I. Name

The name Simōn, although Greek, was not uncommon among Jews and Samaritans. It was even substituted for Symeōn, the usual and indeclensionable form of the Semitic Šimʿôn; thus, the original name of Jesus’ disciple, Peter, is mostly written Simōn (e.g. Mark 1.16), although the correct form, Symeōn, is also found (e.g. Acts 15.14). The sobriquet magos could be used to denote a Persian or Babylonian expert in astrology (cf. the magoi in Matt. 2), but it was also the name for a magician (BAGD 486A). Simon…