Ptolemy son of Abubus
Ptolemy son of Abubus
Primary sources
The only sources that survived from antiquity describing Ptolemy are the book of
Now Ptolemy son of Abubus had been appointed governor over the plain of Jericho; he had a large store of silver and gold, for he was son-in-law of the high priest. His heart was lifted up; he determined to get control of the country, and made treacherous plans against Simon and his sons, to do away with them. Now Simon was visiting the towns of the country and attending to their needs, and he went down to Jericho with his sons Mattathias and Judas, in the one hundred and seventy-seventh year (135 BC), in the eleventh month, which is the month of
Shebat. The son of Abubus received them treacherously in the little stronghold called Dok, which he had built; he gave them a great banquet, and hid men there. When Simon and his sons were drunk, Ptolemy and his men rose up, took their weapons, rushed in against Simon in the banqueting-hall and killed him and his two sons, as well as some of his servants. So he committed an act of great treachery and returned evil for good.Then Ptolemy wrote a report about these things and sent it to the king, asking him to send troops to aid him and to turn over to him the towns and the country. He sent other troops to Gazara to do away with John; he sent letters to the captains asking them to come to him so that he might give them silver and gold and gifts; and he sent other troops to take possession of Jerusalem and the temple hill. But someone ran ahead and reported to John at Gazara that his father and brothers had perished, and that 'he has sent men to kill you also.' When he heard this, he was greatly shocked; he seized the men who came to destroy him and killed them, for he had found out that they were seeking to destroy him.
— 1 Maccabees 16:11-22 (NRSV)[1]
The year 177 of the
One notable difference between the two accounts is the timing of the deaths of Simon's other sons Judas and Mattathias, two potential successors to the throne. According to 1 Maccabees, they too were killed by Ptolemy during the ambush. According to Josephus, they were instead taken captive, and only perished after the warfare between John Hyrcanus and Ptolemy. Daniel R. Schwartz prefers Josephus's version as more likely to be historically accurate; his argument is that the version in 1 Maccabees is politically convenient for John, leaving him blameless in failing to successfully ransom his brothers, as 1 Maccabees writes they were already dead anyway.[2]
In culture
Ptolemy is perhaps most famous for a reference to him in
Notes
- romanized: Ptolemaîos ho toû Aboúbou
References
- ^ 1 Maccabees 16:11–22
- ^ ISBN 978-0-300-15993-6.
- ISBN 9781781599464.
- ISBN 1565630491. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-8146-2210-0.
- ^ Alighieri, Dante (1949) [14th-century]. The Comedy of Dante Alighieri the Florentine: Hell. Translated by Sayers, Dorothy. Canto XXXIII translator notes, p. 282.
External links
The full text of The Antiquities of the Jews/Book XIII at Wikisource, Chapter 7- The full text of Canto 33 of Inferno at Wikisource, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1867 translation of The Divine Comedy into English
