Category:Alcimus (subject)

Alcimus was a Jewish High Priest.

Overview

Alcimus was appointed High Priest by Antiochus V Eupator and Lysias to succeed Menelaus, who was blamed by the Seleucids for all trouble in Jerusalem and executed as a traitor. Alcimus was reconfirmed under Demetrius I Soter. After his sudden death, the high priesthood remained vacant for some years.

Both 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees are hostile toward Alcimus, but he does not seem to have been a leader of the Hellenistic party. He was an Aaronite (not a member of the House of Zadok]]), was pro-Seleucid and anti-Hasmonean.

The possibility that the writing of 1 Baruch be connected to his appointment, would shed more light on an otherwise obscure figure.

Select Bibliography (articles)

• Alcimus / Uriel Rappaport / In: The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1992 Freedman), dictionary, 1:145