ATALIA (Athaliah). — Wicked queen of Judah, daughter of Ahab, king of Samaria, and of Jezebel (q.v.) of Tyre. She was the wife of Joram, king of Judah. She brought with her the Phoenician idolatrous upbringing received from her ambitious and perverse mother. She exercised a most baleful influence over her husband, and later over her son Ochoziah. Indeed, Joram and Ochoziah “walked in the ways of Ahab, doing evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Kings 8:18, 27).
After Ochoziah’s death, following a single year of reign, Athaliah, to secure the throne, had all the male descendants of Joram, who might lay claim to succession, put to death. She reigned alone for six years (842–836 B.C.), promoting the worship of Baal, for which a temple was built in Jerusalem, complete with altars and idols, officiated by the priest Mathan (Heb. Mattan).
Yet a spark had been preserved. Joash, the youngest son of Ochoziah, a year old, had been rescued from the slaughter and hidden in the temple by Josabeth, half-sister of the deceased king and wife of the high priest Jojada (q.v.). When Joash reached the age of seven, Jojada, with the aid of the partisans of order and the soldiers, solemnly proclaimed him king. Hearing the acclamations, Athaliah rushed forth and called for help; but she was seized, led outside the precincts, and put to death near the palace. She was the last of the house of Ahab, whose members all perished by violent deaths. The immediate sign of the religious reaction was the destruction of the temple of Baal and the killing of Mathan (2 Kings 11; 2 Chron. 22:10–23:21).
On this episode J. Racine composed his tragedy *Athalie* (1691).