Onias II

Who is Onias II?

Onias II was the son of Simon the Just. He was still a minor when his father died, so that his uncle Eleazar, and after him the latter's uncle Manasseh, officiated as high priests before he himself succeeded to that dignity. According to Josephus, he was a covetous man and of limited intelligence, whose refusal to pay the twenty talents of silver which every high priest was required to pay to the King of Egypt threatened to imperil both the high priest and the people; but at this juncture Joseph, the clever son of Tobias and nephew of Onias, succeeded in pacifying Ptolemy III. Onias is said to have died, almost simultaneously with his nephew Joseph, during the reign of Seleucus IV Philopator, hence about 181 BCE. His successor in office was Onias III.