Abstract

FRENKEL, Diana. A philosophical debate in II Maccabees. Circe clás. mod. [online]. 2007, n.11, pp.123-133. ISSN 1851-1724.

This article focuses on the possible links between the discourse of the Maccabeans´ mother and Epicurus´ philosophy. In chap. 7 a mother and her seven sons die rather than eat forbidden food. The king himself -Antiochus IV- tries to force the brothers to eat pork and the mother fanatically encourages them to die by expressing the belief in the resurrection and in the creation ex nihilo. Antiochus IV was a follows of Epicurean ideas and the author of II Macc. probably has to argue against him -a hateful personage- and the philosophical doctrine in this passage of the work.

Keywords : II Maccabees; Epicurus; resurrection; creation ex nihilo; Antiochus.

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