Wikipedia's first sentence called it “syrian- seleucid general under the kings antiochus epiphanes and demetrius soter”. Today it says “syrian-greek general”.
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Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in 2025
Nicanor ( / n aɪ ˈ k eɪ n ər / ; Ancient Greek : Νικάνορ , romanized : Nīkā́nōr ; died 161 BCE) was a Syrian-Greek general ( strategos ) who served the Seleucid Empire during the reigns of kings Antiochus IV Epiphanes and Demetrius I Soter . He served during the Maccabean Revolt in Judea, then part of the Seleucid Empire, and served for a time as governor in Jerusalem. Relations between the government and the Jewish rebels eventually turned sufficiently hostile that he threatened the priests at the Second Temple and led an army to find and defeat Judas Maccabeus 's followers, but he and his army were defeated at the Battle of Adasa . Nicanor was killed, his corpse was desecrated, his head and right hand hung for public display back in Jerusalem, and a new festival was declared to celebrate his defeat. As Seleucid literature was ultimately not preserved, almost all of what is known of Nicanor comes from the Jewish books 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees . These books were preserved by becoming part of the Septuagint , a collection of Jewish writings in Greek that would serve to become the basis of the Christian Old Testament.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1293074139.
The opening as it stood in 2010
BC - died 161 BC; pronounced ni-ka'-nor, ni'-ka-nor (Nikanor) was a Syrian- Seleucid General under Antiochus Epiphanes and Demetrius Soter .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 368692026.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Nicanor ( / n aɪ ˈ k eɪ n ə r / ; died 161 BC) was a Syrian- Seleucid General under Antiochus Epiphanes and Demetrius Soter .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 608019684.
The opening as it stood in 2020
( Learn how and when to remove this message ) Nicanor ( / n aɪ ˈ k eɪ n ər / ; Nīkā́nōr ; died 161 BC) was a Syrian- Seleucid General under the kings Antiochus Epiphanes and Demetrius Soter .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 959874877.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “syrian- seleucid general under the kings antiochus epiphanes and demetrius soter”. Today it says “syrian-greek general”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since October 7, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
syrian- seleucid general under the kings antiochus epiphanes and demetrius soter
Now
syrian-greek general
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
