Adasa () is a place referred to in the book

1 Maccabees 1 Maccabees, also known as the First Book of Maccabees, First Maccabees, and abbreviated as 1 Macc., is a deuterocanonical book which details the history of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire as well as the founding and earliest hi ...

, Chapter 7. The

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

language name used by the locals is not known, but was probably something like ''Ḥadaša''. According to the passage, it was the site of the Battle of Adasa in year 151 of the

Seleucid era The Seleucid era ("SE") or (literally "year of the Greeks" or "Greek year"), sometimes denoted "AG," was a Calendar era, system of numbering years in use by the Seleucid Empire and other countries among the ancient Hellenistic period, Hellenistic ...

, equivalent to 161 BCE. The battle was a victory for

Judas Maccabeus Judas Maccabaeus or Maccabeus ( ), also known as Judah Maccabee (), was a Jewish priest (''kohen'') and a son of the priest Mattathias. He led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire (167–160 BCE). The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah ("Ded ...

's rebels in the

Maccabean Revolt The Maccabean Revolt () was a Jewish rebellion led by the Maccabees against the Seleucid Empire and against Hellenistic influence on Jewish life. The main phase of the revolt lasted from 167 to 160 BCE and ended with the Seleucids in control of ...

against the

Seleucid Empire The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great ...

, and the Greek commander Nicanor died in battle. Adasa was near Beth Horon, and somewhere in the hills north of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

and south of

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, that serves as the administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of abov ...

. The book 1 Maccabees survived only in Greek form, making it somewhat tricky to find other references to Adasa. The Septuagint translation of

Joshua Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...

15:37 into Greek includes a place called "Adasa", suggesting that "Hadashah" in Hebrew was an equivalent. However, the Joshua reference is to a town in the southern Judean lowland, which is the wrong direction, suggesting the Joshua reference was to a different place with a similar or identical name. The

Eruvin An eruv is a religious-legal enclosure which permits carrying in certain areas on Shabbat. Eruv may also refer to: * '' Eruvin (Talmud)'', a tractate in ''Moed'' * Eruv tavshilin ("mixing of cooked dishes"), which permits cooking on a Friday H ...

tractate of the Talmud refers to a "Hadasha in Judea" as a tiny settlement of just around 50 inhabitants. The historian

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

's work '' Jewish Antiquities'' uses 1 Maccabees as a source, but adds that Adasa was around 40 '' stadia'' (equivalent to somewhere between 6–9 kilometers?) from Beth Horon. Some have identified Adasa with Khirbet 'Adasa, an archaeological site located 5 kilometers north of Jerusalem.

References

External links

* * * * {{coord, 31, 50, N, 35, 14, E, region:PS_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Places in the deuterocanonical books Books of the Maccabees