Shimon the Maccabee שמעון המכבי

His father named Shimon as counsellor: "he shall be a father to you." So it proved—he outlived four brothers and finished what they began. In AM 3618 Demetrius II lifted the tribute from Judea, and the chronicler wrote: "the yoke of the nations was taken off Israel, and the people began to write in their contracts and deeds: in the first year of Shimon, great High Priest, commander and leader of the Jews." That is what independence looks like in the language of documents.

He took the Akra—the Greek fortress that had stood over the Temple for thirty years—and levelled it. In AM 3621 a great assembly of priests, elders and people declared him High Priest, commander and ruler "for ever, until a faithful prophet should arise." That clause is the only lawful ground of Hasmonean rule and at the same time an admission that it was provisional.

Ramban would later put it harshly: kingship belonged to the tribe of Judah by Jacob's blessing, and the Hasmoneans were Levites—and therefore their whole house perished. Shimon perished first: his son-in-law Ptolemy invited him and two of his sons to a feast in the fortress of Dok near Jericho and killed all three. A third son, Yochanan, escaped.