**The [[Tradition]] of [[Martyrdom]]:** Scholars note that early Hebrew scriptures rarely feature heroes dying purely as a public witness for their [[Faith]]. However, during the Maccabean period (2nd century BCE), Jewish literature began adopting the dramatic patterns of **Greek tragedy**. The ideal of the [[Noble]] martyr who delivers a defiant final speech and dies righteously for the Sacred Law is heavily rooted in the emotional grammar of Athenian theater.