Simon the Zealot (, ) or Simon the Canaanite or Simon the Canaanean (, ; ; ; ) was one of the most obscure among the apostles of Jesus. A few pseudepigraphical writings were connected to him, but Saint Jerome does not include him in De viris illustribus written between 392 and 393 AD. Identity The name Simon occurs in all of the Synoptic Gospels and the Book of Acts each time there is a list of apostles, without further details: The Zealot To distinguish him from Simon Peter he is called Kananaios or Kananites, depending on the manuscript ( ), and in the list of apostles in Luke 6:15, repeated in Acts 1:13, Zelotes, the "Zealot". Both Kananaios and Kananites derive from the Hebrew word קנאי qanai, meaning zealous, although Jerome and others mistook the word to signify the apostle was from the town of קנה Cana, in which case his epithet would have been "Kanaios", or even from the region of כנען Canaan. As such, the translation of the word as "the Cananite" or "the Canaanite" is without contemporary extra-canonic parallel. Robert Eisenman has argued that contemporary talmudic references to Zealots refer to them as kanna'im "but not really as a group—rather as avenging priests in the Temple". Eisenman's broader conclusions, that the zealot element in the original apostle group was disguised and overwritten to make it support the assimilative Pauline Christianity of the Gentiles, are more controversial. John P. Meier argues that the term "Zealot" is a mistranslation and in the context of the Gospels means "zealous" or "religious" (in this case, for keeping the Law of Moses), as the Zealot movement apparently did not exist until 30 to 40 years after the events of the Gospels. However, neither Brandon nor Hengel support this view. Other identifications In the gospels Simon the Zealot is not identified with Simon the brother of Jesus mentioned in Mark 6:3: The Catholic Encyclopedia suggests that Simon the Zealot may be the same person as Simeon of Jerusalem or Simon the brother of Jesus or both. He would then be the cousin of Jesus or a son of Joseph from a previous marriage. Another tradition holds that this is the Simeon of Jerusalem who became the second bishop of Jerusalem, although he was born in Galilee. Later tradition Isidore of Seville drew together the accumulated anecdotes of Simon in De Vita et