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OId. c. 170 BCE
Person · Historical

Onias III

High priest of Jerusalem in the early 2nd century BCE

Office
High priest of the Jerusalem Temple, until 175 BCE
Deposed by
His brother Jason, under Antiochus IV
Died
Murdered near Antioch (2 Maccabees 4)
Main sources
2 Maccabees 3–4; Josephus

The pious high priest who, in 2 Maccabees, prayed for Heliodorus after the minister was struck down while trying to seize the Temple treasury.

What is Onias III known for?

Onias III was high priest in Jerusalem under the Seleucid kings in the early second century BCE. 2 Maccabees presents him as a model of piety whose rule kept the city at peace.

In 2 Maccabees 3, after the Temple officer Simon reports the treasury's wealth, Seleucus IV sends his minister Heliodorus to take it. Onias and the city plead and pray. Heliodorus is attacked in the Temple by a horseman in golden armor and two young men, and falls nearly dead. Onias offers a sacrifice for his recovery, and the young men reappear to tell Heliodorus he owes his life to the high priest.

When Antiochus IV took the throne in 175 BCE, Onias was displaced by his Hellenizing brother Jason. According to 2 Maccabees, he later took refuge at Daphne near Antioch and was murdered there by Andronicus at the instigation of the new high priest Menelaus, around 171 to 170 BCE. Josephus tells a different story, linking an Onias to the Jewish temple built at Leontopolis in Egypt; scholars think he may have confused Onias III with his son.

Why it is on Credible Theories

He is the high priest whose prayers and sacrifice frame the story of Heliodorus and the heavenly horseman.

Mentioned on these pages

Sources

  1. Wikipedia, 'Onias III'Reference
  2. 2 Maccabees 3 (RSV), Bible GatewayPrimary text
  3. 2 Maccabees 4 (RSV), Bible GatewayPrimary text

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