Ananus ben Ananus
Ananus ben Ananus | |
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Title | Head of High Priest of Israel (until deposed in 63, then "High Priest") |
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Ananus ben Ananus (Hebrew: חנן בן חנן Hanan ben Hanan Greek: Ἀνάνου Ἄνανος "Ananos son of Ananos" var: Ananias,
Ananus was one of the main leaders of the
Great Priest
Josephus's account of the death of James as follows:
Ananus, who, as we have told you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent; he was also of the sect of the Sadducees, who are very rigid in judging offenders, above all the rest of the Jews, as we have already observed; when, therefore, Ananus was of this disposition, he thought he had now a proper opportunity [to exercise his authority]. Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the Sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, [or, some of his companions]; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned: but as for those who seemed the most equitable of the citizens, and such as were the most uneasy at the breach of the laws, they disliked what was done; they also sent to the king [Agrippa], desiring him to send to Ananus that he should act so no more, for that what he had already done was not to be justified; nay, some of them went also to meet Albinus, as he was upon his journey from Alexandria, and informed him that it was not lawful for Ananus to assemble a Sanhedrin without his consent. Whereupon Albinus complied with what they said, and wrote in anger to Ananus, and threatened that he would bring him to punishment for what he had done; on which king Agrippa took the high priesthood from him, when he had ruled but three months, and made Jesus, the son of Damneus, high priest.[3]
The current scholarly consensus is that this text is authentic.[4][5][6][7] Moreover, in comparison with Hegesippus's account of James's death in his Hypomnemata, scholars consider Josephus's to be the more historically reliable.[8]
Head of Judean provisional government
After Ananus was deposed as high priest, he continued to exercise leadership. "Under the guidance of former high priest Ananus ben Ananus, they (the
References
- ^ a b Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 20, Chapter 9, Section 1
- The Wars of the Jews. Book 4.314. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148%3Abook%3D4%3Asection%3D314
- The Antiquities of the Jews.
- ^ Van Voorst 2000, p. 83.
- ^ Richard Bauckham states that although a few scholars have questioned this passage, "the vast majority have considered it to be authentic" (Bauckham 1999, pp. 199–203).
- ^ Feldman & Hata 1987, pp. 54–57.
- ^ Flavius Josephus & Maier 1995, pp. 284–285.
- ^ Painter 2004, p. 126.
- ISBN 90-04-08931-4.
- The Wars of the Jews. Book 4, Chapter 5
Sources
- ISBN 978-90-04-11550-7.
- ISBN 978-90-04-08554-1. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-8254-3260-6.
- ISBN 0-8146-5152-6.
- Van Voorst, Robert E. (2000). Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. ISBN 0-8028-4368-9.
External links
- New International Encyclopedia. 1905. Has a brief mention of Ananus ben Ananus at the end. .