Friends; Chief Friends (hoi philoi proton): Expressions used in 1 and 2 Macc to designate the favored courtiers of the Antiochi. Mattathias is promised enrollment among the king's Friends, to tempt him to apostatize (Macc 2:18); Alexander Balas writes Jonathan among his Chief Friends (Macc 10:65). Compare also Macc 3:38, 6:10,14; 10:60; 11:26,27; 2Macc 8:9.