It has been written about him “the most prominent of the twelve Apostles mentioned in the Gospel and an outstanding leader in the early church.”
Simon, or Symeon, was a common name used by Greeks, Romans and Hebrews.

He was a native of Bethsaida (John1:44) son of Johnah. He and his brother Andrew were fishermen, partners with James and John and their father Zebedee, (Mark1: 16-20 and Luke5: 1-11).
Jesus changed the name of Simon, according to Peter (Luke 6:14), and Andrew (his brother) into Cephas -an Aramaic word that means “rock”.
The Greek translation of that word is Petros or Peter.

Simon Peter with James and John were privileged among the twelve, as Jesus always selected them to be with him in special missions and events.
They were with him on the mountain during his transfiguration and at the house of Jayrus, where Jesus raised his daughter from the dead.
Peter and his brother of Andrew, made their living through fishing on the Sea_of_Galilee (also called the Lake of Gennesaret).
This lake of water surrounded by mountains on the north, was the scene of Jesus’ first encounters with the disciples.
The Sea of Galilee became his Galilean home. In fact, Jesus moved from Nazareth to live in Capernaum (Matthew4: 12,13).

Peter was considered sometimes impetuous and outspoken, but If Peter expressed his thoughts quickly, the Holy Spirit used those thoughts and words to teach us some very important lessons about relating to Jesus as his disciple.
Simon Peter was married, as Paul indicates that Peter took his wife with him on some of his apostolic travels (1Corinthians 9:5).
It is also obvious that his mother in law lived with him, as it is mentioned in (Mark 1: 23-34) that Jesus healed his mother-in-law.

Peter is a great disciple because he is a great learner.
He fails many times over the course of his life, but he never fails to learn his lesson and press on to become a faithful and fruitful disciple.
This of course, shows how much he is humble and always ready to deny himself; bare the cross and follow Jesus. So he is a good model of a good “Follower”.

A study about the culture he was living in was essential to be able to illustrate an approximate picture of the facts that happened in the days of Jesus. That culture is almost the same culture we are living in, in the Middle East today:
– Zeal towards ideologies, which Simon shows in preserving Jewish traditions and teachings.
– Passion in family relations, that exhibits a lot of worries about others, which to my estimation, could have led him to worry about his brother Andrew and go searching for him.
–  Hospitality, where families are invited for a gathering to celebrate events and good seasons.