Onias II was the son of Simon the Just. He was still a minor when his father died, so that his uncle Eleazar, and after him the latter's uncle Manasseh, officiated as high priests before he himself succeeded to that dignity. According to Josephus, he was a covetous man and of limited intelligence, whose refusal to pay the twenty talents of silver which every high priest was required to pay to the King of Egypt

Ptolemaic dynasty

The Ptolemaic dynasty, was a Macedonian Greek royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Their rule lasted for 275 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC...

 threatened to imperil both the high priest and the people; but at this juncture Joseph, the clever son of Tobias

Tobias

Tobias is a Greek version of the Hebrew biblical name "Toviyah" , meaning "Yahweh is good". It is a popular male given name in Germany, Scandinavia, the United States and amongst Jewish people. In English-speaking countries it is often shortened to Toby. Other diminutives are Tobi , Tobsen and...

 and nephew of Onias, succeeded in pacifying Ptolemy III (Euergetes). Onias is said to have died, almost simultaneously with his nephew Joseph, during the reign of Seleucus IV Philopator

Seleucus IV Philopator

Seleucus IV Philopator , ruler of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, reigned from 187 BC to 175 BC over a realm consisting of Syria , Mesopotamia, Babylonia and Nearer Iran . He was the second son and successor of Antiochus III the Great and Laodice III...

, hence about 181 BCE. His successor in office was his son Simon II

Simon II (High Priest)

Simon II was a Jewish High Priest during the time of the Second Temple. He was the son of Onias II. Some identify him with Simeon the Just....

.

Resources

• Gottheil, Richard and Samuel Krauss. "Onias." Jewish Encyclopedia
  Jewish Encyclopedia
  The Jewish Encyclopedia is an encyclopedia originally published in New York between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. It contained over 15,000 articles in 12 volumes on the history and then-current state of Judaism and the Jews as of 1901...
  
  . Funk and Wagnalls, 1901–1906, which cites to the following bibliography:
• H. P. Chajes, Beiträge zur Nordsemitischen Onomatologie, p. 23, Vienna, 1900 (on the name);
• Herzfeld, Gesch. des Volkes Jisrael, i. 185-189, 201-206;
• Heinrich Grätz, Gesch. 2d ed., ii. 236;
• Emil Schürer
  Emil Schürer
  Emil Schürer was a German Protestant theologian.-Biography:Schürer was born at Augsburg.After studying at Erlangen, Berlin and Heidelberg from 1862 to 1866, he became in 1873 professor extraordinarius at Leipzig and eventually professor ordinarius at Göttingen...
  
  , Gesch. 3d ed., i. 182, 194-196; iii. 97-100;
• Niese, in Hermes, xxxv. 509;
• Wellhausen, I. J. G. 4th ed., p. 248, Berlin, 1901;
• Willrich, Juden und Griechen vor der Makkabäischen Erhebung, pp. 77, 109, Göttingen, 1895;
• Adolf Büchler
  Adolf Büchler
  Adolf Büchler was a Hungarian-Austrian rabbi, historian and theologian....
  
  , Die Tobiaden und die Oniaden, pp. 166, 240, 275, 353, Vienna, 1899;
• J. P. Mahaffy, The Empire of the Ptolemies, pp. 217, 353, London, 1895;
• Gelzer, Sextus Julius Africanus, ii. 170-176, Leipsic, 1885;
• Isaac Hirsch Weiss
  Isaac Hirsch Weiss
  Isaac Hirsch Weiss, also Eisik Hirsch Weiss was an Austrian Talmudist and historian of literature born at Velké Meziříčí, Moravia....
  
  , Dor, i. 130 (on the halakic view of the temple of Onias).