Ananias of Adiabene (; c. 15 BCE – c. 30 CE) was a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

and mendicant

proselytizer Proselytism () is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Proselytism is illegal in some countries. Some draw distinctions between ''evangelism'' or ''Da‘wah'' and proselytism regarding proselytism as involu ...

, probably of

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

origin, who, in the opening years of the

common era Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

, was prominent at the court of

Abinergaos I Abinergaos I, also known as Abinerglus, was the king of Characene starting in the second decade of the Christian era. The years of his reign are not known beyond a few coins. The coins are dated to the years AD 10/11, 11/12, 13/14 and 22/23. Wh ...

(Abennerig), king of

Characene Characene (Ancient Greek: Χαρακηνή), also known as Mesene (Μεσσήνη) or Meshan, was a kingdom founded by the Iranian Hyspaosines located at the head of the Persian Gulf mostly within modern day Iraq. Its capital, Charax Spasinou (Χ� ...

. He was instrumental in the

conversion to Judaism Conversion to Judaism ( he, גיור, ''giyur'') is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. "Th ...

of numerous native and foreign inhabitants of

Charax Spasinu , alternate_name = , image = Hyspaosines.jpg , alt = , caption = Hyspaosines (209–124 BC), founder and king of Characene, had his capital in Charax. , map_type = Iraq , map_alt = , map_size = 250 , location = Iraq , region ...

. This city, the capital of Characene, was situated at the confluence of the two arms of the

Tigris The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...

near the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

and was at the time a great mercantile center. Amongst Ananias' most prominent converts were several women of high position at the court, particularly the princess Symacho, the king's daughter. This princess married

Izates bar Monobaz Izates II (Greek: Ἰζάτης, he, זוטוס בן מונבז; ca. 1-54 CE) was king of the Parthian client kingdom of Adiabene from approximately 30 to 54. He is notable for converting to Judaism. He was the son of Queen Helena of Adiabene an ...

, a young prince who had been sent to Abennerig's court by his parents,

Monobaz I Monobaz I (also known as Bazeus or Monobazus; he, ''Munəbāz'') was king of the Parthian client state of Adiabene in the 20s and 30s of the 1st century AD. He was the husband ( and brother) of Queen Helena of Adiabene. With Helena he fathere ...

and Helena, the rulers of

Adiabene Adiabene was an ancient kingdom in northern Mesopotamia, corresponding to the northwestern part of ancient Assyria. The size of the kingdom varied over time; initially encompassing an area between the Zab Rivers, it eventually gained control of Ni ...

. Through his wife, Izates' attention was directed to Ananias, with whom he formed an acquaintance that eventually ripened into a strong attachment. Around the year 18 CE, Ananias won the prince over to the Jewish faith. Moreover, Izates was named as successor to the throne by Monobaz, who, in so doing, passed over his elder sons. Upon his accession (about 22), Izates, in order to show his genuine attachment to the new religion, declared his determination to undergo the rite of

circumcision Circumcision is a surgical procedure, procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin ...

. Helena opposed this, fearing that the adoption of foreign ceremonies might arouse against the young king the indignation of his pagan subjects. Ananias, who had come to Adiabene with Izates, supported Helena's contention, arguing that such a step on the part of the king would endanger the life of his Jewish instructor, and, further, that circumcision was not vital to the fulfilment of the Jewish religion and the worship of God. Izates seemed convinced by the latter argument, until there came to his court another Jew, Eleazar, who, in contradistinction to Ananias' Hellenic leniency, was a rigorous legalist from

Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Galil ...

. He persuaded Izates to undergo the rite.Genesis Rabba xlvi. 8. Ananias and Helena were strongly agitated when Izates disclosed his action, but the trouble they predicted did not immediately ensue. Whether Ananias made further converts in Izates' country is not stated. In his book, "James the Brother of Jesus,"

Robert Eisenman Robert Eisenman (born 1937) is an American biblical scholar, historian, archaeologist, and poet. He is currently professor of Middle East religions, archaeology, and Islamic law and director of the Institute for the Study of Judaeo-Christian Orig ...

contends that this person is the same as the Biblical Ananias from the book of

Acts The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...

Notes

References

Enelow, H. "Ananias of Adiabene".
''

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...

''. Funk and Wagnalls, 1901–1906; which cites: *Brüll, ''Jahrbücher'', 1874, i. 58 ''et seq.'' *Josephus,

Jewish Antiquities ''Antiquities of the Jews'' ( la, Antiquitates Iudaicae; el, Ἰουδαϊκὴ ἀρχαιολογία, ''Ioudaikē archaiologia'') is a 20-volume historiographical work, written in Greek, by historian Flavius Josephus in the 13th year of the re ...

xx. 2 ''et seq.'' *Delitzsch, "Das Königshaus von Adiabene", in ''Deutsche Revue'', 1885, pp. 187 ''et seq.'' *''idem'', in ''Saat auf Hoffnung'', 1887, pp. 178 ''et seq.'' * Grätz, Heinrich, ''Gesch. d. Juden'', 4th ed., iii. 404 ''et seq.'' *Hamburger, ''R. B. T.'' ii. 556 ''et seq.'' *Schürer, ''Gesch''. 3d ed., iii. 119 ''et seq.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ananias of Adiabene Judaism in Adiabene Iraqi Jews Cultural assimilation 1st-century Jews 10s BC births 30s deaths