Reply #27: If you like Knohl's hypothesis, feel free to defend it: I've provided a link to his paper in my #15 [View All]

[struggle4progress]

Should you need Josephus, for example, you can access his Wars here: http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/josephus.html

Josephus mentions several rebels/rulers named Shimon: there is, for example, Shimon, brother of Jonathon and successor of Judas, "slain at a feast by his son-in-law Ptolemy" (in I:2); in Perea, Shimon, "one of the servants to the king," killed when Gratus struck him in the neck (in II:4); the tyrant Shimon ben Giora (and with him Shimon ben Josas) who was captured by Terentius Rufus (in VII:2) and slain in the forum (in VII:5); and various minor figures like Idumean Shimon ben Cathlas and the zealot Shimon ben Jairus -- none of them (as far as I can tell) identified as claimants to the title messiah