Difference between revisions of "Category:Phannias ben Samuel (subject)"

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'''Phannias ben Samuel''' (Phanasus, Phanni) was the last Jewish High Priest in 68?-70? during the [[Jewish War]].
*DICTIONARY: see [[Phannias ben Samuel]]
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Phannias ben Samuel (sources)]]


==Biography==
''Phannias ben Samuel'' was appointed High Priest by lot by the Zealots who had taken control of the Temple, succeeding [[Matthias ben Theophilus]].


The appointment of a new high priest intended to signal the complete independence of the Temple from any external authority, in particular from [[Herod Agrippa II]] who had sided with the Romans. The decision to choose the high priest by lot, however, represented a dramatic tear also with the moderate leadership of the revolt, led by the former high priests [[Ananus ben Ananus]] and [[Joshua ben Gamaliel]]. According to Josephus, who voiced the traditional priestly point of view, Phannias was not from high-priestly stock and was completely unqualified and unprepared for the office. Phannias was indeed an Aaronite and then formally eligible for the office; the problem was that his election "disannulled the succession, according to those families out of which the high priests used to be made."
This category includes (in chronological order) scholarly and fictional works dealing with the character of last Jewish High Priest [[Phannias ben Samuel]].  


Phannias probably perished when Jerusalem fell in 70 CE.


==Phannias ben Samuel in ancient sources==
[[Category:Categories]]
 
====Josephus, Jewish Antiquities====
 
Ant XX 10:1 -- ''...it is a custom of our country, that no one should take the high priesthood of God but he who is of the blood of Aaron, while every one that is of another stock, though he were a king, can never obtain that high priesthood. Accordingly, the number of all the high priests from Aaron, of whom we have spoken already, as of the first of them, until Phanas, who was made high priest during the war by the seditious, was eighty-three...''
 
====Josephus, Jewish War====
 
Bel IV 3;6-8 -- ''[6] Now the people were come to that degree of meanness and fear, and these robbers to that degree of madness, that these last took upon them to appoint high priests. So when they had disannulled the succession, according to those families out of which the high priests used to be made, they ordained certain unknown and ignoble persons for that office, that they might have their assistance in their wicked undertakings; for such as obtained this highest of all honors, without any desert, were forced to comply with those that bestowed it on them...''
 
''[7] ...These men made the temple of God a strong hold for them, and a place whither they might resort, in order to avoid the troubles they feared from the people; the sanctuary was now become a refuge, and a shop of tyranny. They also mixed jesting among the miseries they introduced, which was more intolerable than what they did; for in order to try what surprise the people would be under, and how far their own power extended, they undertook to dispose of the high priesthood by casting lots for it, whereas, as we have said already, it was to descend by succession in a family. The pretense they made for this strange attempt was an ancient practice, while they said that of old it was determined by lot; but in truth, it was no better than a dissolution of an undeniable law, and a cunning contrivance to seize upon the government, derived from those that presumed to appoint governors as they themselves pleased.''
 
''[8] Hereupon they sent for one of the pontifical tribes, which is called Eniachim, and cast lots which of it should be the high priest. By fortune the lot so fell as to demonstrate their iniquity after the plainest manner, for it fell upon one whose name was Phannias, the son of Samuel, of the village Aphtha. He was a man not only unworthy of the high priesthood, but that did not well know what the high priesthood was, such a mere rustic was he ! yet did they hail this man, without his own consent, out of the country, as if they were acting a play upon the stage, and adorned him with a counterfeit thee; they also put upon him the sacred garments, and upon every occasion instructed him what he was to do. This horrid piece of wickedness was sport and pastime with them, but occasioned the other priests, who at a distance saw their law made a jest of, to shed tears, and sorely lament the dissolution of such a sacred dignity.''
 
==Phannias ben Samuel in Scholarship==
 
====References====
*[[From Joshua to Caiaphas (2004 VanderKam), book]] / pp.487-490
 
==Phannias ben Samuel in Fiction==
 
==Related categories==
*[[High Priests]] / [[Matthias ben Theophilus]]
*[[Zealots]]
 
==External links==
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phannias_ben_Samuel Wikipedia]
*[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=287&letter=P&search=Phinehas%20high%20priest Jewish Encyclopedia (1906)]
 
[[Category:Subjects]]
[[Category:People]]

Revision as of 09:16, 18 October 2011


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