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The story of Gviha Ben-Psisa and Alexander the Great is a rabbinic myth. The mythical Alexander represents the historical Pompey. Gviha, on the other hand, is a fully historical figure (a grandson of Jonathan Maqabi and great-grandfather of Josephus). The myth emerged out of the realities and anxieties created by the rise of Hasmonean imperialism under Hyrkanos I and his sons, and by its collapse at the hands of Pompey. It defends the Jewish rights over Eretz Israel by establishing the Torah as a source of legitimacy in international law. The myth also reflects Jewish ambivalence towards Pompey: at once a defiler and a preserver of the Temple.

In his masterful translation and commentary on the Second Book of Maccabees, Daniel Schwartz devotes a short appendix to the historicity of the information provided in chapter 6, verse 7:ἤγοντο δὲ μετὰ πικρᾶς ἀνάγκης εἰς τὴν κατὰ μῆνα τοῦ βασιλέως γενέθλιον ἡμέραν ἐπὶ σπλαγχισμόν, γενομένης δὲ Διονυσίων ἑορτῆς ἠναγκάζοντο κισσοὺς ἔχοντες πομπεύειν τΔιονύσῳ.And with bitter compulsion they were led each month to a banquet for the King's birthday, and as there was a Dionysia festival, they were forced to parade carrying ivy in honor of Dionysos.In the opening paragraph of his discussion of the verse, Schwartz states: “This verse refers to two elements in Antiochus’ persecution in Jerusalem: monthly celebrations of the king's birthday and the cult of Dionysus. Concerning both there is room to suspect that they reflect the Ptolemaic context of our author more than the realities of Seleucid Jerusalem.” In other words, he doubts the historicity of the information provided in the verse, making it an imaginative creation either by Jason of Kyrene or by the anonymous redactor of 2 Macc.

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The identity and chronology of Shim῾on ha-Şadiq have been a subject of ongoing controversy for centuries. Three possible candidates have been suggested as Shim῾on ha-Şadiq: Shim῾on I and Shim῾on II—Şadoqite high-priests at both ends of the third century BC, as well as Shim῾on the Hasmonean. A re-examination of the evidence shows that the rabbinic Shim῾on ha-Şadiq cannot be identified exclusively with any of these candidates. Rather, he is a mythical persona based, to varying degrees, on all three. Rabbinic Shim῾on ha-Şadiq thus represents the swansong of the Şadoqite dynasty in Jerusalem, and the rare respite from major violent conflict, enjoyed by the inhabitants of Eretz-Israel for the most part of the third century. It is the mythical nature of Shim῾on that enabled later rabbinic authors to connect his name with other, much later, historical events.