Ath'ali'ah, daughter of Ahab, king of Israel, and wife of Jehoram, king of Judah. After the death of her son Ahaziah, she opened her way to the throne by the murder of forty-two princes of the royal blood. She reigned six years; in the seventh, the high priest Jehoiada placed Joash, the young son of Ahaziah, who had been secretly preserved, on the throne of his father, and Athaliah was slain (II Kings, XI). This story is the foundation of a famous tragedy, Athalie, by Racine.