Back مارا بن سرافيون Arabic ܡܪܐ ܒܪ ܣܪܦܝܘܢ ARC Mara Bar Serapió Catalan Mara Bar Serapion German مارا بار سراپیون Persian Mara bar Sérapion French Mara bar Serapion ID Mara bar Serapion Italian Mara bar Serapião Portuguese Мара бар Серапион Russian
Mara bar Serapion (Classical Syriac: ܡܪܐ ܒܪ ܣܪܦܝܘܢ), or "Mara son of Serapion", was a Syriac Stoic philosopher in the Roman province of Syria. He is only known from a letter he wrote in Aramaic to his son, who was named Serapion,[1][2] which refers to the execution of "the wise king of the Jews" and may be an early non-Christian reference to Jesus of Nazareth.
The letter indicates that Mara's homeland was Samosata, i.e. modern-day Samsat, Turkey (on the west bank of the Euphrates), but his captivity appears to have been in Seleucia, in modern-day Iraq (on the west bank of the Tigris River).[3]
Mara's captivity took place after the AD 72 annexation of Samosata by the Romans, but before the third century.[4] Most scholars date it to shortly after AD 73 during the first century.[5]
- ^ The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament by Andreas J. Köstenberger, L. Scott Kellum 2009 ISBN 978-0805443653 p. 110
- ^ Evidence of Greek Philosophical Concepts in the Writings of Ephrem the Syrian by Ute Possekel 1999 ISBN 9042907592 pp. 29–30
- ^ The Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature edited by Frances Young, Lewis Ayres, Andrew Louth ISBN 0521460832 p. 168
- ^ The Middle East under Rome by Maurice Sartre, Catherine Porter and Elizabeth Rawlings (2005) ISBN 0674016831 p. 293
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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