Onias I (
Hebrew: חוניו ; Honiyya or Honio ben Jaddua) was the son of the
Jaddua mentioned in
Nehemiah.[1] According to
Josephus, this Jaddua is said to have been a contemporary of
Alexander the Great (reigned 336-323 BCE).[2]I Maccabees regards Onias as a contemporary of the
Spartan king
Areus I (309-265 BCE).[3] "Josephus is ... mistaken in placing it in the time of
Onias III instead of Onias I, who was high priest c. 300 B.C. (cf.
Ant. xi. 347)."[4]
Simon the Just extolled in the
Wisdom of Sirach[5] (according to the Hebrew text the son of Jonathan, but according to the Greek text the son of Onias) and in
legend was probably the son of Onias I or, according to some, of the latter's grandson
Onias II.