Were People Actually Burned to Death While Secretly Observing Shabbath?

Primary: 2 Maccabees 6:11 · Context: 1 Maccabees 1:45 · Period: Antiochus IV

What the ancient record says

People gathered secretly in caves to observe the seventh day, not assembling an army, hiding to continue a dangerous observance. Their hiding place was reported to Philip; they were burned together, the account connecting their refusal to defend themselves with their regard for the day.

Enforcement reached people who had withdrawn from public view. Setting agrees with 1 Maccabees (Shabbath among targeted practices): a broader prohibition in one witness, a specific enforcement narrative in another.

What we can and cannot prove

No official execution order naming the group; the cave-burning is ancient literary testimony in 2 Maccabees.