¹⁵ Οἱ Ἀσαμωναίου παῖδες: one of Josephus’ terms for the Hasmonean dynasty, which created and governed an independent Judean state from about 140 to 63 BCE (cf. Ant. 20.190, 347); elsewhere οἱ Ἀσαμωναῖοι ( War 2.344; 5.139) or τὸ Ἀσαμωναίων γένος ( Ant. 15.403). Some rabbinic literature uses an equivalent term: יאנומשח ינב ( m. Mid. 1.6). Although Josephus assumes that the family name comes from a patriarch named Asamonaeus, that name does not appear in the earlier texts—1 and 2 Maccabees—even in the family tree of Mattathias, the father of the 5 Hasmonean brothers (1 Macc 2.1). There, instead, Mattathias’ grandfather is named Simeon (= Shim`on). Possibly Asamoneus ( ןומשח) reflected the Hebrew original, corrupted to Shim`on ( ןועמש) and so Simeon in our Greek texts (Wellhasen 1874:94 n.; Schürer-Vermes 1.194 n. 14). Another possibility is that יאנמשח was a personal nick-name (meaning unknown) of Mattathias in the Hebrew original, matching the nick-names of his sons (Goldstein 1976:17-19). Evidently, Josephus has access to traditions about the Hasmoneans other than those in 1 and 2 Maccabees.