Simon (2)

Si'mon (Σίμων), a name of frequent occurrence in Jewish history in the post- Babylonian period. We here present those found in the Apocrypha, the New. Test., and Josephus. It is doubtful whether it was borrowed from the Greeks, with whom it was not uncommon, or whether it was a contraction of the Hebrew Shimeon, i.e. SIMEON. That the two names were regarded as identical appears from 1 Macc. 2:65.

1. SIMON CHOSAMAEUS, a name that erroneously appears in 1 Esdr. 9:32, in place of the four names "Shimeon, Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah" of the Hebrew text (Ezr 10:31-32). "Chosamaeus" is apparently formed by combining the last letter of Malluch with the first part of the following name, Shemariah.

2. Second son of Mattathias and last survivor of the Maccabaean brothers. See MACCABEE, 4.