Four high priests bore this name. Onias I. was son of Jaddua and father of Simon the Just (Sir 50:1, where, however, the Heb. reads John in place of Onias). In his time a letter was said to have come from the Spartan king Areus I. claiming kinship and suggesting alliance (1Ma 12:7 f. [RV. Arius]; cf. Josephus Ant. XII. iv. 10).

Oni'as,

the name of five high priests in the period between the Old and the New Testament.