The Development of the High Priesthood During the Pre-Hasmonean Period

This book deals with the Jewish High Priesthood between 301-152 BCE. The research was carried out as part of a doctoral thesis at the Pontifical Gregorian University. It is of a historical-biblical-theological nature. Historical, in as much as it refers to a chronological period and to the historiographic sources; biblical and theological because it questions a Biblical institution, its meaning and its religious function. The history of the High Priesthood is analysed on the basis of conflicting documents, starting from the question of power and the autonomy of the high priests under the rule of the Ptolemies and the Seleucids. However, the historical reconstruction is strongly determined by the political ideology and theological vision of the available sources on this subject.