BOETHOS

BOETHOS. – Progenitor of the Boethosians, who formed a distinct group within the party of the Sadducees. A priest of Alexandria, B. was the father of Simon, who, ca. 24 B.C., was appointed high priest by Herod the Great, when the latter married his daughter Mariamne; another seven or eight Boethosian descendants were likewise raised to the dignity of high priest. A late rabbinic legend makes B. a disciple of Antigonus Soko (ca. 200 B.C.), who is said to have founded a religious-political party akin to that of the Sadducees, but distinct from it, called the Boethosians after him.