Jason of Cyrene

Jason of Cyrene (Greek: Ἰάσων κυρήναιος) was a - probably Jewish - historiographer of the Hellenistic period, who lived around 100 BC. Lived. He wrote a history of the Maccabees and their wars against Antiochus IV , Antiochus V and Demetrios I up to their victory over Nikanor in 161 BC. Chr.

Jason's five-book work has been lost, but served as the basis for the 2nd Book of the Maccabees , which thus reveals itself as epitome ( 2 Macc 2.23 EU ). Jason himself and his work are only mentioned there in the preface, but are otherwise unknown, which led to discussions about the historicity of Jason.

To what extent and under what interventions or transformations Jason's work was used for the 2nd Book of the Maccabees cannot be determined.

swell

Felix Jacoby : The Fragments of the Greek Historians . Part 2 B. Weidmann, Berlin 1929, p. 910 fragment 182.

literature

Felix Jacoby: Jason 10. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen antiquity (RE). Volume IX, 1, Stuttgart 1914, Col. 778-780.
Felix Jacoby: The Fragments of the Greek Historians . Part 2 D. Weidmann, Berlin 1930, pp. 60-67 (commentary).

personal data
SURNAME	Jason of Cyrene
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Cyrenaeus, Jason; κυρήναιος, Ἰάσων (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Hellenistic Jewish author
DATE OF BIRTH	2nd century BC BC or 1st century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	1st century BC Chr.