Expedition of Apollonios

Apollonios, chief of the tributes, was sent to Jérusalem by Antiochos IV with a large force. He entered the city feigning peaceful intentions, then attacked on a sabbath day, when the population did not defend itself.

The quarters were set ablaze, the walls torn down, the women and young men taken away. On the height overlooking the Temple, the Seleucids built a fortress, the Acra, where a garrison was installed and held the position for some twenty years: it kept watch over the sanctuary and barred the faithful from access to it. The city was emptied of its inhabitants.

It was to this occupation, as much as to the prohibition of worship that followed it, that the revolt of the Maccabees responded.