- Heliodorus (minister)
Heliodorus was a minister of
Seleucus IV Philopator ca.175 BC , and is said to have assassinated(by poison) Seleucus who hoped to succeed to his dominions. On the death of Seleucus, the throne was seized by Heliodorus; but it was not long beforeAntiochus IV Epiphanes , the brother of the late king, with the help of the Pergamon monarch,Eumenes II , recovered it. [George Rawlinson , Ancient History, 256]2 Maccabees reports that he entered theTemple in Jerusalem in order to take its treasure, but was turned back by three forms ofGod .Heliodorus in the Arts
During the
Reformation andCounter-Reformation , the episode of the "Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple" was taken in Roman Catholic apologetics as a symbol of the inviolability of Church property. [Gabriele Boccaccini, "Portraits of Middle Judaism in Scholarship and Arts" (Turin: Zamorani, 1992).] For some time, it became a popular subject in works of artists, such as:*
Raphael (1512): Vatican, Palazzi Vaticani
*Wouter Crabeth (1566):Gouda (Holland), Sint Janskerk
*Bertholet Flémal (1662),Brussels (Belgium), Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts
*Giuseppe Tortelli (1724):Brescia (Italy), Musei civici di Arte e Storia
*Francesco Solimena (1725):Naples (Italy), Gesù Nuovo
*Giambattista Tiepolo (1727):Verona (Italy), Museo di Castelvecchio
*Serafino Elmo (1734):Muro Leccese (Italy), Annunziata
*Franz Sigrist (1760):Zweifalten (Germany), Klostenkirche
*Eugene Delacroix (1861):Paris (France), Saint SulpiceNotes
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