The Books of the Maccabees report several confrontations between Judas Maccabaeus and a military commander named Timotheus. In the I Maccabees description of the expeditions Judas Maccabaeus conducted to rescue the Jews of Transjordania, Timotheus is the leader of the enemy camp defeated three times by the Jews. The first campaign, to Ammanitis, is described only briefly: Judas Maccabaeus defeated Timotheus, conquered Iazer, and returned to Judaea (5.6–8). In the second expedition, to Gilead (Galaaditis), the Jewish commander made a surprise assault on Timotheus’ men, who were besieging the ‘fortress’ (apparently Dathema, see 5.9–13) and threw them into a panic (5.29–34). After Timotheus reorganized his forces, another clash between the sides took place near Karnayim; Timotheus’ army was defeated, his men took refuge in Karnayim, and Judas Maccabaeus conquered the place (536–45). Timotheus is mentioned in three separate places in II Maccabees as well. He first appears together with a commander named Bacchides in an episode that became interposed in the description of the battle against Nicanor and Gorgias, that is, the battle of Ammaus (8.30–3). According to the text, the battle ended with a decisive victory, the death of one of the enemy subcommanders, the capture of forts, and the distribution of spoils and their transfer to Jerusalem. The second episode comes later, after the report on the purification of the Temple (10.24–38): Timotheus gathered some mercenaries and ‘Asian horses’ in order to conquer Judaea (10.24), Judas Maccabaeus prayed ‘before the altar’ and set out to meet the foe ‘very far from the city’ (10.27).