ATALIA (Athalia). - Wicked queen of Judah, daughter of Achab, king of Samaria, IEZABEL (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 exerted a most harmful influence upon her husband, then upon her son Ochozia. Indeed, Joram and Ochozia “walked in the ways of Achab, doing evil in the sight of the Lord” (II Reg. 8, 18, 27).
After the death of Ochozia, following only one year of reign, in order to secure the throne A. had all the males of Joram’s family who might lay claim to the succession put to death. She ruled alone for 6 years (842-836 B.C.), propagating the worship of Baal, for whom she erected a temple in Jerusalem, with altars and idols, served by the priest Mathan (Heb. Mattān).
But one spark had been preserved. Ioas, the youngest son of Ochozia, one year old, had been saved from the slaughter and kept hidden in the Temple by Josabet, half-sister of the deceased king and IOIADA (v.). When Ioas reached the age of 7, Jojada, with the help of the supporters of order and of the soldiers, solemnly proclaimed him king. Hearing the acclamations, A. hastened there and called for help; but she was captured, led outside the enclosure, and killed near the palace. She was the last of the house of Achab, whose members all perished by violent death. An immediate sign of the religious reaction was the destruction of the temple of Baal and the killing of Mathan (II Reg. 11; II Par. 22, 10-23, 21).
On this event J. Racine composed his tragedy Athalie (1691). Giuseppe Priero