AHIQAR (Aramaic Ahia-iaqar: “the brother is precious” or “dear”). — Assyrian sage, chancellor of Sennacherib (705–681 B.C.), and later of Esarhaddon (681–669). He is mentioned by the Vulgate, Achior (v.) only in Tob. 11:20 (together with Nabath), as a relative of Tobias; six other times (Tob. 1:21–22; 2:10; 11:17–18; 14:10, 15) by the Greek Bible of the Septuagint (under the name Achiacharos, cod. Sin. Achicharos) and by the ancient Latin versions (under the name Achichar).
A narrative book is attributed to him (A. is betrayed by his beneficiary, but his innocence triumphs), into which two collections of sayings have been inserted (3:1–95 and 33:96–142). Combining the various titles prefixed in the manuscripts, Nau calls the work History and Wisdom of Ahikar the Assyrian.
Having no children, the aged A. adopts Nadan, his sister’s son, to whom he communicates the rules of life in 95 maxims (chaps. 1–3); but Nadan, through false letters, has him condemned to death by Esarhaddon for conspiracy (6–11). The executioner, Nabusumiskun, a friend of the condemned man, kills an imprisoned slave while A. hides and, listening to Nadan’s rejoicing, prays to the just and good God (12–15). When the king of Egypt asks Esarhaddon for a sage who can solve riddles and build a palace in the air, A. reappears and is sent to Egypt, where he satisfies the pharaoh’s requests (16–19). On his return he is celebrated, and Esarhaddon hands over to him his ungrateful nephew, whom A. scourges while instructing him with a second series of maxims; Nadan is then executed (31–34).
The work was probably composed in Assyrian, no later than the sixth century B.C. The Aramaic text, which seems to be a translation from a lost original, was already widespread in the Jewish world around 450 B.C.; various fragments of it are found among the papyri discovered (1906–1908) Elephantine (v.), dating from 450–410 B.C. The original work subsequently underwent transformation; over the course of the centuries it was reworked and expanded by numerous translators and copyists, who added the journey to Egypt and multiplied the maxims.
A. was known as a “sage” to Greek writers (Strabo, XVI, II, 39, ed. A. Meineke, III, Leipzig 1877, p. 1063); Theophrastus composed (ca. 300 B.C.) a work about him ("Axi-ozpoc; Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philos., V, 2, 50); several of his maxims are found in Menander (342–290 B.C.); the legend of Aesop (and of Loqman, cf. Qur’an, XXXI) derives from him. Maximus Planudes (1260–1310), who depended on earlier works, identifies A. with Aesop.
More than 20 sayings in Ecclesiasticus reproduce those of A.’s book; Nau, p. 60, admits direct dependence, but they may have reached Sirach through oral tradition. A dependence of Tob. (written ca. 250 B.C.) on A.’s book may be admitted, since the latter’s composition is earlier. The historical circumstances and the surrounding customs appear identical in the two works, and several sayings are common to them (although A.’s book completely ignores Tobias).
The historicity of Tob. is not thereby affected. Although subsequently framed within fantastic legends (such as the journey to Egypt, of which there is no trace in Tob.), A. is a historical personage (M. Hagen, s. V. Achiacharus, in Lexikon Biblium; F. Nau, L. Pirot, R. Galdos, J. O'Carroll, against E. Cosquin, Le livre de Tobie et l'« Histoire du sage Ahikar », in Revue Biblique, 8 [1899], pp. 50–82, 521–31, and against F. Stummer, B. Meissner, and others). Of the writing attributed to him, the Greek version of Tob. made use of its oldest and most historically reliable section (office at court, condemnation, punishment of Nadan).
From the use of divine names, F. Stummer deduces (against Nau) that the work was originally composed in a polytheistic sense and was subsequently purged by the Jews.
BIBLI. F. Nau, Histoire et sagesse d'Ahikar l'assyrien, Paris 1909 (fundamental study, with the earlier bibliography); id., Ahikar et les papyrus d'Eléphantine, in Revue Biblique, 21 [1912], pp. 68–79; id., Documents relatifs à Ahikar, Paris 1920; F. C. Conybeare and J. R. Harris, The Story of A. (critical examination of the manuscript tradition), 2nd ed., Cambridge 1913; F. Stummer,
Der kritische Wert der altaramäischen Ahikartexte aus Elephantine, Münster 1914; id., Zur Ursprache des Ahikarbuches, in Oriental. Literaturzeitung, 18 [1915], pp. 103–105; B. Meissner, Das Märchen vom weiten Ahikar, Leipzig 1917; L. Pirot, s.V. in DBs, I [1928], cols. 197–207; J. O'Carroll, Tobias und Achikar, in Dublin Review, 93 [1929], pp. 252–63; R. Galdos, Commentarius in librum Tobit, Paris 1930, pp. 19–39; H. Duesberg, Les scribes inspirés, I, there 1938, pp. 70–75; A. H. Krappe, Is the story of Ahikar the wise of Indian origin?, in J. of the Amer. Or. Soc. 567 [1941], pp. 280–84. Antonino Romeo