Plate 15 of 22 for the Macklin Bible after Loutherbourg

Eleazar Avaran, also known as Eleazar Maccabeus, Eleazar Hachorani/Chorani (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: אלעזר המכבי ''Eleazar HaMakabi'', אלעזר החורני ''Eleazar HaChorani''; died 162 BC) was the fourth son of Mattathias and the younger brother of Judas Maccabeus. He was killed at the

Battle of Beth-zechariah The Battle of Beth Zechariah was a battle around May 162 BC during the Maccabean revolt fought between Jewish rebels under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus (Judah Maccabee) against an army of the Seleucid Empire, the Greek successor state (diadoch ...

() during the

Maccabean revolt The Maccabean Revolt ( he, מרד החשמונאים) was a Jewish rebellion led by the Maccabees against the Seleucid Empire and against Hellenistic influence on Jewish life. The main phase of the revolt lasted from 167–160 BCE and ende ...

. Little is known about Eleazar, except his heroic death as was told. According to the scroll of Antiochus, his father saw in him a

Zealot The Zealots were a political movement in 1st-century Second Temple Judaism which sought to incite the people of Judea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy Land by force of arms, most notably during the First Je ...

among zealots, like

Pinhas According to the Hebrew Bible, Phinehas or Phineas (; , ''Phinees'', ) was a Kohen, priest during the Israelites’ The Exodus, Exodus journey. The grandson of Aaron and son of Eleazar, the High Priests (), he distinguished himself as a youth ...

. In it is told that Eleazar read from the

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Battle of Beit Zechariah, Eleazar identified a

war elephant A war elephant was an elephant that was trained and guided by humans for combat. The war elephant's main use was to charge the enemy, break their ranks and instill terror and fear. Elephantry is a term for specific military units using elepha ...

that he believed to carry the

Seleucid The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the ...

King

Antiochus V Antiochus V Eupator ( Greek: ''Αντίοχος Ε' Ευπάτωρ''), whose epithet means "of a good father" (c. 172 BC – 161 BC) was a ruler of the Greek Seleucid Empire who reigned from late 164 to 161 BC (based on dates from 1 Maccabees ...

, due to the special armor the elephant wore. He decided to endanger his life by attacking the elephant and thrusting a spear into its belly. The dead elephant then collapsed upon Eleazar, killing him as well. Despite this heroic effort, the smaller Jewish army was defeated in the battle.

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

wrote that Eleazar, though killing many enemy soldiers, did not gain any real effect besides the name he made for himself. In another variation of this story which appears in the

Megillat Antiochus ''Megillat Antiochus'' ( he, מגילת אנטיוכוס - "The Scroll of Antiochus"; also "Megillat HaHashmonaim", "Megillat Benei Hashmonai", "Megillat Hanukkah", "Megillat Yoḥanan", "Megillat HaMakabim" or "Megillah Yevanit") recounts the st ...

, Eleazar's body is discovered after sinking in the excrement of an elephant.

Avaran

All of the members of the family of Mattathias were given nicknames in addition to their

personal names A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is known, ...

as can be seen in (For example,

Judas Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betr ...

was given the name 'ha'Makabi', meaning 'the Hammer'.) Eleazar was given the name 'Avaran' ("Sauran" in the Alexandrian version of the book of 1 Maccabees), which has been taken to mean 'the Piercer' (in reference to his death) or 'to be white' (referring to his light complexion). Other versions are "Horan", possibly derived from "Hor"="hole", similar to the "piercer" designation; and "Eran" (alert, vigorous).

Commemoration

Eleazar's death was a popular subject for art in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, where it was given a typological significance as prefiguring Christ's sacrifice of himself for mankind. The chance to portray an elephant was also welcomed by artists, although as most had never seen one, the results are often very strange. It is also portrayed in a painting of 19th century French artist

Gustave Doré Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré ( , , ; 6 January 1832 – 23 January 1883) was a French artist, as a printmaker, illustrator, painter, comics artist, caricaturist, and sculptor. He is best known for his prolific output of wood-engravin ...

. The Israeli settlement,

Elazar Eleazar (; ) or Elʽazar was a priest in the Hebrew Bible, the second High Priest, succeeding his father Aaron after he died. He was a nephew of Moses. Biblical narrative Eleazar played a number of roles during the course of the Exodus, fro ...

, in

Gush Etzion Gush Etzion ( he, גּוּשׁ עֶצְיוֹן, ' Etzion Bloc) is a cluster of Israeli settlements located in the Judaean Mountains, directly south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the West Bank. The core group includes four Jewish agricultural v ...

, near the site of the

battle of Beth-zechariah The Battle of Beth Zechariah was a battle around May 162 BC during the Maccabean revolt fought between Jewish rebels under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus (Judah Maccabee) against an army of the Seleucid Empire, the Greek successor state (diadoch ...

, is named after him. Streets are named after him in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

References

External links

Tapestry with Eleazer killing the elephant
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avaran, Eleazar 162 BC deaths Hasmonean dynasty Military personnel killed in action People in the deuterocanonical books Year of birth unknown Maccabees 2nd-century BCE Jews