Raphaëlle Ziadé's monograph deals with one aspect of the Christianisation of the Maccabean martyrs, their commemoration in Christian homilies and panegyric discourses in the fourth century ad. The main part of the book offers a thematic discussion of four speeches about the significance of the Maccabean martyrs, all dating from the second half of the fourth century: Discourse 15 of Gregory of Nazianzus, the two Homilies on the Maccabees (written between 386 and 397 ad) as well as the Homily on Eleazar and the seven infants by John Chrysostom (written c. 398 ad). Ziadé excluded Severus of Antioch's Homily on the Maccabees because it dates from a later period, as well as the third Homily on the Maccabees by John Chrystostom (PG l. 625–8), because it is probably inauthentic. The first part of the book offers an introduction to the martyrdom passages in 2 and 4 Maccabees as well as a survey of the Christian reception of these passages up to c. 250 ad.l The second section deals with the festival of the Maccabees in Antioch, Nazianzus and Constantinople as reflected in the panegyric discourses of John Chrysostom and Gregory of Nazianzus. The third part offers a thematic analysis of the discourses themselves. It focuses on the application of conventional epideictic rhetoric as well as the reinterpretation of vocabulary and themes from 4 Maccabees in particular (for example endurance, athletic imagery, the motif of motherly love, martyrdom as a triumph of spiritual fire and the imitation of the seven brothers' sacrifice for Christ). Ziadé's discussion of the Christian reception of 2 and 4 Maccabees offers a good survey of current scholarship. She shows in great detail how Gregory of Nazianzus and John Chrysostom built on rhetorical conventions already used in 4 Maccabees and elaborated many literary motifs from this writing. The mother clearly has become the most important Maccabean martyr for them. Gregory reinterpreted Eleazar as the spiritual father of the seven brothers. Ziadé's discussion of ‘the cult of the Maccabees’ in the second section of her book raises questions, because the literary evidence available for the reconstruction of this cult at Antioch, Nazianzus and Constantinople is open to several interpretations. Nevertheless, Ziadé's monograph is a very useful contribution to the study of the Christian reception of the Maccabean martyrdoms.