Lysimachus

Lysim'achus (Λυσίμαχος, a frequent Greek name), the name of two men mentioned in the Apocrypha.

1. "The son of Ptolemneus of Jerusalem," commonly supposed to be the translator into Greek of the Book of Esther (see the close of the Sept. version). The Apocryphal "rest of the Book of Esther," A.V., says, "In the fourth year of the reign of Ptolemneus and Cleopatra, Dositheus, who said he was a priest and Levite, and Ptolemus his son, brought this epistle of Phurim, which they said was the same, and that Lysimachus, the son of Ptolemeulls, that was at Jerusalem, had interpreted it" (11:1). There is, however, no reason to suppose that the translator was also the author of the additions made to the Hebrew text. SEE ESTHER, APOCRYPHAL ADDITIONS TO.

2. A brother of the Menelaus whom Antiochus appointed high-priest (B.C. cir. 171). Menelaus left him temporarily "in his stead in the priesthood," and encouraged him to commit many sacrileges. Thus he roused the indignation of the common people, who rose against him and killed him (2 Macc. 4:29, 39). The Vulgate erroneously makes him the successor instead of the deputy of Menelaus.

⇒See also the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.