MENELAO. - High priest of Jerusalem, who unlawfully succeeded Giasone, himself likewise an intruder in place of his brother Onia III, the last legitimate pontiff, in the time of the Seleucid king Antioco IV Epifane (175–163 B.C.; cf. II Mach. 4, 23–50).
According to many critics, M., like his brother Simone, belonged not to the tribe of Beniamin (current Greek text of II Mach. 3, 4), but to the tribe of Levi and to the lineage of Bilga (ancient Latin versions), that is, to the fifteenth priestly class.
He distinguished himself by tyrannical ferocity toward his compatriots and by continual plundering of the Temple treasury, carried out in order to repay Antioco or to secure the favor of influential persons. He treacherously had the pious Onia III assassinated because he had dared to censure his sacrilegious conduct.
IV (v.), returning from his second Egyptian campaign, entered the Temple to plunder its treasury, he was accompanied by M.; having entered the “Holy Place,” he carried off the lampstand and the golden altar.
During the campaign of Antioco V Eupatore (163–162) against Judea, M. was with the King, seeking to gain his favor. Having become burdensome because of his intrigues, he was condemned to death and met his end at Berea by suffocation, having been cast into a tower filled with ashes.