ETHNARCH: The title of an office which is
often mentioned in Hellenistic times. Strabo
mentions strategoi, nomdrchni,
and ethnarchai among the officials in Egypt in the time of
Augustus; and Lucian (Macrobioi, xvii.) speaks of an ethnarch Asandroa made king of the Bosporus by Augustus.
Thus it is clear that the title was not one peculiar
to the Jews. Among them it probably indicates
a degree of independence; at least, according to
Strabo (quoted in Josephus Ant. XIV., vii. 2),
that is the position held by the ethnarch of the Jews in
Egypt. For the Jews in Egypt the office is an indication that they followed their customs and religion as a special race among an alien people.
This comes out in the edict of Claudius cited in
Josephus (Ant. XIX., v. 2).
While the statement that after the death of an ethnarch Augustus continued the office seems to contradict a statement
of Philo (Flacclcrrt, ยง 10), that after the death of the
genarch (a word practically the same as ethnarch)
Augustus established a
germssia,
this may mean only that a gerousia was constituted, presided over
by a plurality of heads. But ethnarch is not sub
stantiated as a general title among the Jews of the
diaspota,. It was a title borne by the
Hasmoneans (q.v.), in
the first case by Simon. His brother and predeces
sor Jonathan was called by Alexander, son of Epiph
anes, strati3gos and
meridarches,
titles which im ply the union of military and civil power. That
Simon had in mind a higher title is clear from the
connection in
I Macc. xiv. 28 sqq.,
cf. xv. 1 sqq., and the idea of the titles conferred on him as stated
in
I Macc. xiv. 42
is that of hereditary right. In spite of this, in the case of John Hyrcanun the title
failed to follow succession. The coins of Hyrcanus
I. mention alongside "John the High Priest" the
" Commonwealth of the Jews," or name him " Head
of the Commonwealth of the Jews," from which it
follows that John regarded his office as less than
that of a political ruler, and considered himself the
priestly head of a theocratic state. Yet the sense
of the well-known anecdote of the encounter with
Eleazar, the spokesman of the Pharisees, in which
the latter asked John to lay aside the high-priest
hood and be contented with the political rulerahip,
implies the position of ethnarch. His non Ariato
bulus was the first after the exile to take the title
of king, in which he was followed by Alexander
Jannaeus (Josephus, Ant. XIII. xi.-xii.). Alex
andra also assumed the title of queen, and is so
called by Jonephun. Her son Hyrcanus, when he
retired to private life, passed the title of king to his
brother Aristobulus. Pompey gave to Hyrcanus
the high-priesthood and also the title of king.
But a later decree of Caesar made Hyrcanus ethnarch
and high priest, the former title as compensation
for the loss of the royal name. Herod obtained
from the Roman Senate the royal title, but his non
Archelaus was only ethna,rch. Of special interest is the mention of the ethnarch
of King Aretas in Damascus
(
II Cor. xi. 32).
It in the Nabataean King Aretas IV. who is meant, and
the ethnarch is not a governor of the Jews but the
ruler of the city. This could have been only in
the days of Caligula or Claudius, since under Ti
berius and Nero Damascus was under Roman con
trol. Paul's flight therefore could not have been
before 37 A.D.
(Johannes Weiss.)
Bibliography:
The best discussion will be found in Scharer,
Geschichte; consult the Indexes. Consult also: J. Deren
bourg, Hialoire et peograyhie de la Palestine, pp. 87, 4b0
451, Paris, 1867; H. Graeta, Geschichte der Judea, iii.
30-31, 163, 371, 417, Leipsic, 1888.
