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.
ContestéAuteur antique1st–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.
- Découvert
- Transmitted in a single manuscript acquired by the British Museum, 1843
- Conservé à
- British Library, London
- Langue
- Syriac
- Comment il nous est parvenu
- Jamais enfoui — recopié à la main, génération après génération, jusqu'à l'imprimerie.
Ce qu'elle montre
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.
Ce qu'en font les historiens
Discussed in the standard surveys of non-Christian references, with the dating problem noted.
Dans l'Écriture
Se rattache à
Sources
- Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament (2000)
Ces textes sont pour l'instant en anglais. Les traductions suivront.