Alcimus
- SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see Category:Alcimus (subject)
- ANCIENT SOURCES: see Alcimus (sources)
Alcimus was a Jewish High Priest, 162-159 BCE.
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 somehow managed to be reconfirmed under Demetrius I Soter.
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. During his tenure, Judas Maccabeus after his victory over Nicanor, was defeated and killed by Bacchides. Alcimus himself however suddenly died shortly afterward. After his sudden death, the high priesthood remained apparently vacant for some years.
The possibility that the writing of 1 Baruch be connected to Alcimus' appointment, would shed more light on an otherwise obscure figure.
References
- Alcimus / Uriel Rappaport / In: The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1992 Freedman), dictionary, 1:145