BOETHOS. — The eponymous founder of the Boethusians, who formed a distinct group within the party of the Sadducees. A priest of Alexandria, B. was the father of Simon, who around 24 B.C. was appointed high priest by Herod the Great when the latter married his daughter Mariamne. Seven or eight other descendants of the Boethusian line were also elevated to the high-priestly dignity. A late rabbinic legend makes B. a disciple of Antigonus of Soko (c. 200 B.C.), who is said to have founded a religious-political party, akin to but distinct from that of the Sadducees, known as the Boethusians.
BIBL.: J. Gutmann, in Enc. Iud., IV (1929), 912 ff. Gaetano Perrella