The Age of the Maccabees (2)

Chapter II The Pontificate Rival Competitors for the High Priesthood—The office of high priest being thus, as we have seen, a powerful and lucrative position, became the occasion of much unseemly wrangling and conspiracy. There were two families in particular that made themselves notorious by their scramble for the coveted prize. These were the families of the Oniadae and of the Tobiadae. Each had its own party (principles and party cries. The Onia­dae were of the old traditional stock that...