Tobiads

View of Qasr al-Abd ("Castle of the Servant"), an important structure of the Tobiad estate in today's Iraq al-Amir ("Caverns of the Prince").

The Tobiads were a Jewish dynasty in Ammon with origins possibly rooted in the First Temple Period, both literary and archaeological evidence point to their prominence during the rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty and at the beginning of the Hasmonean period. They were philhellene, supporters of Hellenistic Judaism, in the early years of the 2nd century BCE.

What is known about the Tobiads is a combination of references in the Zenon Papyri, accounts of Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews xii. 160-236) and the Books of Maccabees. These are supplemented by biblical references, the letters from Nimrud, the Lachish letters, and archaeological remains of the Tobiad estate in Iraq al-Amir.