Onias III
- ANCIENT SOURCES: see Onias III (sources)
- SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see Category:Onias III (subject)
Onias III (2nd century BCE) was the Jewish High Priest, from 185 BCE to 175 BCE.
Overview
A member of the House of Zadok, Onias III succeeded his father Simon II as High Priest in 185 BCE. The power of the Zadokite High Priests in Jerusalem was at its height. When the Seleucid king Seleucus IV Philopator made an attempt to confiscate some money from the treasure of the temple, Onias III had the power to withhold payment and even took the liberty of beating, humiliating, and finally bribing the king's officer Heliodorus without fear of punishment. Eventually it was this accumulation of wealth and political power that would determine the crisis and then the end of the Zadokite priesthood. In 175 BCE, Onias was deposed by his brother Jason, who bribed the new Seluecid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Onias III was then murdered in 170 BCE by Menelaus, the first non-Zadokite High Priest, who deposed and exiled Jason. Onias III's son Onias IV fled to Egypt, where he built a new Temple at Leontopolis.