Place
Modi'in מודיעין
the town of Mattityahu; here the revolt began
Modi'in lay in the foothills between Jerusalem and the coastal plain—far enough from the capital for a royal officer to come there looking for an exemplary obedience, and close enough to the hills for rebels to have somewhere to go.
Shimon raised over the graves of his father and brothers a monument of seven pyramids with columns and carved ships, "that they might be seen by all who sail the sea". Neither monument nor the exact site of the tomb survives today; the identification with the village of el-Midya is accepted but not proved.
On the timeline
Sources
Documents of the period
- 1 Maccabees 2:1 — Mattityahu settled in Modi'in
- 1 Maccabees 13:25–30 — the monument of seven pyramids with carved ships
Basis: tradition.