Ananias son of Nedebeus

Ananias is recorded in historical and scriptural sources as a human officeholder: the Jewish high priest of Jerusalem who officiated approximately from 47 to 58 CE. He is attested in the Christian New Testament (Acts of the Apostles) in relation to the trials of Paul and appears in historical commentary and tradition (Josephus uses the variant name 'Ananias ben Nebedeus'). The supplied sources treat him as a political-religious figure rather than as a mythic progenitor or supernatural origin figure.

The provided narratives do not furnish a literal physical description. In Acts, Paul calls Ananias a metaphorical 'whitewashed wall' (Greek phrase rendered in the sources as τοιχε κεκονιαμενε / a related variant) — a figurative epithet used by Paul in the trial narrative rather than an objective description of features or dress.

Sources attribute to Ananias the institutional roles and actions of a high priest and political actor: presiding over portions of Sanhedrin proceedings and the reception of Paul's defense, commanding those present to strike Paul, maintaining political alignment with Roman authorities, being accused by a Roman official (Quadratus, governor of Syria) of responsibility for acts of violence, being sent to Rome for trial (52 CE) and acquitted by Emperor Claudius (as reported), and continuing as high priest until 58 CE. He was later killed by members of the populace at the outbreak of the First Jewish–Roman War. These are historical and administrative behaviors rather than supernatural powers.