The letter of Mara bar Serapion
A non-Christian Syriac writer refers to the execution of a Jewish "wise king" as a known event, and links it to the fall of the kingdom.
DiscutidoAutor antiguo1st–3rd century AD
A Stoic writing from prison to his son lists peoples who killed their wise men and were punished for it: the Athenians who killed Socrates, the Samians who burned Pythagoras, and the Jews who executed "their wise king", after which their kingdom was taken away.
What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise king? It was just after that their kingdom was abolished.
- Hallado
- Transmitted in a single manuscript acquired by the British Museum, 1843
- Se conserva en
- British Library, London
- Lengua
- Syriac
- Cómo llegó hasta nosotros
- Nunca enterrado: copiado a mano, generación tras generación, hasta la imprenta.
Qué muestra
The date is uncertain across two centuries, and the letter never names Jesus. The identification is likely but not certain, and the writer is not a Christian.
Cómo lo usan los historiadores
Discussed in the standard surveys of non-Christian references, with the dating problem noted.
En la Escritura
Se relaciona con
Fuentes
- Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament (2000)
Por ahora estos textos están en inglés. Las traducciones llegarán.