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SYNEDRIUM (avvibptov)

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 294 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SYNEDRIUM (avvibptov) , a See also:Greek word which means " See also:assembly " and is especially used of judicial or representative assemblies, is the name by which (or by its See also:Hebrew transcription, 1'11,mo, sanhedrin, sanhedrim) that Jewish See also:body is known which in its origin was the municipal See also:council of See also:Jerusalem, but acquired extended functions and no small authority and See also:influence over the See also:Jews at large (see xiii. 424 seq.). In the Mishnah it is called " the sanhedrin," " the See also:great sanhedrin," " the sanhedrin of seventy-one [members] " and "the great See also:court of See also:justice" (beth din haggadol). The See also:oldest testimony to the existence and constitution of the synedrium of Jerusalem is probably to be found in 2 Chron. xix. 8; for the priests, See also:Levites and hereditary heads of houses there spoken of as sitting at Jerusalem as a court of See also:appeal from the See also:local judicatories does not correspond with anything mentioned in the old See also:history, and it is the practice of the chronicler to refer the institutions of his own See also:time to an origin in See also:ancient See also:Israel. And just such an aristocratic council is what seems to be meant by the See also:gerousia or See also:senate of " elders " repeatedly mentioned in the history of the Jews, both under the Greeks from the time of See also:Antiochus the Great (Jos. See also:Ant. xii. 3, 3) and under the Hasmonean high priests and princes. The high See also:priest as the See also:head of the See also:state was doubtless also the head of the senate, which, according to Eastern usage, exercised both judicial and administrative or See also:political functions (cf. 1 See also:Mace. xii. 6, xiv. 20).

The exact measure of its authority must have varied from time to time at first with the measure of See also:

autonomy See also:left to the nation by its See also:foreign lords and afterwards with the more or less autocratic See also:power claimed by the native sovereigns. The See also:original aristocratic constitution of the senate began to be modified under the later Hasmoneans by the inevitable introduction of representatives of the rising party of the See also:Pharisees, and this new See also:element gained strength under See also:Herod the Great, the See also:bitter enemy of the priestly See also:aristocracy. Finally under the See also:Roman procurators the synedrium was left under the See also:presidency of the See also:chief priest as the highest native tribunal, though without the power of See also:life and See also:death (See also:John xviii. 31). The aristocratic and Sadducean element now again preponderated, as appears from See also:Josephus and from the New Testament, in which " chief priests " and " rulers " are synonymous expressions. But with these there sat also " See also:scribes " or trained legal doctors of the Pharisees and other notables, who are simply called " elders " (See also:Mark xv. 1). The Jewish tradition which regards the synedrium as entirely composed of rabbins sitting under the presidency and See also:vice-presidency of a pair of chief doctors, the See also:nasi and ab beth din, is inconsistent with the See also:evidence of Josephus and the New Testament. It is generally held that it was after the fall of the state that a merely rabbinical beth din sat at Jabneh and afterwards at See also:Tiberias, and gave legal responses to those who See also:chose to admit a judicature not recognized by the See also:civil power. Dr A. Buehler has sought to reconcile the various accounts by the theory that there were two great tribunals in Jerusalem, one wielding religious, the other civil authority (Das Synedrion in Jerusalem, See also:Vienna, 1902). The council chamber (/3ovXi) where the synedrium usually sat was between the See also:Xystus and the See also:Temple, probably on the Temple-See also:hill, the Mishnah states that the meetings were held within the inner court.

The See also:

meeting in the See also:palace of the high priest which condemned Jesus -was exceptional. The proceedings also on this occasion were highly irregular, if measured by the rules of See also:procedure which, according to Jewish tradition, were laid down to secure See also:order and a See also:fair trial for the accused. Of the older literature of the subject it is enough to cite See also:Selden, De synedriis. The most important See also:critical discussion is that of See also:Kuenen in the Verslagen, &c., of the See also:Amsterdam See also:Academy (1866), p. 131 seq. A See also:good See also:summary is given by Schiirer, Geschichte See also:des jiidischen Volkes, 4th ed., § 23. Cf. also G. A. See also:Smith. Jerusalem (19o7), vol. i. ch. 9.

End of Article: SYNEDRIUM (avvibptov)

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