Maccabees, Books OF

Two Apocryphal books, received as canonical by the Roman and Greek churches. I. covers the period 175-135 B.C., II., 175-160; these were probably written in the 1st century B.C., and are of historical value. There are two more books, III. and IV., of 1st century A.D., on other subjects, and a so-called 5th, covering Jewish history 184-6 B.C., probably much later: these three are not of in imp or tance.