Jonathan ( he, יוֹנָתָן; arc, יוֹנָתָן; died c. AD 58), also referred to as Jonathan the High Priest, was a first-century

Jewish 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""The ...

high priest and

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

leader. Shortly after he was announced High Priest of Israel, he was killed in AD 58 by

Antonius Felix Antonius Felix (possibly Tiberius Claudius Antonius Felix, in Greek: ὁ Φῆλιξ; born circa 5–10) was the 4th Roman procurator of Judea Province in 52–60, in succession to Ventidius Cumanus. Life Felix was the younger brother of t ...

, the Roman

procurator Procurator (with procuracy or procuratorate referring to the office itself) may refer to: * Procurator, one engaged in procuration, the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency * ''Procurator'' (Ancient Rome), the title o ...

of the province

Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous L ...

. He was stabbed by robbers hired by

Felix Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...

with daggers at the

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

Enmity with Felix

Felix disliked Jonathan, because he often got criticized by the latter about governing the Jewish affairs, and threatened to be reported to Caesar if not doing well as the priest was the one made recommendation to Caesar to send Felix to be the procurator of Judea. Felix persuaded one of Jonathan's most trusted friends, Doras, a citizen of Jerusalem, to hire robbers to kill Jonathan by promising to give a large sum of money. Doras arranged for some hired men to mingle with the worshippers in the Temple in Jerusalem, while they hid daggers under their garments. These assassins succeeded in killing Jonathan during a Jewish festival and were never caught. The main source that mentions this high priest is the '' Antiquities of the Jews'' by Flavius Josephus.

Ossuary

It is suggested that this Jonathan is the son of Theophilus ben Ananus mentioned on an

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

ossuary An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the ...

of the granddaughter of Theophilus, named Johanna. The inscription of the

reads, "Yehoḥanah (Johanna) daughter of Yehoḥanan (Jonathan) son of Thefilus (Theophilus), the High Priest." Since many male descendants of Ananus ben Seth also became high priests in the 1st century CE, it is possible that this Jonathan is the son of

Theophilus Theophilus is a male given name with a range of alternative spellings. Its origin is the Greek word Θεόφιλος from θεός (God) and φιλία (love or affection) can be translated as "Love of God" or "Friend of God", i.e., it is a theoph ...

. However, the

only refers to Theophilus as a high priest, so it may have been a different person. According to Tal Ilan, Jonathan was the eighth most common male Jewish name in Palestine. Another possible identification for him is that he was Jonathan ben Ananus.http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7689-high-priest It is possible that the title was restored to him for a second time after 14 years. This could explain why Josephus refers to him only by his first name rather than his full name. Some historians believe that Jonathan's true killers may have been Jewish

Sicarii The Sicarii (Modern Hebrew: סיקריים ''siqariyim'') were a splinter group of the Jewish Zealots who, in the decades preceding Jerusalem's destruction in 70 CE, strongly opposed the Roman occupation of Judea and attempted to expel them and th ...

, rebels against Roman rule infamous for assassinating enemies with

sica The sica was a short sword or large dagger of ancient Illyrians, Thracians and Dacians, used in Ancient Rome too, originating in the Halstatt culture. It was originally depicted as a curved sword (see the Zliten mosaic as well as numerous oil ...

References

{{Authority control 1st-century High Priests of Israel Ancient Roman murder victims Deaths by stabbing