This work exists in both Aramaic and Hebrew; the Hebrew version is a literal translation from the Aramaic original. It was published for the first time in Mantova in 1557. The Hebrew text with an English translation can be found in the Siddur of Philip Birnbaum. The first known text is in a Siddur from Salonika, published in 1568.
There are several theories as to its authorship. Recent scholarship dates Megillat Antiochus to somewhere between the 2nd and 5th Centuries, probably in the 2nd Century, with the Hebrew dating to the seventh century. The scroll is first mentioned by Simeon Kayyara (ca. 825 CE) in Halakhot Gedolot. Saadia Gaon, who translated it into Arabic in the 9th Century, ascribed it to the Maccabees themselves, with a final section added later. The Geonim thought the authors were the House of Shammai and the House of Hillel. Hakham Moses Gaster argued for a 1st century BCE date. Louis Ginzberg, writing in the Jewish Encyclopedia, indicates that this megilla is a "spurious work" based on unhistorical sources, with the exception of its plagiarism of certain passages from First Book of the Maccabees. Nevertheless, it was held in very high esteem by Saadia Gaon, Nissim ben Jacob, and others.
During the Middle Ages, Megillat Antiochus was read in the Italian synagogues on Hanukkah just as the Book of Esther is read on Purim. It still forms part of the liturgy of the Yemenite Jews: the Baladi rite included this scroll as part of the prayer service for Hanukkah, since at one time it was customary to teach it to young schoolchildren during Hanukkah.
The Books of the Maccabees are entirely different from this work. These books are relatively lengthy, and of the four books only the first two deal with the activities of Matitiyahu the Maccabee (Mattathias) and his sons in general, and of Judah the Maccabee in particular. The rest of the books bear this name because other heroic deeds are recounted there, but have nothing to do with Judah the Maccabee and his brothers. Moreover, 1-4 Maccabees survives only in Greek. 1 Maccabees was probably originally composed in Hebrew; the other three books of the Maccabees were originally written in Greek .