This is the first published synopsis of 1 and 2 Maccabees. It includes not only all parallel sections of these two books but also Books 12-14 of Josephus' Jewish Antiquities to the extent that they are paralleled in 1 Maccabees or in the Jewish War. Thus the major sources for the history of Palestine from 175 to 37 B.C.E. are made available here together for the first time. The synopsis aims primarily to serve as a basic tool for the literary and historical analysis and comparison of the texts included. It shows, in most cases unequivocally, how the texts arranged here in parallel columns deal in different fashions with the same events. It assists the researcher in identifying and comparing different types of relations between various sections of these texts.