The Blogs: High Priests of the Jews

From its incunabular hour as a nascent nation, the Jewish people was commanded to introduce sanctity into the world. Aaron and his descendants were specifically tasked with this solemn charge as priests (kohanim), led by high priests (also known as head priests) beginning with Aaron himself.

Under the high priest’s supervision, the priests offered sacrifices and performed sacred rites and rituals on the nation’s behalf as prescribed in the Torah, first within the Tabernacle (also known as the Tent of Meeting, Sanctuary) in the wilderness and variously in the Land of Israel (Gilgal, Shiloh, Nob, Givon), then within the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. In addition to serving as sacerdotal officiants of the people, high priests were charged with important pedagogical and judicial roles (appropriated by the Sages during the Second Temple period).

The high priest was anointed with oil and initially appointed for life. The age of eligibility is believed to have been 20. High priests were only permitted to marry Israelite maidens, and expressly forbidden from marrying widows, divorcées, or harlots (regular priests were permitted to marry widows, but not divorcées or harlots). In contrast to regular priests who were prohibited from having contact with the deceased except for parents, brothers, unmarried sisters, spouses, and children, the high priest was proscribed from all contact with the deceased, including his parents, with the sole exception (according to the Talmud) being the burial of a corpse by the wayside when none else in the vicinity is available to inter it (meit mitzvah). Like regular priests, a high priest could not sacrifice offerings made by fire if he possessed certain physical defects (blindness, lameness, facial mutilation, elongated limbs, broken arms or feet, a hunched back, stunted growth, eye cataracts, festering or running sores, or damaged testicles).

The high priest’s unique raiment consisted of: a purple robe fringed with golden bells and colored pomegranates; the ephod (superhumeral) apron with engraved onyx shoulder pieces; the girdle; the breastplate (pectoral) with 12 engraved gemstones; a pouch for the Urim and Thummim; a miter; and a gold tiara engraved with the phrase “Holy unto God”. On Yom Kippur the high priest exchanged his opulent vestments for white linen garments and entered the Holy of Holies to atone for the nation.

In his later years, King David, aided by the high priest Tzaddok ben Ahituv and the high priest Evyatar ben Ahimelekh (or else his son Ahimelekh), organized the 24 families descended from Aaron’s sons Elazar and Itamar into 24 priestly courses/divisions, named after the contemporary familial heads, that would take weekly turns (rotating each Sabbath) officiating in the imminent Temple: Yehoyariv, Yedayah, Harim, Se’orim, Malkiyah, Miyamin, Hakotz, Aviyah, Yeshua, Shikanyahu, Elyashiv, Yakim, Hupah, Yeshebav, Bilgah, Immer, Hezir, Hapitzetz, Petahyah, Yehezkel, Yakhin, Gamul, Dilayahu, and Ma’azyahu. The heads of priestly families in each generation were known as chiefs of the priests, who attended the high priest. King Solomon instituted his father’s innovations after the completion of the Temple and the royal residences.

During the First Temple period, monarchs ruled first in the United Monarchy of Israel (1030–931 BCE) then in the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, and the high priest’s ambit was restricted to the Temple. During the Second Temple period, the high priest’s purview was expanded to include administrative and diplomatic duties. Under Roman rule, the high priesthood became a political office whose incumbent proved expedient to the occupying power and its prefects and procurators, who were at times entrusted with the high priest’s garments until these were required for celebrating the Jewish festivals.

Biblical sources for the high priests include Exodus, Leviticus, I Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, and later sources include Flavius Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities and The Jewish War, the Talmud, the Gospels, and Seider Olam Zuta (an early medieval work compiled in Babylonia during the Geonic era).

From the Tabernacle to the First Temple (c. 1312 BCE–960 BCE)

Aaron – Elder son of Amram and Yokheved. He was the older brother of Moses, and the first high priest. When the tribe of Levi was designated to perform the sacerdotal service, Aaron was anointed and attired in the priestly robes, and instructed in its myriad duties. The Tabernacle and its Tent of Meeting were erected during his tenure. Not only was the priesthood the special prerogative of the tribe of Levi, but Aaron and his descendants in perpetuity were formally distinguished among the Levites as having the sacred charge of the Tabernacle and the sacrificial altar. He was the father of Elazar, Itamar, and the ill-fated Nadav and Avihu. Aaron died in the wilderness and was buried on Mount Hor.
Elazar – Aaron’s third son who was anointed high priest following the tragic deaths of his brothers Nadav and Avihu. Elazar held the office under the leadership of Moses then of Joshua, and participated in the conquest of Canaan. He was buried on Mount Ephraim.
Pinhas (Phinehas) – Son of Elazar, whose religious zeal spared the children of Israel the divine wrath. He killed the Shimonite prince Zimri ben Salu and his Midianite consort Khozbi while they were in the throes of their passion. Moses sent him with an armed force to combat the Midianites. He also went with 10 tribal princes of Israel to rebuke members of Reuven, Gad, and Menasheh for having erected an altar on the Gilad-Canaan border.
Avishua – The first high priest anointed in the Land of Israel. Samaritans know him as Avisha, and claim he authored an abbreviated Torah scroll preserved in Shekhem, which he is believed to have written 13 years after the Israelites settled in the land.
Buki – The second high priest anointed in the Land of Israel, Buki was a great-grandson of Aaron.
Uzi – The last of the high priests from Elazar’s lineage to serve in the Tabernacle. After Uzi, the high priesthood transferred to Itamar’s line and did not revert for almost two centuries until Tzaddok became high priest during King David’s reign.
Eli – Itamar’s son, who officiated in the Tabernacle at Shiloh and also served Israel as a Judge for 40 years. His sons Hophni and Pinhas became corrupt. When the aged Eli learned that the Ark of the Testimony (Ark of the Covenant) had been captured by the Philistines in the Battle of Apheik ( 1050 BCE), he fell from his seat and died.
Ahitov – Son of Eli’s wayward son, Pinhas, Ahitov is believed to have escaped from the destruction of Shiloh and to have ministered as high priest during Samuel’s lifetime. He settled in Nob and established it as a priestly town.
Ahiyah – Son of Ahitov, and high priest during the reign of Israel’s first monarch, King Saul. He wore the ephod in Saul’s camp during the latter’s Mikhmash wars.
Ahimelekh – Son of Ahitov, and brother of Ahiyah. He served as high priest in the Tabernacle erected at Nob during King Saul’s reign and supervised 85 priests of Eli’s family who wore linen ephods. Ahimelekh was deceived into giving the fugitive David some showbread for victuals, as well as Goliath’s sword. Saul ordered Do’eg the Edomite to kill Ahimelekh and his kin; the sole survivor was Ahimelekh’s son Evyatar, who fled to David with the high priest’s ephod.
Evyatar – Son of Ahimelekh and sole survivor of King Saul’s purge of Nob’s priests. Evyatar served David as priest throughout the latter’s wanderings, and on David’s behalf consulted the Urim and Thummim set in the ephod with which he had absconded from Nob. Either Evyatar or possibly a son of his named Ahimelekh, along with Tzaddok ben Ahituv, aided King David in arranging the 24 priestly courses/divisions. After David’s decease, Evyatar supported Adoniyah’s claim to the throne, for which King Solomon banished him to Anatot. The line of high priests descending from Itamar ended with Evyatar, as did the era of high priests officiating in the Tabernacle.

From the First Temple to the Fall of Jerusalem (960 BCE–586 BCE)

Tzaddok – Son of Ahituv. A colleague of Evyatar, Tzaddok endorsed Solomon as royal heir and abetted his ascent to the throne. With the high priesthood reverting to the line of Elazar, Tzaddok became the first high priest to minister in the Temple that King Solomon built in Jerusalem.
Ahimaaz – Son of Tzaddok, Ahimaaz officiated during King Rehoboam’s reign.
Azaryah I – Son of Ahimaaz (or else of Tzaddok), Azaryah served during the reign of King Aviyah, son of Rehoboam.
Yohanan – Son of Azaryah, and high priest during the reign of King Asa. He is probably identical with the Yeho’ahaz/Yeho’ash referred to in Seider Olam Zuta.
Azaryah II – Son of Yohanan, and high priest during the reign of King Asa.
Amaryah – Son of Azaryah II, and high priest during the reign of King Yehoshaphat. Amaryah was appointed to oversee the judges in Jerusalem who dealt with religious law. After Amaryah, the high priesthood again shifted away from the line of Elazar, Aaron’s son.
Yehoyada – High priest during the reign of Queen Atalyah, his mother-in-law, Yehoyada preserved the royal infant Yeho’ash (Yo’ash) from his murderous grandmother who had the rest of the royal family slain. Yehoyada ensured that Yeho’ash attained the throne in Judah, personally proclaiming the youth king in a coronation ceremony in the Temple. He explicitly established a duple compact: a political covenant between the king and the people of Judah, then a religious covenant between the king and the people of Judah and God. After his decease, his son Zikharyah was stoned in the Temple’s priestly court at the command of an ungrateful Yeho’ash.
Azaryah III – High priest during the reign of King Uziyahu. Azaryah remonstrated with his sovereign when Uziyahu arrogated the duty of offering incense on the altar in the Temple. With censer in hand, Uziyahu fumed and was punished with an outbreak of leprosy on his forehead.
Uriyah – High priest during the reign of King Ahaz. Ahaz went to Damascus and was enamored of the altar he saw there, so he sent its detailed specifications to Uriyah, who dutifully built a replica according to the royal instructions.
Shallum (Meshulam) – With Shallum the high priesthood reverted to the line of Elazar and Tzaddok. He officiated during the short-lived reign of King Amon.
Hilkiyahu – Son of Shallum, and high priest during the reign of King Josiah. Hilkiyahu recovered a lost Torah scroll (believed to have been Deuteronomy) during repairs to the Temple in Josiah’s 18^th regnal year. Shaphan the Scribe read the scroll to Josiah, who rent his garments in dismay and ordered Hilkiyahu and the priests to remove at once from the Temple all of the idolatrous vessels, which were burned in the Kidron Valley. On Josiah’s instructions, Hilkiyahu consulted Huldah the prophetess regarding the contents of the scroll and the nation’s destiny.
Azaryah IV – Son of Hilkiyahu, and high priest during the reign of King Yehoiakim.
Sirayah – High priest during the reign of King Zedekiah and the fall of Jerusalem, Sirayah and his deputy Zephaniah met a tragic fate when they were brought by Babylonian general Nebuzaradan to Emperor Nebuchadrezzar II at Riblah, where both priests were put to death.
Yehotzadak – Son of Sirayah, and the last high priest of the First Temple period. He was carried away into the Babylonian Captivity with the rest of Judah and Jerusalem.

From the Return from Captivity to the Herodian Era (538 BCE–37 BCE)

Yeshua – Son of Yehotzadak, and high priest for 25 years. Yeshua was born in exile during the Babylonian Captivity. Along with Zerubavel and Sheishbatzar, he helped organize the return of 42,360 Jews to Judah, then helped rebuild Zion. He started with erecting the altar of burned offerings, assigning Levitical duties, and overseeing the laying of the Second Temple’s foundations in Jerusalem. He was key to reestablishing the order of sacrifices and planning the construction of the Second Temple, completed in 516. He served as the first high priest in the Second Temple, and opposed the Samaritans’ frequent interference. The prophet Haggai’s utterances sometimes addressed Yeshua. The prophet Zikharyah featured Yeshua in his early visions and referred to him as “a brand plucked out of the fire”, and Yeshua and Zerubavel were also called “two sons of pure oil, who stand by the Lord of all the earth”. Zikharyah was instructed to fashion a crown of silver and gold for Yeshua.
Yoiakim – Son of Yeshua, and high priest for 20 years. Notably, Yoiakim is not listed among the sons and nephews of Yeshua who had intermarried with foreign women.
Elyashiv – Son of Yoiakim, and high priest for 37 years. He and his priests built the sheep gate through which small cattle were led into Jerusalem for sacrificing. He was criticized by Nehemiah for allying with his enemy Toviah the Ammonite slave, and for preparing for the latter a chamber of household vessels in the Temple courts. Nehemiah reversed this accommodation upon his return to Judah from Persia after an absence of 12 years.
Yoyada – Son of Elyashiv, and high priest for 23 years. One of his sons (according to Nehemiah) or grandsons (according to Josephus) became a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, implacable adversary to the Judahites, and so was expelled by Nehemiah.
Yohanan – Son of Yoyada, and high priest for 39 years. He served after the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah, and is mentioned in an Elephantine papyrus in connection with his opposition to the Elephantine temple erected by the Jews and his neglecting to correspond with them on the subject. His younger brother Yeshua was supported by the Persian general Bagoas (Bagoses), and provoked Yohanan in the Temple. Following a quarrel, Yohanan slew Yeshua. In consequence, Bagoas violated the Temple’s sanctity by entering it and punished the Judahites for seven years. Josephus refers to the murder as “so great a crime, and so much the more horrible, that there never was so cruel and impious a thing done, neither by the Greeks nor Barbarians.”
Yaddua – Son of Yohanan, and high priest for 51 years. Upon reaching Syria, King Alexander III of Macedon (Alexander the Great) dispatched envoys to Yaddua to obtain Judah’s allegiance. Yaddua refused to offer his loyalty on account of his oath of fealty to Emperor Darius III of Persia (r. 336–330 BCE). The Macedonian conqueror was enraged, and proceeded to conquer Gaza and threaten Jerusalem. According to Josephus, Yaddua made sacrificial offerings then received a divine warning in a dream to adorn the city, open the gates, and dress in his high priestly attire while the Jerusalemites dressed in white garments. Yaddua and the people greeted Alexander, who recognized Yaddua from a dream he had had back in Macedon in which Yaddua had exhorted him to venture against the Persians. Alexander bowed down to the God that Yaddua represented, astonishing his army. Yaddua directed Alexander in sacrificing offerings in the Temple, and obtained from Alexander assurances that the Jews (including those outside Judah and any who joined the Macedonian army) would be permitted to follow their ancestral way of life and pay no tribute in the sabbatical year (shmitah).
Honya (Onias) I – Son of Yaddua, and high priest for 40 years. According to I Maccabees, King Arius of Sparta corresponded with Honya regarding their fraternal bond as descendants of Abraham, for which reason they should share possessions and tidings of one another. Josephus confuses the recipient as Honya (Onias) III, and cites the contents as stating: “We will also do the same thing, and esteem your concerns as our own, and will look upon our concerns as in common with yours. Demoteles, who brings you this letter, will bring your answer back to us. This letter is four-square, and the seal is an eagle with a dragon in his claws.”
Shimon I – Son of Honya, and high priest for 40 years. Josephus identifies this Shimon as the legendary figure Shimon HaTzaddik, although Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus/Sirach), Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers), and the Talmud suggest the latter was Shimon II.
Elazar – Son of Honya and brother of Shimon, and high priest for 15 years. He assumed the office when his brother died and was survived by a minor, Honya II. He received an epistle from Emperor Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt, stating: “I have determined to procure an interpretation of your law, and to have it translated from Hebrew into Greek, and to deposit it in my library.” Elazar replied and sent the requested 72 elders (six from each Israelite tribe) to Ptolemy with a loaned copy of the Torah for translation.
Menasheh – Son of Yaddua, and high priest for five years. He officiated during the interval between his nephew Elazar and grandnephew Honya II. He is sometimes conflated with his uncle Menasheh, who was the brother of Yaddua and husband of Sanballat’s daughter, Nicaso, and who became the first priest of the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim.
Honya (Onias) II – Son of Shimon, and high priest for 22 years. Josephus depicts him as a covetous man who provoked Emperor Ptolemy III Euergetes of Egypt to anger by withholding 20 silver talents. Ptolemy threatened to seize the land and settle soldiers there. Honya II’s nephew, Joseph, appeased Ptolemy and became his new tax collector, slaying leading men from those cities that refused to pay their taxes. Honya II might have withheld the taxes in order to resist the yoke of Ptolemaic Egypt and strengthen Ptolemy’s rivals.
Shimon II HaTzaddik (Shimon II the Just) – Son of Honya II, and high priest for 33 years. Shimon earned a reputation for his piety toward God and his benevolence toward his fellows. He was among the remnants of the Knesset HaGdolah (Great Assembly), precursor of the Gerousia, Hever HaYehudim, and Great Sanhedrin. According to Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus/Sirach), which features a glowing eulogy for him, Shimon repaired the damaged Temple and rebuilt Jerusalem’s walls, which had been razed by Emperor Ptolemy I Soter of Egypt. He oversaw the digging of a reservoir and fortified the city against siege warfare. He is also known for his adage recorded in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers): “The world exists through three things: the Torah, service, and acts of loving-kindness.” His tomb lies north of the Old City in Jerusalem and remains a pilgrimage site to this day. His disciples included Antigonus of Sokho.
Honya (Onias) III – Son of Shimon II, and high priest for 10 years. He quarreled with a certain Shimon the Benjaminite who was chief administrator of the Temple. The slighted Shimon informed the Seleucids (Syrian Greeks) of vast treasures stored in the Temple, which they unsuccessfully attempted to plunder. Due to the corruption and Hellenizing extremes of his successors Jason and Menelaus, Honya fled for safety to a temple in Daphne (Syria), near Antioch. He was murdered at Menelaus’ instigation by Andronicus, a Seleucid high official, who was soon thereafter put to death for the crime. Remarkably, according to II Maccabees, “King Antiochus was deeply grieved and was so filled with sorrow that he was moved to tears when he recalled the wisdom and self-control that Honya had shown throughout his life.” It is believed that Daniel 9:26 is an allusion to the tragic downfall of Honya III.
Jason (Joshua) – Son of Shimon II and brother of Honya III, and high priest for three years. It is notable that a son of Shimon HaTzaddik could have turned out so irreligious and corrupt (and it serves perhaps as a belated argument in favor of Shimon I’s identification as Shimon HaTzaddik). Still, Jewish history is replete with wayward sons of righteous fathers. When Emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Syria assumed the Seleucid throne, the Hellenizing and ambitious Jason successfully bribed the new ruler for the high priesthood, and began turning Jerusalem into a Greek polis with a gymnasium and ephebeum. Jason was in turn unseated by chief administrator of the Temple Shimon the Benjaminite’s brother, Menelaus, who offered an even larger bribe for the office. According to II Maccabees, “Jason did not realize that success against one’s own people is the worst kind of failure. He even considered his success a victory over enemies, rather than a defeat of his own people.” Jason unsuccessfully attempted to seize control again of Jerusalem, and after fomenting a massacre of its residents he was forced to flee to Ammon, where he was briefly imprisoned by King Harith (Aretas) I of Nabatea, then wandered from country to country, dying a fugitive in a foreign land.
Menelaus – A Benjaminite, and high priest for 10 years. Sent by Jason to pay the annual tribute to Emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Syria, Menelaus returned to Jerusalem with the high priesthood secured for himself. He never paid the promised bribes to the Seleucids (Syrian Greeks), but sold gold objects from the Temple to Tzur (Tyre) and other cities and presented them to Andronicus, a Seleucid high official, who murdered Honya III at Menelaus’ behest. Following another Temple robbery by his brother Lysimachus, who was slain by a mob, Menelaus was put on trial for his misconduct but again bribed his way to success and was acquitted. When Antiochus attacked Jerusalem, Menelaus guided him into the Temple to plunder its riches. According to II Maccabees, “he had the temper of a cruel tyrant and could be as fierce as a wild animal…. He grew more evil every day and became the worst enemy of his own people.” He was at last put to death by Emperor Antiochus V Eupator of Syria in Berea (Aleppo), where he was hurled to his death inside a tower with a floor of ashes.
Alcimus (Elyakim) – A Hellenist priest and enemy of Judah Maccabee, and high priest for three years. He was appointed by Emperor Demetrius I Soter of Syria and installed into office by Seleucid general Bacchides, who supplied him with a garrison before returning to Syria. Alcimus pledged peace to the pious Hassideans who solicited him, but betrayed his word and arrested and had crucified 60 rabbis on the same day (including his uncle and the nasi of the Great Sanhedrin, Yosi ben Yo’ezer). The Maccabees grew too powerful for Alcimus to maintain his office, so another general, Nicanor, was dispatched from Syria to aid him, but Nicanor died in battle against Judah. Bacchides then returned and defeated Judah at Elasah. Alcimus ordered the Temple’s inner court wall torn down, but just as the work began he suffered a paralyzing stroke and soon died in great torment. After Alcimus’ decease the office of the high priesthood was vacant for seven years.
Jonathan (Apphus) Maccabee – Son of Mattityahu of Modi’in, and high priest for 10 years. He succeeded his brother Judah as leader of the Maccabean Rebellion (167–134 BCE). Alexander Balas, pretender to the Seleucid throne, granted him the high priesthood in 153. He was later recognized in this role by Emperor Demetrius II Nicator of Syria and confirmed by the latter’s rival Emperor Antiochus VI Dionysus. Although the Maccabee brothers were from a priestly family, they were not next in line for the high priesthood, thus Jonathan’s appointment was seen as illegitimate by the people. He was betrayed and murdered by Seleucid general Diodotus Tryphon at Baskama (Basca) in Gilad. He was buried in the Hasmonean family tomb in Modi’in, and left no male heirs. Josephus claimed descent from his daughter.
Shimon (Thassi) Maccabee – Son of Mattityahu of Modi’in and brother of Jonathan Maccabee, and high priest for eight years. A wise leader and successful soldier, Shimon was the last surviving Maccabee brother of the original five. With alacrity he avenged his slain brother Jonathan and assumed command of Judea and the rebellion against the Seleucids (Syrian Greeks). He was finally able to capture the Akra citadel in Jerusalem, which had for decades plagued the Maccabees. He was confirmed as high priest by Emperor Demetrius II Nicator of Syria and ratified as high priest and ruler by all the Judeans including the priesthood, which pledged to follow him “until a true prophet appears.” Shimon was cruelly betrayed and murdered, along with two of his sons, by his son-in-law Ptolemy ben Abubus during a banquet at the fortress of Dok near Jericho.
Yohanan Hyrkanos – Son of Shimon Maccabee, and high priest for 30 years. Yohanan fled his father’s assassins and was welcomed in Jerusalem by the people as successor and ruler of Judea (though he never arrogated the title of king). He fought the Samaritans and destroyed their temple on Mount Gerizim in 111/110. He then subdued the Idumeans (Edomites), whom he forced to convert to Judaism, the first instance of forcible conversion in Jewish history. This proved a mistake on several levels, particularly since the Herodians were patrilineally Idumeans, and would go on to usurp the Hasmoneans. Yohanan refortified Jerusalem’s walls and secured Judea’s independence. During his tenure the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes became firmly established religious parties in Judea. Yohanan was initially a tutee of the Pharisees, but when he withdrew religious authority from the Great Sanhedrin, the Pharisees challenged his right to the high priesthood, whereupon he switched his allegiance to the Sadducees (Zadokites). Upon his decease, a monument wherein his bones were inhumed was built in his honor.
Judah Aristoboulos I – Son of Yohanan Hyrkanos, and high priest for a year. According to his father’s will, he was intended for the high priesthood while his mother was to receive the throne. Yet this arrangement did not satisfy Judah, who imprisoned his mother and starved her to death. He also incarcerated his brothers except for Antigonus, whom he preferred. When allegations of Antigonus’ plotting against Judah emerged, Judah unwittingly put him to death. Judah is said to have assumed the title of king, though his extant coins show only that of high priest. He waged war on Iturea—a short-lived, contemporary region based in the Bekaa Valley (known biblically as “Bik’at HaLvanon”, or “the Lebanon Valley”) and in the flanking ranges of the Lebanon Mountains and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, and populated by seminomadic Aramean marauders—and incorporated part of it into his kingdom, and had its inhabitants forcibly circumcised and converted to Judaism. It was said that Judah was so stricken with contrition over the deaths of his brother and mother at his hands that he died of grief. He was married to Shlomtzion (Salome Alexandra), who later married his younger brother Yannai Alexander, and who ruled in her own right for nearly 10 years.
Yannai Alexander (Alexander Jannaeus/Alexander Jonathan) – Son of Yohanan Hyrkanos and brother of Judah Aristoboulos I, and high priest for 27 years. Yannai was the third son of Yohanan Hyrkanos, by his second wife, and was imprisoned by his older half brother Judah until the latter’s decease, when the widowed and childless Queen Shlomtzion (Salome Alexandra) freed Yannai then married him, though she was 13 years his senior. Yannai openly used the title of king, and undertook a series of military expeditions, with mixed results. The Pharisees, representatives of popular sentiment, opposed his warlike policies as well as his kingship since he was not from the House of David. When as high priest Yannai offered the prescribed water libation during the Sukkot festival, he let the water run on his feet, incensing the Pharisees, who pelted him with etrogim and vitriol in contempt. Yannai loosed his mercenaries upon the Pharisees and 6,000 were slaughtered; six years of civil war ensued, amid which the Pharisees invited the Seleucid ruler, Emperor Demetrius III Eucaerus of Syria, to war against Yannai, who was defeated near Shekhem in 89/88 BCE. Yannai recuperated and had 800 Pharisees crucified in Jerusalem. By the cessation of hostilities, 50,000 Jewish lives had been lost and the Pharisees, including their leaders, had been scattered among foreign lands. Yannai died while besieging Regev (Ragaba) in Gilad. Josephus claims that Yannai, on his deathbed, urged his wife to make peace with the Pharisees so that she would be able to govern without internal turmoil. He was buried in Jerusalem. The Qumranic composition Pesher Nahum refers to Yannai as a “lion of wrath”.
Hyrkanos II – Son of Yannai Alexander, and high priest for 33 years. His mother Shlomtzion (Salome Alexandra) named him as her successor to the throne, but his brother Aristoboulos II rose in rebellion against him early in his reign and civil war plagued Judea, eventually costing it its independence. Hyrkanos’ soldiers defected to Aristoboulos in battle at Jericho; Hyrkanos retreated to Jerusalem but was compelled to surrender when Aristoboulos captured the Temple. Aristoboulos deprived Hyrkanos of the throne and high priesthood alike, but peace had been made, though it was short-lived. The wily Antipater II, a seditious Idumean and father of Herod the Great, convinced Hyrkanos to seek refuge in Petra with King Harith (Aretas) III of Nabatea, who was persuaded and bribed to also wage war against Aristoboulos. Harith defeated Aristoboulos in battle, and this time most Judeans defected to Hyrkanos, except for the Sadducees. Harith besieged Aristoboulos and his priestly loyalists in Jerusalem with an army of 50,000. During the siege, Hyrkanos’ Judean partisans were responsible for stoning to death the beloved thaumaturge Honi HaMe’agel, who refused to imprecate Aristoboulos and his party because they too were Judeans. Soon Pompey the Great’s proquaestor Scaurus invaded Judea, where he was solicited by ambassadors from both Hasmonean brothers and offered bribes. Scaurus sided with Aristoboulos, and forced Harith to lift the siege and retreat. Aristoboulos then took an army against Hyrkanos and Harith and defeated them at Papyron, slaying 6,000. Hyrkanos was reappointed high priest and even regained his political authority under Julius Caesar. Mark Antony later stripped Hyrkanos of his political power and bestowed it upon Herod the Great. In 40, Hyrkanos was seized by the Parthians and exiled to Babylonia, after being made permanently ineligible for the office of high priest by the mutilation of his ears. In 36, Herod invited Hyrkanos to return to Judea, which the latter did despite warnings. In 30, Herod had Hyrkanos condemned and executed for purportedly plotting against him.
Aristoboulos II – Son of Yannai Alexander and brother of Hyrkanos II, and high priest for three years. Impetuous and ambitious, Aristoboulos rebelled against his older brother Hyrkanos. Aristoboulos was warlike while Hyrkanos was a weakling; the former felt more qualified to rule and officiate then the latter, and thus believed his rebellion just. Aristoboulos positioned himself as the champion of the Sadducees, and gained control of the fortresses his mother had placed at their disposal for protection from the Pharisees. He defeated Hyrkanos at Jericho and proclaimed himself high priest and king, permitting Hyrkanos to retain revenues. He was compelled to withdraw to Temple Mount when besieged by King Harith (Aretas) III of Nabatea and Hyrkanos, but successfully bribed Pompey the Great’s proquaestor Scaurus who ordered the siege lifted. When Pompey himself arrived on the scene, however, not even the gift of a golden vine could win him over to Aristoboulos. Pompey received envoys from both hostile brothers, as well as a delegacy from Judeans seeking to abolish the Hasmonean dynasty altogether, but he temporized. Aristoboulos fled from Pompey first to the fortress of Alexandrion (Alexandrium) then to Jerusalem, but Pompey followed him in lockstep. Finally Aristoboulos lost his nerve and went over to Pompey’s camp, where he was imprisoned. Pompey invaded Jerusalem, besieged and overran the Temple, and slew 12,000 Judeans. Like Bagoas before him (and Titus after him), Pompey entered the sacred Temple precincts with his retinue, though he did not plunder its riches. He reappointed Hyrkanos as high priest and sent Aristoboulos and his children to Rome as hostages. In 57/56, Aristoboulos escaped to Judea where he fomented revolt. He was recaptured and returned to Rome. In 49, Aristoboulos was released by Julius Caesar and sent at the head of two legions against Pompey in Syria, but was poisoned en route by Pompey’s supporters. The civil war between Aristoboulos and Hyrkanos inadvertently invited the Roman subjugation of Judea.
Mattathias Antigonus – Son of Aristoboulos II, and high priest for three years. Ambitious like his father, and carried off to Rome with him as a hostage in 63, Mattathias escaped Rome with his father in 57/56 and returned to Judea. He recognized his uncle Hyrkanos II as the indolent puppet of Antipater II the Idumean, and thus visited Julius Caesar in Syria in 47 to assert his rights. Although his father Aristoboulos and his older brother Alexander had died in Caesar’s cause, Caesar rejected Mattathias’ claim. As a result, Mattathias turned to Rome’s rivals, the Parthians, who sought control of Syria and Judea. He used the murder of Antipater in 43 as the impetus for one last attempt to wrest control of Judea. He rebelled against Rome but was defeated in 42 by Antipater’s son, the future Herod the Great. The Parthians then invaded Syria, crowned Mattathias king and high priest of Judea, and conquered Jerusalem for him in 40. Hyrkanos was once again deposed as high priest, and Herod’s brother Phasael was held hostage. Herod fled and rallied his Roman allies: Mark Antony defeated the Parthians, and Herod besieged Jerusalem and captured Mattathias in 37. He delivered him to the Romans at Antioch, Syria, where they beheaded the last Hasmonean king of Judea—the first known instance of the Romans putting to death a defeated monarch.

From the Herodian Era to the Fall of Jerusalem (37 BCE–70 CE)

Hananel (Hanameel/Ananelus) – An Egyptian according to the Mishnah, and a Babylonian according to Josephus, Hananel was high priest (on and off) for seven years. Herod the Great first appointed him to the high priesthood to sideline his own brother-in-law Aristoboulos III, a popular Hasmonean whom he feared. Herod, however, was compelled to depose Hananel in favor of Aristoboulos, but Hananel was reinstated after Herod instigated Aristoboulos’ murder.
Aristoboulos III (Jonathan) – Grandson of Hyrkanos II and Aristoboulos II, and high priest for less than a year. Aristoboulos was the son of first cousins Alexander (son of Aristoboulos II) and Alexandra (daughter of Hyrkanos II), and his sister Miriam the Hasmonean was wife to Herod the Great. At first Herod appointed to the high priesthood an obscure priest, Hananel, who was not from a high priestly family, but soon replaced him with Aristoboulos. He was admired for his noble lineage and handsome appearance, and Judeans greeted him with joy when he appeared in full garb before them during the Sukkot festival in 36. Herod felt threatened by his brother-in-law’s popularity and had his soldiers drown him in the baths at Jericho in 35. Aristoboulos III died at 18, and was the last Hasmonean high priest.
Joshua ben Phabi (Jesus ben Phabet) – High priest for seven years. He was appointed and deposed by Herod the Great, who replaced him with Shimon ben Boethus when Herod desired to marry the latter’s beautiful daughter, Mariamne II. Joshua was perhaps Egyptian, and two other members of his family, both named Ishmael, also became high priests after him.
Shimon ben Boethus – An Alexandrian, father-in-law of Herod the Great, and high priest for 18 years. He was the first of several Boethusians to occupy the high priesthood, and this Sadducean family became despised by the Pharisees for its wickedness. He was appointed by Herod, who deposed him when he divorced Shimon’s daughter Mariamne II (who was accused of involvement in a plot against Herod’s life) and replaced him with Mattathias ben Theophilus.
Mattathias (Matthias) ben Theophilus I – A Jerusalemite, and high priest for a year. On Erev Yom Kippur (the eve of the Day of Atonement), he made himself ritually unclean by dreaming of his wife, and so had to be replaced in the office for a day by a certain Joseph ben Ellem. Herod the Great had appointed him to the office, but deposed him after he was implicated in an act of sedition when the golden eagle was pulled down from the Temple gate. Herod appointed Mattathias’ brother-in-law Yo’azar ben Boethus in his stead. A descendant of his bearing the same name was later high priest when the Great Revolt (66–73 CE) broke out against the Romans.
Yo’azar ben Boethus – Brother-in-law of Mattathias ben Theophilus, and high priest (on and off) for about four years. His sister was Mariamne II, Herod the Great’s ex-wife. He was appointed by Herod shortly before the latter’s decease, and deposed by Herod’s son Archelaus for sedition and (temporarily) replaced by his brother Elazar. Yo’azar was later reappointed by popular acclamation. He persuaded the Judeans to submit to the census of Quirinius (Cyrenius), Roman governor of Syria, in 6 CE. Quirinius later showed no gratitude for Yo’azar’s efforts when he deposed him in favor of Hanan ben Seth.
Elazar ben Boethus – Brother of Yo’azar ben Boethus, and high priest for a year. He was appointed and deposed by Archelaus, who replaced him with Joshua ben Seth.
Joshua ben Seth (Jesus ben Sie) – High priest for up to nine years. He was appointed by Archelaus, and might have been deposed following the latter’s decease in 6 CE, when Yo’azar ben Boethus was reinstated at the behest of the multitude. Joshua’s successor, Hanan ben Seth, was probably of the same family.
Hanan (Ananus/Annas) ben Seth – High priest for nine years. Hanan was appointed by Quirinius (Cyrenius), Roman governor of Syria, and deposed by Valerius Gratus, Roman prefect of Judea, who replaced him with Ishmael ben Phabi. Hanan was likely a kinsman of Joshua ben Seth, and was the father of later high priests Elazar ben Hanan, Jonathan ben Hanan, Theophilus ben Hanan, Mattathias ben Hanan, and Hanan ben Hanan, as well as of a daughter who married Joseph Caiaphas. The Gospel of John relates that Jesus of Nazareth appeared before Hanan for an initial hearing before being sent to Caiaphas.
Ishmael ben Phabi I – A relative of Joshua ben Phabi, and high priest for a year. He was appointed and deposed by the Roman prefect Valerius Gratus, who replaced him with Elazar ben Hanan, whose father he had previously deposed.
Elazar ben Hanan – Son of Hanan ben Seth, and high priest for a year. He was appointed and deposed by the Roman prefect Valerius Gratus, who replaced him with Shimon ben Kimhit (Camithus).
Shimon ben Kimhit/Kamhit/Camithus – High priest for a year. He was appointed and deposed by the Roman prefect Valerius Gratus, who replaced him with Joseph Caiaphas. He was probably the father of later high priest Joseph ben Camydus.
Joseph Caiaphas (Yosef Kayafa) – Son-in-law of Hanan ben Seth, and high priest for 18 years. He was appointed by the Roman prefect Valerius Gratus, the fourth and last appointee made by the latter before he left Judea for Rome, having been prefect for 11 years, and having been replaced by Pontius Pilate. Caiaphas was the brother-in-law of his predecessor Elazar ben Hanan, and of his successors Jonathan ben Hanan, Theophilus ben Hanan, Mattathias ben Hanan, and Hanan ben Hanan. He is depicted in the Gospels as an unsympathetic antagonist of Jesus of Nazareth, in whose crucifixion Caiaphas was implicated. He was deposed by the Roman governor of Syria, Lucius Vitellius, who replaced him with his brother-in-law Jonathan.
Jonathan ben Hanan – Son of Hanan ben Seth and brother of Elazar ben Hanan, and high priest for a year. He was appointed and deposed by the Roman governor of Syria, Lucius Vitellius, who replaced him with his brother Theophilus. Jonathan earned a reputation as an upright and humble figure. The Roman procurator Marcus Antonius Felix, tired of Jonathan’s admonitions to govern Judea in better fashion, bribed a friend of Jonathan’s to arrange for Sicarii terrorists to murder him, which they did in Jerusalem in 58.
Theophilus ben Hanan – Son of Hanan ben Seth and brother of Elazar ben Hanan and Jonathan ben Hanan, and high priest for four years. He was appointed by the Roman governor of Syria, Lucius Vitellius, and deposed by King Agrippa I of Judea. He was likely the father of later high priest Mattathias ben Theophilus II.
Shimon Cantheras ben Boethus – High priest for two years. He was appointed and deposed by King Agrippa I of Judea, who replaced him with Mattathias ben Hanan after Jonathan ben Hanan graciously refused a reappointment. He was father to later high priests Elioneus ben Shimon Cantheras and (probably) Joseph Cabi ben Shimon.
Mattathias ben Hanan – Son of Hanan ben Seth and brother of Elazar ben Hanan and Jonathan ben Hanan and Theophilus ben Hanan, and high priest for less than a year. According to Josephus, his brother Jonathan described him as “a person more worthy than myself…. I have a brother that is pure from all sin against God, and of all offenses against you; I recommend him to you as someone who is fit for this dignity.” He was appointed and deposed by King Agrippa I of Judea, who replaced him with Elioneus ben Shimon Cantheras. According to Josephus, four of Mattathias’ sons fled for safety to the Romans during the Great Revolt (66–73 CE).
Elioneus ben Shimon Cantheras – Son of Shimon Cantheras ben Boethus, and high priest for a year. He was appointed by King Agrippa I of Judea and deposed by Herod of Chalcis, who replaced him with Joseph ben Camydus. The Mishnah mentions him as a son of Joseph Caiaphas, whereas Josephus mentions him as a son of Shimon Cantheras.
Joseph ben Camydus/Cantos – Probably the son of Shimon ben Kimhit, and high priest for two years. He was appointed and deposed by Herod of Chalcis, who replaced him with Hananiah ben Nedebaios.
Hananiah ben Nedebaios/Nebedeus – High priest for 12 years. He was appointed by Herod of Chalcis and deposed by King Agrippa II. Hananiah was sent to Rome in bonds by the Roman governor of Syria, Ummidius Quadratus, to account for his conduct after the turmoil between the Judeans and Samaritans from 50–52. Agrippa helped exonerate Hananiah, who returned to Judea to officiate as high priest. Josephus describes him as a money hoarder with wicked servants who violently beat, and stole tithes from, regular priests. In Acts, Paul depicts Hananiah ordering his servants to strike Paul in the mouth, prompting Paul to curse and protest. Hananiah later went to Caesarea (Caesarea Maritima) with a lawyer to level charges before the Roman procurator Marcus Antonius Felix against Paul, who was imprisoned. Hananiah’s friendship with the Roman procurator Lucceius Albinus earned the enmity of Sicarii terrorists. When the Great Revolt (66–73 CE) broke out, the Sicarii set Hananiah’s mansion on fire and later murdered Hananiah and his brother Hezekiah when they were found hiding in an aqueduct.
Ishmael ben Phabi II – High priest for four years. He was appointed and deposed by King Agrippa II, who replaced him with Joseph Cabi ben Shimon. Ishmael was wealthy and enjoyed popular appeal. According to Josephus, however, “such was the impudence and boldness that had seized on the high priests, that they had the hardiness to send their servants into the threshing floors, to take away those tithes that were due to the priests, insomuch that the poorest sort of the priests died for want.” He permitted the ritual of burning the red heifer to be conducted according to the Pharisees’ prescription. As part of a group of 10 ambassadors, Ishmael was sent on an embassy to Emperor Nero of Rome to petition for permission to retain a wall erected in the Temple to obscure outside views. Nero acceded to the request, although Ishmael and another were held hostage by Empress Poppaea Sabina. When Agrippa heard the news, he installed Ishmael’s successor. Ultimately, Ishmael was beheaded in Cyrene following Jerusalem’s destruction. Josephus relates that three of his sons fled for safety to the Romans during the Great Revolt (66–73 CE). The Mishnah eulogizes Ishmael with approbation.
Joseph Cabi ben Shimon – Probable son of Shimon Cantheras ben Boethus, and high priest for a year. He was appointed and deposed by King Agrippa II, who replaced him with Hanan ben Hanan. According to Josephus, Joseph fled for safety to the Romans during the Great Revolt (66–73 CE).
Hanan ben Hanan (Ananus ben Ananus) – Son of Hanan ben Seth and brother of Elazar ben Hanan and Jonathan ben Hanan and Theophilus ben Hanan and Mattathias ben Hanan, and high priest for three months. Hanan was the last of five sons of Hanan ben Seth to become high priest. Josephus describes him as a bold and insolent man who assembled the Great Sanhedrin to have James the brother of Jesus of Nazareth condemned and stoned to death. He was appointed and deposed by King Agrippa II, who replaced him with Joshua ben Damnai. Along with Joshua ben Gamla, Hanan tried to rouse the Judeans against the Zealots, but was executed by the Zealots’ allies, the Idumeans, as a purported traitor to the country.
Joshua ben Damnai/Damneus – High priest for less than a year. He was appointed and deposed by King Agrippa II, who replaced him with Joshua ben Gamla. Strife broke out between these Joshuas, who publicly hurled slurs and stones at each other. According to Josephus, Joshua fled for safety to the Romans during the Great Revolt (66–73 CE).
Joshua ben Gamla/Gamliel – High priest for a year. Joshua married the rich widow Martha of the high priestly Boethus family (in a rare instance of a priest being betrothed to a widow before his elevation to the high priesthood, who was nevertheless permitted to marry her afterward). According to the Talmud, Martha bribed King Agrippa II to secure the office for Joshua. He instituted a universal education system by arranging for schools in every Judean town (and not just Jerusalem) for children at least five years old, and adumbrated sound pedagogical principles, garnering the Sages’ praise: “Truly, the name of that man is blessed…since but for him the Torah would have been forgotten in Israel.” He also replaced the boxwood casket from which lots were used for the scapegoat on Yom Kippur with a gold casket, “and his memory was therefore kept in honor”. Joshua contended with his immediate predecessor and prevailed, though not for long. He was appointed and deposed by King Agrippa II, who replaced him with Mattathias ben Theophilus II. Like other grandees, Joshua unsuccessfully opposed the appointment of later high priest Pinhas ben Samuel, and also strove in vain to keep out the Idumeans from Jerusalem. Along with Hanan ben Hanan, he tried to rouse the Judeans against the Zealots, but was executed by the Zealots’ allies, the Idumeans, as a purported traitor to the country. Josephus describes Joshua as a close friend who “stood far above the rest”.
Mattathias ben Theophilus II – Son of Theophilus ben Hanan, and high priest for a year. He was appointed by King Agrippa II, and deposed by the Zealots for being a member of the peace party. One of his sons sought refuge among the Romans. He was put to death by the revolutionary Shimon bar Giora, whom he had invited into Jerusalem to subdue the Zealots. He might have been the high priest referred to in the Talmud as the one who lingered in the Temple on Yom Kippur to pray on its behalf when it was endangered by the Zealots.
Pinhas (Phinehas/Phannias) ben Samuel – From the priestly family of Elyakim/Yakim/Yakhin (called Eniachim by Josephus) and the village of Habta (Aphtha), and high priest for three years. A prodigious ignoramus, he was appointed via the casting of lots, and without his consent, by the Zealots, who had arrogated the authority to do so, making a mockery of the holy office. According to Josephus, Pinhas was “a man not only unworthy of the high priesthood, but one who hardly knew what the high priesthood was, such a mere rustic was he!” The Zealots clothed Pinhas in the sacerdotal raiment and had to instruct him in all of his duties. Predictably, the Zealots and their creature were strongly opposed both by Pharisee leaders including Shimon ben Gamliel I and Gorion ben Joseph, and by Sadducees and former high priests Joshua ben Gamla and Hanan ben Hanan. The Tosefta, however, mentions Pinhas as a son-in-law of the nasi’s house, challenging his portrayal as wholly unworthy and unlearned in priestly affairs. Pinhas was the last high priest of the Jews.

Dominated by several high priestly dynasties (Phabi, Boethus/Theophilus/Cantheras, Seth/Hanan/Caiaphas, Camithus/Camydus) during the Roman era, the high priesthood became the object of rivalrous families and a sinecure casually circulated by Roman overlords—or their Judean client kings—in large part to limit the influence of any single incumbent and to make it abundantly clear to all who it was holding the reins of power in Judea. The period under the Hasmoneans in which the kingship and high priesthood were conferred upon the same individual was thereby obsoleted.

Commencing with Aaron and concluding with Pinhas ben Samuel, the high priesthood suffered a ludicrous descent from the exalted to the farcical. This bathetic decline abruptly ended during the Great Revolt (66–73 CE) with the fall of Jerusalem and Titus’ destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. With their center of power gone, the priestly Sadducees ceded all influence to the popular Pharisees.

In the absence of the Temple, the high priesthood as an institution went into abeyance and the regular priesthood became a nominal office whose members nevertheless retain certain privileges and responsibilities in modern Jewish tradition. Priests are the first to be called up for an aliyah to the Torah when it is read in synagogues; they officiate in the redemption of the firstborn son (Pidyon HaBen) ceremony; they pronounce the priestly blessing upon the congregation during synagogue services; and they uphold the purity laws by avoiding contact with the deceased and refraining from marrying divorcées or prostitutes.