Jason of Cyrene


Jason of Cyrene was a Hellenistic Jew who lived about 100 BC and wrote a history of the times of the Maccabees down to the victory over Nicanor. This work is said to have been in five books and formed the basis of the present 2 Maccabees. See 2 Maccabees, especially:
The original work is lost, and known only in the epitome made by the author of 2 Maccabees. The author of 2 Maccabees has confessedly exercised much freedom. Not only was Jason's work abridged, but also added to, and probably altered.