Did They Plan to Capture Yashar'al and Sell Them as Slaves to Pay Money Owed to Rome?

Primary: 2 Maccabees 8:8–11 · Period: Maccabean resistance

What the ancient record says

A military campaign involving Nicanor; the text gives a financial motive, Nicanor planned to raise money owed by the king to the Romans by selling captured Yahudim into slavery. Word was sent to coastal cities inviting buyers, with a proposed slave price.

People were assigned an anticipated market value; buyers contacted before the campaign succeeded; captives expected to become merchandise. This does not mean every Seleucid war was fought to sell slaves (claim belongs to the Nicanor episode).

Rome is mentioned because proceeds were meant for the king's Roman obligation, that does not mean Rome ordered this enslavement operation; those are different claims, kept separate.