Alcimus

Alcimus (from Greek: Ἄλκιμος Alkimos, "valiant" or Hebrew אליקום Elyaqum, "God will rise"), also called Jacimus, or Joachim (Ἰάκειμος), was a High Priest of Israel for three years, 162–159 BCE, who espoused the Syrian cause.

Life

According to 1 Maccabees he was a descendant of the Biblical Aaron, brother of Moses, but not in the high-priestly line; and being ambitious for the office of high priest, he traveled to Antioch to secure the assistance of the Seleucid king Demetrius I Soter, who had just overthrown Antiochus Eupator. Alcimus was of the Hellenizing party, and therefore bitterly opposed by the Maccabees.

Demetrius sent an army under Bacchides to establish Alcimus in the high priesthood at Jerusalem. The favor with which Alcimus was received by the Jews at Jerusalem on account of his Aaronic descent was soon turned to hate by his cruelties. When Bacchides and his army returned to Antioch, the Hasmonean Judah Maccabee attacked and overcame Alcimus, and drove him also to Syria. There he secured from Demetrius another army, led by Nicanor, who, failing to overcome Judah by treachery, attacked him directly, but was defeated and killed. A third and greater army, under Bacchides again, was dispatched to reinstall Alcimus. Judah was defeated and killed, Alcimus established as high priest and a strong garrison left in Jerusalem to maintain him. But he did not long enjoy his triumph, since he died soon after, while he was pulling down the wall of the temple that divided the court of the Gentiles from that of the Israelites.

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Alcimus (disambiguation)

Alcimus may refer to a number of people from classical history:

Alcimus (mythology), name of several figures in Greek mythology

Alcimus (rhetorician), Greek rhetorician of the 3rd century BC

Alcimus, high priest in Jerusalem in the 2nd century BC

Alcimus Alethius, 4th-century Latin poet

Avitus of Vienne (died 523), bishop, also known as Saint Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus

Alcimus (genus), genus of insects

Alcimus (rhetorician)

Alcimus (Greek: Ἄλκιμος) was a Greek rhetorician who flourished around 300 BC. He was called by Diogenes Laërtius the most distinguished of all Greek rhetoricians. It is not certain whether he is the same as the Alcimus to whom Diogenes in another passage ascribes a work called Pros Amuntan (πρὸς Ἀμύνταν).Athenaeus in several places speaks of a Sicilian Alcimus, who appears to have been the author of a great historical work, parts of which are referred to under the names of Italica (Ἰταλικὰ) and Sicelica (Σικελικά). But whether he was the same as the rhetorician Alcimus, cannot be determined.