Introduction
For history fair I am doing the Maccabean Revolt. The Maccabeans revolted because the ruler, a Seleucid king, Antiochus IV, tried to hellenize the Jews. His successors, Antiochus III and Seleucis IV, accepted that the Jews were going to follow their own religion, but Antiochus IV decided to completely hellenize Jewish culture, and failed, because of Judas Maccabeus and his brothers.
SDuring the hellenization of Judaism, Mattathias, a priest from Modiin, took a stand by refusing to do a sacrifice and killing a Seleucid officer and a Jew who was going to do the sacrifice. Reactions were mostly negative because everyone was becoming hellenized, so everyone was looking for them and trying to capture them. Because everyone was looking for them, they had to gather a group which became the Maccabeans. His taking a stand led to the destruction of the Seleucids.