Niese Section 1

» Now

» in my case, my ancestry

» is rather distinguished,

» having originated with priests

» long ago. Just as the basis of noble birth

» is different among various [nations], so also among us membership

» in the priesthood is a certain proof

» of an ancestry’s brilliance.

Niese Section 2

» my ancestry is not merely from priests; it is also from the first day-course of the twenty-four

» —an enormous distinction, this

» —and indeed, from the most élite

» of the divisions

» within this [course]. Further,

» I have a share of royal ancestry from my mother

» because the children of Asamoneus,

» of whom she was a descendant,

» for a very long time served as high priests and exercised the kingship of our nation.

Niese Section 3

» I shall state

» the succession,

» then. Our patriarch was Simon, who was surnamed Psellus.

» This man lived in the period when the son of the high priest Simon

» served as high priest—he was the first of the high priests named Hyrcanus.

Niese Section 4

» Simon Psellus had* nine children. [One] of these was* Matthias,

» known as “of Epheus.”

» This man took for himself

» the daughter of the high priest Ionathes

» children of Asamonaeus’ ancestry to serve as high priest and the brother of Simon the high priest

» —into marriage. Then in the first year of Hyrcanus’ rule,

» he [Matthias] had* a child Matthias, surnamed Curtus.

Niese Section 5

» From this man came* Josephus,

» in the ninth year of Alexandra’s rule;

» from Josephus, Matthias, in the tenth year of Archelaus’ reign;

» and I from Matthias, in the first year of Gaius Caesar’s

» imperium.

» I have three sons: Hyrcanus,

» the oldest, from the fourth year,

» Iustus

» from the eighth year,

» and Agrippa

» from the ninth year

» of Vespasian Caesar.

Niese Section 6

» I thus present the succession

» of our ancestry as I have found it recorded in the public registers,

» sending a greeting

» to those who try to malign us.