heads of families, with the high-priest as president (2 Chron, xix, 8, 11), , , . Now the chronicler, as Zunz has shown {Gottesdienstliche Vortrdge, p, 32), lived as early as the beginning of the 2d centnrj' of the Seleuci- dean sera, so that at that time the Sanhedrim did al- ready exist, and its beginning is to be placed at the pe- riod in which Asia was convulsed by Alexander and his successors of the Ptolemean and Seleucidean dynasties. Palestine, too, felt deeplj- the consequences of these re- cent convulsions, and to preserve its internal religious independence it required a thoroughly organized body to watch over both its doctrines and rights. This body manifested itself in the Sanhedrim, at the head of which was the high-priest, as is seen from Eccles. iv, 4, 5, and 2 Chron. xix, 8, 11. The Sanhedrim seems to have been dissolved in the time of the Maccabtean revolt in consequence of the unworthy high -priests (comp. 2 Mace), but it was reconstructed after the overthrow of the Syrian yoke. As the people, however, were unwill- ing to leave the whole power in the hands of the IVIac- cabees, who were already princes and high-priests, they henceforth placed at the head of the Sanhedrim a presi- dent and a vice-president" (/>??■ gerichtliche Jieiceis, p. 68, note). This is, moreover, corroborated by the tra- ditional chain of presidents and vice-presidents which is uninterruptedly traced from Jose ben-Joeser (B.C. 170), as well as by the statement that with Simon the Just terminated the Great Synagogue (Aboth, i, 2), from which the Sanhedrim developed itself. The tran- sition from the Great Synagogue to the Great Sanhe- drim is perfectly natural. "The Macedonian conquer- or," as Frankel justly states (^Programm. p. 6, 1834), "with all his clemency towards Palestine, which resist- ed him so long and so obstinately, effected changes in the internal government of the people, and dissolved the Great Synagogue, which to a certain extent confer- red independence and a republican constitution upon the land. The people, however, valued highly their old in- stitutions, and would not relinquish them. Hence most probably in the confusions which broke out after Alex- ander's death, when the attention of the fighting chiefs could not be directed towards Palestine, the supreme court was formed anew, assuming the name Synhedrion, which was a comtrion appellation among the Greeks for a senate." It was this development of the Great San- hedrim from the Great Synagogue which accountsfor the similarity of the two names (TDIS, !l5n:i ""'"'"irilO
nb-.-i:n).
After the destruction of Jernsalem, when the holy city was no longer adapted to be the centre of religious administration, R. Jochanan ben-Zakkai transferred the seat of the Sanhedrim to Jabne or Jamiua (A.D. 68-80) ; it was thence transferred to Usha (Kethiiboth, 49; »S'(/6- bnth, 15; Rosh Ila-Shana, 15 b), under the presidency of Gamaliel II, ben-Simon II (A.D. 80-116); conveyed back to Jabne and again to Usha; to Shafran, under the presidency of Simon III, ben-Gamaliel II (A.D. 140-163); to Beth-Shearim and Sepphoris, under the presidency of .Jehudah I the Holy, ben-Simon III (A.D. 163-193; comp. Kethnboth, 103 b ; Kida, 27 a) ; and finally to Tibe- rias, muler the presidency of (Jamaliel III, ben-Jehudah I (A.D, 193-220), where it became more of a consistory, but still retaining, inider the presidency of Jehiidah II, ben-Simon III (A.D. 220-270), the power of excommuni- cation in case any Israelite refused to abide by its de- cisions; while under the presidency of (Jamaliel IV, ben- Jehudah II (A.D. 270-300), it dropped the appellation Sanhedrim, and the authoritative decisions were issued under the name Beth llam-Midrash (^"I'lJiri ri'^S). Gamaliel VI (A.D. 400-425) was the last president. With the death of this patriarch, who was executed by Theodosius II for erecting new synagogues contrary to the imjierial inhibition, the title oi Xaxi, the last re- mains of the ancient Sanhedrim, became wholly extinct in the year 42.5.
It was with reference to this Supreme Court that
SAN-JASIIS
347
SANKHYA
Christ chose seventy disciples (Luke x, 1), answering to the seventy senators composing the Sanhedrim, just as he chose twelve apostles with reference to the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. xix. 2X; Luke xxii, 30), to indi- cate thereby to the Jews that the authority of their supreme religious court was now taken away and was vested in the seventy of his own choice, and over which he himself was the president and supreme Lord.
IV. Literature. — Mishna, Sanhedrin, and the Geraara on this tractate ; excerpts of the Oemara tractate San- hedrin have been translated into Latin with elaborate notes by John Coch (Ainst. 1629) ; the monographs of Vorstius and Witsius, in Ugolino's T/iesaiirvs, vol. xxv ; Maimonides, Be Sanhedi-iis et Peenis (ed. Houting. Amst. 1695) ; Selden, jf^e Synedriis et Prcefecturis Juridicis Vete- rum Ebrmonim (Lond. 1650); Zunz, Die f/ottesdienst- lichen Vortrage der Juden, p. 37 sq. (Berlin, 1832) ; 7s- raelitische Annalen, i, 108, 131 sq. (Frankfort-on-the- Main, 1839); Frankel, Der aerichtliche Beweis nach mosaisch-tnlmiidischem Rechte, p. 68 sq. (Berlin, 1846) ; Rapaport, Krech Millin, p. 2 (Prague, 1852); Frankel, Monatsschriftjur Geschichte und Wissenschaft desJuden- thums, i, 344 sq. ; Lev}-, in Frankel's Monatssch-ift, iv, 266 sq.. 301 sq. (Leips. 1855); Herzfeld, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, ii, 380 sq. (Nordhausen, 1855) ; Krochmal, in the Hebrew essays and reviews entitled He-Chaluz, iii, 118 sq. (Lemberg, 1856); Jost, Geschichte des Juden- thums und seiner Sectcn, i, 123 sq., 270 sq. (Leips. 1857) ; Gratz, Geschichte der Juden, p. 88 sq. (2d ed. Leips. 1 863) ; Hartmann, Die Verhindunr) des A Iten Testaments mit dem Neuen (Hamb. 1831). Comp. also School, where all the presidents and vice-presidents of the Sanhedrim will be given in chronoh)gical order; and Synagogue, the Great, where the development of the Sanhedrim from this institution will be traced. For monographs on the civil powers of the Sanhedrim in our Lord's time, see Volbeding, Index Proyrammaium, p. 58. See Council.