How Old is Chanuka?

According to the book SEDER HADOROT HAKATZAR by MK HaRav Shlomo Benizri, the miracle of Chanuka took place in the year 3622 - that's 2139 year ago. Chanuka is old. But Chanuka-in-formation is much older.
The Gemara in Avoda Zara tells us what happened 5761 years ago, just a few months after Creation. Adam HaRishon noticed that the days were getting shorter, day after day, and that the nights were getting longer. He realized that if the trend continued, the world would cease to exist. And he blamed himself. He thought that the punishment for his having eaten from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was the return of the world to chaos and darkness. He took upon himself an eight-day period of fasting and prayer.

The Gemara continues to tell us that when the days began to lengthen and the nights shorten, Adam realized that he was witnessing a natural cycle of the world. He rejoiced and celebrated the increasing light with an 8-day festival. The generations that followed took Adam's mid-winter festival, which Adam celebrated "for the sake of Heaven" and perverted it to pagan practices. For more than 3600 years, there was a Chanuka-potential in an 8 day midwinter celebrating light. Distorted all those years, until the Jewish People restored Adam's holiday to its original intent — a thank you to G-d.
The next two elements of Chanuka-in-formation come from this week's sedra, the pre-Chanuka Torah reading (or pre-pre-). The events of the sedra took place in 2205 to Creation, still more than 1400 years before Chanuka-realization. Yaakov Avinu has successful encounters and battles with Lavan and Eisav (and Sar shel Eisav). This creates the potential for victory of Bnei Yisrael over its enemies — this time, the Greeks. 

Back to Creation for a moment. The Darkness over the face of the Void, says the Midrash, is Greece. That which dispels that darkness is LIGHT, the 25th word of the Torah, and 3622 years later, the light of the Chashmona'im on the 25th of Kislev. Chanuka-in-potential. 

Back to Yaakov Avinu. He searched for a small flask of oil. On a MAASEH AVOT SIMAN L'BANIM level, this sets in motion (perhaps) that which was realized centuries later when the Chashmona'im searched for oil to light the Menora in the Beit HaMikdash.

On another level, the battles of Yaakov with those from the outside who would seek to destroy him, soon moves inside. With next week's sedra, the enemy is not "us and them" but sadly, "us and us". This too establishes a potential for the brother angainst brother fighting that also characterized the pre-Chanuka time. Chanuka might be a mere 2000 years plus old, but its themes and potential are literally as old as the hills.