3 Maccabees

3 Maccabees is a book in the Old Testament of the Eastern Orthodox Bible, but not accepted by Catholics or Protestants, who both class it as part of the Apocrypha, nor by Jews. The books 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees are both accepted as biblical by Catholics. This book, despite its name, is not concerned with the Maccabeus brothers and their revolt against the and its rule over ancient Israel. Rather, it describes the persecution of the Jews in Egypt under the rule of Pharaoh Ptolemy IV, who was of the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty that ruled Egypt following the disintegration of the empire of Alexander the Great. This book was likely named Maccabees due to the common element of Greek persecutions, including martyrdoms.