Jonathan Apphus (Hebrew: Yōnāṯān ʾApfūs; Ancient Greek: Ἰωνάθαν Ἀπφοῦς, Iōnáthan Apphoûs) was one of the sons of Mattathias and the leader of the Hasmonean dynasty of Judea from 161 to 143 BCE. Name H J Wolf notes that all of Mattathias' sons listed in had double names: John is said to have been called Gaddis; Simon, Thassi; Judas, Maccabeus; Eleazar, Avaran and Jonathan, Apphus. Jewish historian Uriel Rappaport asserts that "we do not have an explanation for the nicknames of Mattathias' sons". Wolf suggests that the name was given to him by Mattathias and that the common explanation of the word "Apphus" relates it to the Syriac choppus, "the dissembler". The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia's article on the Maccabees suggests the meaning is "the wary", but Torrey (in the Encyclopedia Biblica article, "Maccabees") points out that we have no means of ascertaining with what guttural consonant the word began, or what Semitic consonant the Greek "s" represents, and so "both the form and meaning of the name are, therefore, still to be explained". Leader of the Jews According to the narrative in 1 Maccabees, Jonathan Apphus was the youngest of the five sons of Mattathias. His father was a priest credited as the founding figure of the rebellion of the Maccabees against Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Seleucid Empire. However Mattathias died in 167 BCE while the rebellion was only beginning. He was survived by Jonathan and his brothers Eleazar Avaran, Johanan (John Gaddi), Judah Maccabee, and Simon Thassi. They were sworn to continue the rebellion of their father. Judah soon became their leader and the military chief of the rebellion. Jonathan served under his brother and took active parts in the battles against the Seleucid forces. Judah fell in the Battle of Elasa (161/160 BCE) against Bacchides, a Seleucid general under Demetrius I Soter. Bacchides proceeded with crushing rigor against the Maccabean party while at the same time a famine broke out in the land. The Jewish rebels required a new leader and Jonathan was chosen. Jonathan noticed that Bacchides was trying to entrap him. He reacted by retiring with his brothers Simon and John, and his followers to a desert region in the country east of the Jordan River. They set camp near a morass by the name of Asphar. But Bacchides followed him there and overtook them during Shabbat. Jonathan gave all the baggage into the hands