Callisthenes (Syrian)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Callisthenes - a Syrian who was believed to have been concerned in the burning of the gates of the Temple during the persecution to which the Jews were subjected in the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes. When the Jews were celebrating their subsequent victory over Nicanor (135 B.C.), they captured Callisthenes, who had taken refuge in a little house, and burned him to death. "And so he received a reward meet for his wickedness" (II Macc. viii. 33)

This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.