Name given to the temple of Jerusalem by Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 BC when he turned the holy place into a shrine for the chief of the pagan gods of Greece (2 Macc 6:2). Jews were forced to abandon ancestral customs and could no longer observe God’s law. The desecration included temple prostitution, forced cannibalism, and humiliation for the Jews.
Olympian Zeus, Temple of
From Tyndale Bible Dictionary, adapted by Mission Mutual. CC BY-SA 4.0.