The BibleGospel Companion
Event · Between the Testaments168 BC

Antiochus Epiphanes desecrates the temple

Dated from the sources quoted below

True span4004 BC – AD 100
Beginnings · 4004 BC – 1996 BC · 12 eventsBeginnings4004 BC – 1996 BCThe Patriarchs · 1996 BC – 1635 BC · 34 eventsPatriarchs1996 BC – 1635 BCEgypt and the Exodus · 1635 BC – 1451 BC · 19 eventsExodus1635 BC – 1451 BCConquest and Settlement · 1451 BC – 1400 BC · 7 eventsConquest1451 BC – 1400 BCThe Judges · 1405 BC – 1095 BC · 13 eventsJudges1405 BC – 1095 BCThe United Kingdom · 1095 BC – 975 BC · 38 eventsUnited Kgdm1095 BC – 975 BCIsrael and Judah · 933 BC – 721 BC · 27 eventsIsrael & Judah933 BC – 721 BCJudah Alone · 721 BC – 586 BC · 22 eventsJudah alone721 BC – 586 BCThe Exile · 586 BC – 538 BC · 7 eventsExile586 BC – 538 BCReturn and Restoration · 538 BC – 400 BC · 13 eventsReturn538 BC – 400 BCBetween the Testaments · 400 BC – 4 BC · 8 eventsBetween400 BC – 4 BCThe Life of Jesus · 6 BC – AD 33 · 42 eventsJesus6 BC – AD 33The Apostles and the Early Church · AD 30 – AD 100 · 29 eventsThe ChurchAD 30 – AD 100331 BC — Alexander ends the Persian empire at Arbela323 BC — Alexander dies and his empire is divided280 BC — The Hebrew Scriptures are translated into Greek203 BC — Antiochus the Great takes Jerusalem and annexes Judea168 BC — Antiochus Epiphanes desecrates the temple168 BC — The Maccabees rise; the temple is cleansed56 BC — Rome takes Jerusalem under Pompey37 BC — Herod the Great is made king of Judea
the events of this period, each at its year — this one outlinedplaced only by its order in the narrativethe whole thread →

Told in

Daniel 11:31“Forces from him will profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and will take away the continual burnt offering. Then they will set up the abomination that makes desolate.Daniel 8:11–14Yes, it magnified itself, even to the prince of the army; and it took away from him the continual burnt offering, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
Opening words from the World English Bible (public domain); the passage list is in-house

Who and where

Jerusalem ›
Names and references: STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0 · coordinates: OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding · CC BY 4.0

How we know the date

ISBE's Old Testament chronology (1915) gives 168 BC.

Written in-house from the sources below · every year is a quotation

The sources, word for word

“The most notable of these monarchs from the Jewish point of view was Antiochus Epiphanes, who reigned from 175 to 164, and in 168 gave occasion to the rise of the Maccabees by his many acts of impiety and oppression, particularly the desecration of the Jerusalem temple.”

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · CHRONOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT · gives 168 BC

Sources