Matteya ben Heresh orMattithiah (Hebrew:מתיא בן חרש) was aRomantanna of the 2nd century.

He was born inJudea, probably a pupil ofR. Ishmael, and certainly a contemporary and friend of his pupilsR. Josiah andR. Jonathan.

After his ordination Mattithiah went to Rome, apparently on account of the persecution byHadrian; there he founded a school and a Jewish court which soon became prominent.

He associated with the Judean scholars who visitedRome and sought instruction from them—from R.Simeon bar Yoḥai and R.Eleazar ben Jose, for instance. A later legend in theMidrash Abkir represents him as victoriously resisting a temptation placed in his path bySatan.

Halakhic sentences by him have been preserved which show his desire to make theSabbath laws less rigorous insofar as their fulfillment by the sick was concerned. He seems, however, to have devoted himself chiefly to theAggadah; a number of his homiletic sentences, especially to theBook of Exodus, are extant. He has a maxim in thePirkei Avot: "Meet each man with friendly greeting; be the tail among lions rather than the head among foxes".^[1]

• Z. Frankel, Darke ha-Mishnah, pp. 130 et seq.;
• Heinrich Grätz, Gesch. 3d ed., iv. 285;
• W. Bacher, Ag. Tan. i. 385 et seq.;
• Hermann Vogelstein andPaul Rieger,Geschichte der Juden in Rom, i. 110 et seq

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