather than the Greek one ("Syria").
When Demetrius heard that Nicanor and his army had fallen in battle, he sent Bacchides and Alcimus into the land of Judah a second time, and with them the right wing of the army. They went by the road that leads to Gilgal and encamped against Mesaloth in Arbela, and they took it and killed many people.
— 1 Maccabees 9:1-2 (NRSV)