Oniares (Hastings' Dictionary)

1 Mac 19} (AY). See ARIUS. ONIAS (Ὀνίας, of which Jastrow suggests @ correspondence with xjx ‘a man of Oni’ [y\x= ix Neh 757, though he appears to prefer the better derivation from xypn or vin, Menach. xiii. 10, an abbrey. of πὴ πὴ). 1, ONIAS I. was the son of Jaddua (Jos. Ant. ΧΙ. viii. 7), and father of Simon the Just (i+. xm. ii. 4; Sir 50'; see, however, Herz- feld, Gesch. ii. 189ff.; Zunz, Vortrdége*, 38).

In 1 Mac 127 he is said to have received a friendly letter from the Spartan king Arius (“Apeios, more correctly ᾿Αρεύς ; see Corp. Inscript. Attic. ii. 352). He must therefore have been a contemporary of Areus L,who reigned from 5.6. 309 to 365 (Diod. xx. 29). Areus I. died at the age of eight in B.C. 255 (Pausanias, iii. 6. 6), and, as no other Areus is known, the evidence is strongly against Josephus, wno represents the communication as having been made to Onias ΠῚ.

The alleged letter is given in two forms in Jos. Ant. x11. iv. 10 and in 1 Mac 12”, 2. ONIAS I. was the son of Simon the Just (Jos. Ant. xi. iv. 1). On the death of his father he was disqualified by youth for immediate succession to the high priesthood, which, however, he after- wards held during the 2 ei part of the reign of Ptolemy Euergetes. He is not mentioned in the Apocr., but Josephus (Ant. xu. iv.

1-5) describes how advantage was taken of his imprudence by his nephew to found a family whose civil influence exceeded for a time that of the titular high priest. _ 8, ONIAS ΠΙ. was the son of Simon I. (id. xu. iv. 10), whom he succeeded in B.C. 198 or 195. His loyalty to the Syrian over-rule was such that Selencus Philopator bore the cost of ‘the services of the sacrifices’ (2 Mac 3%).

But he was soon involved in a quarrel with Simon the Benjamite, who held in the temple a high office, similar in part to that of the edileship. Simon became im- atient of the priest’s control, and in despite informed the Syrian military governor that the temple was full of treasures, which lay at the ΤΑΡΣΟΥ͂ of any despoiler.

Seleucus quickly de- spatched Heliodorus to seize this money, but the latter is said (2 Mac 852) to have been deterred by an apparition, and to have returned to Antioch in dismay. Simon ascribed the failure to the high priest's trickery (2 Mac 4"), and the quarrel became so bitter that the latter decided at length to pro- ceed in person to the king.

Scarcely had he reached Antioch when Seleucus was assassinated ; and, in the confusion that followed, the high priest- hood was secured by purchase by Jason, the brother of Onias, and Onias himself was detained at Antioch. Jason proceeded at once to redeem his promise to thoroughly Hellenize Judea (2 Mac 49-15) ; but in B.C. 171 he was deposed by Antiochus, whose favour had been won by the larger gifts of Menelaus (2 Mac 4%), the brother of yaaa (Jos. Ant. XII. ν.

1), or more probably of Simon (2 Mac 4%). Menelaus was rebuked by Onias for sacrilege in stealing some of the vessels of the temple (2 Mac 45%-), and in revenge had him decoyed from his refuge in the sanctuary at Daphne and put to death (2 Mac 4%), The account of Onias’ murder is regarded by some as apocryphal ; see Willrich, Juden τι. Grie- chen vor d. makkab Erhebung, 1895, p. 71 ff., Wellh. GGA, 1895. p. 950f., 1JG%, 1897, p. 244 ff., οἵ. Baethgen, ZA W, 1886, p. 278 ff.

; but see, on the other side, Biichler, Die Tobiaden u. Oniaden, 1899, pp. 106 ff., 240 f., 275 f., 353 ff. Josephus simply states (Ant. xir. v. 1) that Jason succeeded to the high priesthood on the death of Onias. 4. ONIAS, generally reckoned as Iv. though it is not likely that he ever acted as high priest in Jerusalem. On the death of his father Onias ΠῚ.

, he was too young for the succession ; and, after- wards finding no means of securing the rights of his birth, he took refuge with Ptolemy Philometor in Egypt (Jos. Ant. XI. ix. 7). About B.c. 154 (Gritz, iii. 34) he obtained from the king, who wished to conciliate the Jews and use them in his wars with Syria, the gift of a disused temple of Bubastis Agria (the cat-headed goddess Bast or Bastet ; see Herod. ii. 137, and Egypt. Exp. Fund, Eighth Memoir, 3f.)

in Leontopolis, and recon- structed it after the model of the temple in Jerus. (Jos, Ant, xin. iii. 1-3). The foundation was defended as a fulfilment of the prophecy of Is 19%; and a complete temple service was instituted, which was οὐδ σε δὴ until A.D. 73, when the temple was closed by the Romans (Jos. Wars, vil. x. 2-4). From Menachoth xiii.

10 it appears that only partial sanction was given to the services vi this temple by the Jewish authorities at home, whilst in the opinion even of the Egyp. Jews it never entirely superseded the temple at Jerusalem ONIAS, REGION OF (Jos. 6. 4». i. 7; Phil. ed. Mang. ii. 646). Onias was afterwards appointed civil governor of the district in which his temple was situated, and two of his sons received high commands in the Egyp. army (Jos, Ant. XIII. x. 4). R. W. Moss. ONIAS, REGION OF (Jos. Ant.

xIv. viii. 1; BJ τ. ix. 4, Vil. x. 2), used loosely of the part of Lower Egypt that contained Jewish settlements, but strictly oP the district in which was the temple built by Onias Iv. Its position is variously described by Josephus, as in the nome or province of Heliopolis (Ant. xi. ix. 7; Ptol. rv. δ. 3); as at Leontopolis in the said nome (Jos. Ant. Χαμ. iii. 2); and as 180 stadia from Memphis (BJ vu. x.

3), The reference consequently cannot be to the nome of Leontopolis, but to a district of the same name within that of Heliopolis, The name itself was not uncommon, though there is no evidence of its application to any site within the nome in uestion.

From Memphis to the city of Heliopolis the distance approximates closely to that given by Josephus; but his language is vague, and allows the assumption that he was not calculating the distance to the temple of Onias, but to the chief town of the province within which the latter was situated.

North-east of Heliopolis, at a distance of 24 miles, is the town of Belbeis, which has been suggested as the site of the temple, because it was a place of the worship of the goddess Sekhet, who has been identified with Bubastis Agria (Jos. Ant. XL. iii. 2; Egypt. Exp. Fund, Seventh Memoir, p. 20); but Belbeis is both in another nome, and at too great a distance from Memphis.

Less than 10 miles north of Heliopolis, and within that province, is a mound, Tell el- ahudiyeh, in the neighbour- hood of which the remains of a great Jewish cemetery have been found (Egypt. Exp. Fund, Seventh Memoir, 51-53, where, however, F. LI. Griffith pronounces against the identification with the site of the city of Onias on the ground of the general character of the antiquities met with, though on p. 19 Naville strongly supports it).

The district is full of traditions of a powerful Jewish settlement; and within its limits, if not on this eelrararecs mound, it is almost certain that Onias nilt his temple. W. Moss.