Gedaliah ben Ahikam

Gedaliah ben Ahikam: (a) (d. 423 BCE) After Nebuchadnezzar exiled most of the Jews from Israel, he appointed Gedaliah to govern those who remained. Gedaliah advocated submission to Babylon as a means of ensuring continued partial Jewish autonomy, and under his administration, the Jewish colony prospered. When he was assassinated by political rivals, the Jews scattered and all remaining vestiges of Jewish autonomy were lost. His assassination is commemorated yearly with the Fast of Gedaliah. (b) A common Jewish name.