Product Code Database
Simon Thassi ( Šīməʿōn haTassī; died 135) was the second son of Mattathias and the first prince of the Hasmonean dynasty. He reigned from 142 to 135.
After the capture of Jonathan by the Seleucid general Diodotus Tryphon, Simon was elected leader by the people, assembled at Jerusalem. He at once completed the fortification of the capital, and made Jaffa secure. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk. 13, Ch. 6, § 4.
At Hadid he blocked the advance of Tryphon, who was attempting to enter the country and seize the throne of Syria. Realizing he could gain nothing by force, Tryphon demanded a ransom for Jonathan and for the release of Jonathan's sons as hostages. Although Simon was aware that Tryphon would deceive him, both Josephus and 1 Maccabees state that he acceded to both demands so that the people might see that he had done everything possible for his brother. Jonathan was nevertheless treacherously assassinated, and the hostages were not returned. Simon thus became the sole leader of the people.
As an opponent of Diodotus Tryphon, Simon decided to side with the Seleucid king, Demetrius II, to whom he sent a deputation requesting freedom from taxation for the country. The fact that his request was granted implied recognition of the political independence of Judea.
He became the first prince of the Hasmonean dynasty. He reigned from 142 to 135.
The Hasmonean dynasty was established by a resolution, adopted in 141 at a large assembly "of the priests and the people and of the elders of the land, to the effect that Simon should be their leader and high priest forever, until there should arise a faithful prophet". Recognition of the new dynasty by the Roman Republic was accorded by the Senate about 139, when the delegation representing Simon was in Rome. Simon had made the Jewish people semi-independent of the Seleucid Empire.
In February 135, Simon and his two sons Mattathias and Judah were assassinated at a banquet at Dok by his son-in-law Ptolemy, the Seleucid governor at Jericho. Simon's third son John Hyrcanus succeeded him as high priest and ruler of Judea but was unable to capture Ptolemy, initially because the latter held John's mother hostage, and subsequently because his army disbanded in observance of the custom at the time of resting every seventh year.
|-
|
|
