ANTIOCHIANS ăn tĭ ŏk’ ĕ ənz (̓Αντιοχεῖς, belonging to Antiochus), ANTIOCHENES (NEB) ăn tī’ ŏ kenz, ANTIOCHISTS (Jerusalem Bible) ăn tī’ ŏ kĭstz. A community formed at Jerusalem under Antiochus Epiphanes.

Recorded only in 2 Maccabees 4:9, registration of a community of Antiochians at Jerusalem was one of the favors purchased from Antiochus Epiphanes after his accession (in 175 b.c.) by Jason, the high priest who had supplanted his own brother Onias. Three different explanations have been advanced: a cultural society formed within Jerusalem to practice the Gr. way of life, centered upon the gymnasium; a grant of the citizenship of Antioch (the Seleucid capital) to Jerusalem; or (most prob.) the formation of a new city called Antioch at Jerusalem. In the manner of Hel. foundations, this would have excluded from citizenship non-hellenized inhabitants, and adapted the life of the city to the international model. The point of 2 Maccabees 4:18-20 is that the Antiochians still drew the line at the Gr. sacrifices their new status might have implied. See Jason 2.

Bibliography V. Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews (1959), 161-170, 404-409.