Place · Egypt
Leontopolis (Tell el-Yahudiya)
Ancient names: Leontopolis
Site of the Jewish temple built by a high priest named Onias with Ptolemaic permission. Pleiades identifies the Delta Leontopolis with the site of Tell el-Yahudiya (one of two places named Leontopolis in the region).
30.2925°N 31.3308°E · representative coordinate · Pleiades 727147 ↗
Statements linked to this place
Each block is a sourced statement. Click the number to see the cited page.
In the second century BCE, a high priest named Onias (Onias III or Onias IV: Josephus, the only source, seems to confuse the two) fled Judea and, with permission from the Ptolemaic king (probably Ptolemy VI), built at Leontopolis a temple modeled on the one in Jerusalem, on a smaller scale. Onias saw it as the fulfillment of Isaiah 19:19. The temple operated until the Romans closed it in 74 CE.
Community: Community of the temple of Onias
In the second century BCE, a high priest named Onias (Onias III or Onias IV: Josephus, the only source, seems to confuse the two) fled Judea and, with permission from the Ptolemaic king (probably Ptolemy VI), built at Leontopolis a temple modeled on the one in Jerusalem, on a smaller scale. Onias saw it as the fulfillment of Isaiah 19:19. The temple operated until the Romans closed it in 74 CE.