4 Maccabees, also called the Fourth Book of Maccabees and possibly originally known as On the Sovereignty of Reason, is a book written in Koine Greek, likely in the 1st or early 2nd century. It is a homily or philosophic discourse praising the supremacy of pious reason over passion. It is a work that combines Hellenistic Judaism with influence from Greek philosophy, particularly the school of Stoicism. The work is largely an elaboration of the stories of martyrdom in the book 2 Maccabees: that of the woman with seven sons and the scribe Eleazar, who are tortured to death by Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes in an attempt to make them renounce their adherence to Judaism. What 2 Maccabees covered in one chapter and a half, 4 Maccabees extends to a full 14 chapters of dialogue and philosophical discussion. 4 Maccabees recasts the story as one of reason and logic: the martyrs will be rewarded in the afterlife, so it is rational to continue to obey Jewish law, even at the risk of torture and death. Synopsis The work consists of a prologue and two main sections. The first advances the philosophical thesis on the basis of examples from the Law of Moses and the biblical tradition while the second illustrates the points made using examples drawn from 2 Maccabees: the martyrdom of Eleazar and the woman with seven sons under King Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Seleucid Empire. The last chapters concern the author's impressions drawn from these martyrdoms. It has been suggested that, while 2 Maccabees was written with appeals to emotion, sentiment, and drama (pathos), 4 Maccabees considerably more intellectual about the matter. The martyred woman calmly debates her captors, explaining why her actions are rational given God's promise of rewards in the afterlife, akin to arguments favored by Stoic philosophy. The author of 4 Maccabees still appreciates the power of arousing emotions, however. The work goes into more grisly detail concerning the martyrdoms themselves than 2 Maccabees; "even now, we ourselves shudder as we hear of the suffering of these young men" (4 Maccabees 14:9). The author has the clear rhetorical intent of arousing admiration and emulation of these examples of devotion to the Jewish law. The work is in fluent and complicated Greek using the rhetorical argumentative style of the time. Harry Orlinsky describes it as "an elaborate variation, in philosophical and highly dramatic vein,