Ptolemy son of Abubus

The only sources that survived from antiquity describing Ptolemy are the book of 1 Maccabees and Josephus's Jewish Antiquities Book 13, Chapter 7–8. According to them, Ptolemy was the cause of the death of High Priest Simon Thassi despite having married one of Simon's daughters:

Now Ptolemy son of Abubus had been appointed governor over the plain of Jericho; he had a large store of silver and gold, for he was son-in-law of the high priest. His heart was lifted up; he determined to get control of the country, and made treacherous plans against Simon and his sons, to do away with them. Now Simon was visiting the towns of the country and attending to their needs, and he went down to Jericho with his sons Mattathias and Judas, in the one hundred and seventy-seventh year (135 BC), in the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat. The son of Abubus received them treacherously in the little stronghold called Dok, which he had built; he gave them a great banquet, and hid men there. When Simon and his sons were drunk, Ptolemy and his men rose up, took their weapons, rushed in against Simon in the banqueting-hall and killed him and his two sons, as well as some of his servants. So he committed an act of great treachery and returned evil for good.

Then Ptolemy wrote a report about these things and sent it to the king, asking him to send troops to aid him and to turn over to him the towns and the country. He sent other troops to Gazara to do away with John; he sent letters to the captains asking them to come to him so that he might give them silver and gold and gifts; and he sent other troops to take possession of Jerusalem and the temple hill. But someone ran ahead and reported to John at Gazara that his father and brothers had perished, and that 'he has sent men to kill you also.' When he heard this, he was greatly shocked; he seized the men who came to destroy him and killed them, for he had found out that they were seeking to destroy him.

— 1 Maccabees 16:11-22 (NRSV)[1]

The year 177 of the Seleucid era during the month of Shevat would correspond to about February 135 BC. Based on these accounts, Ptolemy was hoping to launch a coup and take power for himself. After killing the High Priest and two potential successors, Ptolemy appealed to king of the Seleucid Empire Antiochus VII Sidetes (reigned 138 to 129 BC) to take his side. The succession crisis would allow him to be recognized as the new governor (ethnarch) of Judea by the Seleucids, who still maintained a suzerain-type relationship with the nascent Judean state. His marriage with a Hasmonean would have given him at least a partial claim to power. If this was his plan, then his assassins failing to kill Simon's remaining son John Hyrcanus and being executed themselves foiled it. According to Josephus, Ptolemy attempted to enter Jerusalem to take command but was thrown out by the hostile populace who had already acclaimed John as the new High Priest. He retreated to a fortress of his called Dagon by Josephus, which may have been the same as the Dok referred to in 1 Maccabees. There he was besieged by John and his armies. Somehow, Ptolemy took John Hyrcanus's mother (presumably also Simon's wife) captive, perhaps because she was with the entourage during the ambush. John's siege was unsuccessful, but Ptolemy decided to flee regardless, spitefully executed Hyrcanus's mother, and was forced into exile. He fled to Rabbath-Ammon, also known as Philadelphia. After that, his fate is unrecorded. [2][3]

Ptolemy is perhaps most famous for his appearance in Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy. In Inferno, Ptolemy is punished for the sin of treachery, which Dante saw as the gravest of all crimes, and resides in the ninth and deepest circle of Hell with Satan, Judas Iscariot, and Cain.[4] His memory is perpetuated in Dante's Inferno as 'Ptolemaea', a place in hell designated for traitors against guests in their home.[5]

• The full text of The Antiquities of the Jews/Book XIII at Wikisource, Chapter 7