By: Marco Margaritoff – All That’s Interesting; allthatsinteresting.com
The Hellenistic fortress was destroyed by a Jewish Hasmonean army in their war to retake the region from the Greek Seleucid Empire, which had outlawed Judaism.
Archaeologists just excavated a 2,100-year-old Greek fortress in Israel’s Lachish Forest — and they say it confirms aspects of the origin story of Hanukkah.
Built by the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire in the second century B.C. to protect the Greek-controlled city of Maresha, the fortress failed to stop a Jewish revolt by the Hasmoneans. Hanukkah commemorates their ultimate victory over the Greek Seleucids and their Hellenistic rule.
The excavation site yielded numerous artifacts, including slingshots, iron weapons, pottery shards, burnt wooden beams, and dozens of coins dated. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said these remnants served as evidence of Greek soldiers’ defeat at the hands of the Jewish Hasmonean warriors.
“The excavation site provides tangible evidence of the Hanukkah stories,” the excavation directors said in a statement.
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