Apollonius

Apollo'nius (Α᾿πολλώνιος, from Apollo), the name of several men in the history of the Maccabees and Josephus.

1. The son of a certain Thrasaeus, and viceroy of the Syrian king Seleucus (IV) Philopator (B.C. 187) over southern Syria and Phoenicia (2 Maccabees 3:5, 7). At the suggestion of Simon, the temple governor, he instigated the king to plunder the Temple at Jerusalem, and generally took the severest measures against the Jews (2 Maccabees 4:4). The writer of the Declamation on the Maccabees, printed among the works of Josephus (De Macc. 4) relates of Apollonius the circumstances which are commonly referred to his emissary Heliodorus (2 Maccabees 3:7 sq.).

2. A son of Menestheus, and ambassador of King Antiochus Epiphanes to the Egyptian king Ptolemy Philometor, B.C. 173 (2 Maccabees 4:21). Perhaps he was the same as the "chief commissioner of tribute" (ἄρχων φορολογίας) for Judsea, who, at the command of Antiochus Epiphanes on his return from Egypt (B.C. 168), committed such bloodshed in Jerusalem (2 Maccabees 5:24; comp. 1 Maccabees 1:29 sq.); next was governor in Samaria (Joseph. Ant. 12, 7, 1, which Michaelis, on 1 Maccabees 3:10, regards as a misinterpretation), and finally lost his life in an encounter with Judas Maccabieus, B.C. 166 (1 Maccabees 3:10 sq.). An ambassador of the same name was at the head of the embassy which Antiochus sent to Rome (Liv. 42:6).

⇒Bible concordance for APOLLONIA.

3. A son of one Apollonius Gennaus, and a Syrian governor under Antiochus (V) Eupator (2 Maccabees 12:2). B.C. 163. If, however, we understand the surname as an ironical epithet (γενναῖος, noble), this Apollonius (but whether the father or the son would still be doubtful) may be identical with No 2.

4. Surnamed by Josephus (Ant. 13, 4, 3) Dalus (Δάος, from a people called Dahee or Dai in Sogdiana), a Syrian viceroy in Coele-Syria, who, taking sides with the usurper Demetrius (B.C. 147), attacked Jonathan, the ally of Alexander (Balas), but was utterly defeated by him (1 Maccabees 10:69 sq.). According to the Greek text in 1 Maccabees 16:69, he was origI inally governor of Ccele-Syria under Alexander, from whom he revolted to the party of Demetrius. Josephus only speaks of him as an officer of Alexander, without alluding to his connection with Demetrius (comp. Wernsdorf, De fide Maccab. p. 135). There may have been an early error crept into the text of 1 Maccabees, or the expression in the Hebrews original may have been ambiguous (see Grimm, Hlandb. in loc.). If this Apollonius be the same mentioned by Polybius (31, 21, § 2), as foster- brother and confidant of Demetrius I, his interest in the affairs of Demetrius would scarcely admit a doubt. — Winer, s.v.

5. The son of one Alexander, and one of the embassadors sent by the Jews to procure an alliance with the Romans in the time of Hvrcanus (Josephus, Ant. 13, 9, 2).