One of the questions that bothered me for a long time about Chanuka was the text of Al Hanisim. It makes no mention whatsoever of the miracle of the oil. How can it be that the only addition to the davening that we make for Chanuka makes no mention of the main miracle of Hanuka? As I got older, I found out that that neither Maccabees I nor Maccabees II make any mention of the miracle of the oil. In fact, Maccabees II offers the following explanation for the celebration of 8 days of Chanuka:
And they celebrated it for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the feast of booths, remembering how not long before, during the feast of booths, they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals. Therefore bearing ivy-wreathed wands and beautiful branches and also fronds of palm, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to him who had given success to the purifying of his own holy place. They decreed by public ordinance and vote that the whole nation of the Jews should observe these days every year
It is only the Talmud Bavli some 600 years after the events that first mentions the miracle of the oil. According to R' Dr. David Berger the talmud is the only source for this miracle, it is not mentioned in any other source.
Of course there are various apologetics to explain this but IMHO the simplest answer is that there was no miracle of oil but rather they celebrated 8 days commemorating the war victory and rededication of the Beis Hamikdash and the miracle of the oil was "invented" later". It is well known that many cultures have a festival of lights around the winter solstice, therefore the celebration of the military victory/rededictaion probably involved lights as well. After the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash and the loss of sovereignty the Rabbis decided to invent the miracle of the oil to justify continuing the celebration of Chanuka.
It's also that the Rabbonim didn't like the Chashmonaim, and went out of their way to obliterate Chamonai festivals. The Chashmonaim in the later days of the dynasty were comepletely Hellenized, and it was a civil war between Chashmonai heirs that brought the Romans to Judeas. The Rabbonim turned the victory celebration of Yom Niccanor into Taanis Esther, and the victory celebration of Chanukah into a celebration of a miracle.
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