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 Syriac 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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