[41] who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered to him; and also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.
Goodacre quotes Crossan, “Their existence and names in 15:40-41 are pre-Markan tradition” while 15:47 and 16:1ff are Markan redaction.
Mark Goodacre points out that “from afar” echoes the wording from Ps 38:11 LXX “my friends and companions …. stand afar”. He suggests that these are historical words derived from the psalms (p 44). I think it would be better to consider them an addition to the tradition from the Old Testament.
Goodacre write, “While Mary Magdalene and to a lesser extent Salome have left their mark on the tradition more generally, the same can’t be said” of Mary. … the text can be translated in six different ways. Unless Mark is being deliberately vague, we must assume, with Gerd Theissen that the family relationships of Mary were transparent to the audience. Again with Theissen, we might add another observation, ‘… the second Mary … is described in terms of her sons’.”
Theissen sets out the six ways the text can be translated
Mary (the wife) of James the younger and mother of Joses
Mary the mother of James the younger and Joses
Mary (the daughter) of James the younger and mother of Joses
Mary (the wife) of James the younger and (Mary) the mother of Joses
Mary the mother of James the younger and (Mary) the mother of Joses
Mary (the daughter) of James the younger and (Mary) the mother of Joses
He states, “‘Mary the mother of James the younger and Joses’ has the advantage of being intelligible without speculative additions” (p 177 The Gospels in Context). Therefore to me it seems that the other five translations are red herrings and this removes the idea that the family relationship had to be known to the audience of this tradition.
The question arises who are James the younger and Joses. In Mark 6:3 Jesus is described as the son of Mary and the brother of James (Greek for Jacob), Joses (Greek shortened version of Joseph), Judas and Simon. Is James described in Mk 15:40 as the younger to distinguish him from James the son of Zebedee, who is described as one of Jesus’ disciples?
In Mark’s gospel Mary the Magdalene appears only three times here and at 15.47 to see where Jesus was buried and 16:1 on the way to the tomb. In Luke’s gospel she has seven spirits removed from her (8:1). Salome only appears twice in the New Testament here and at Mk 16:1.
Salome was a common name according to Wikipedia Herod the Great has both a sister and daughter called Salome. There was also Queen Salome Alexandra mother of Hyrcanus II and Aristobus II rival kings of Judea. Then there was Salome, Herodias’ and Herod II’s daughter who married Philip the Tetrarch and then her cousin Aristobulus of Chalcis.
Carrier discusses Goodacre’s thinking on Mk 15:40-41 in the second paragraph under the heading “Questioning Axiomatic Inferences”. He implies that because three women attend “the ‘three stations’ of Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection” this makes the story suspect. He implies that the three names are suspect too - https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/16366#women
At the end of the sixth paragraph under the heading “Questioning Axiomatic Inferences” Carrier writes, “In other words, Goodacre’s argument is that we can’t explain how they are in the narrative otherwise. But this is a modal argument (an argument about what’s possible), and a modal argument can be refuted by any possible alternative explanation–we need not prove the alternative probable, only possible. The burden is then on anyone who wishes to insist the “historicity” explanation is the one that’s more probable (and as I find, there simply is no argument for that to be had)."Even the names of the women in Mark’s empty tomb tale are likely symbolic. Salome is the feminine of Solomon, an obvious symbol of supreme wisdom and kingship. Wisdom was often portrayed as a feminine being (Sophia), so to have her represented here behind a symbolic name rich with the same meaning is not unusual. Mariam (the name we now translate as Mary) was famously the sister of Moses and Aaron, who played several key roles in the legendary escape from Egypt, including her connection with that famous well of salvation that acquired her name, and being the one who led the Hebrew women in song after their deliverance from Egypt—and Egypt was frequently used in ancient Jewish literature as a symbol of the Land of the Dead, just as crossing the wilderness into Palestine symbolized the process of salvation, escaping from death into Paradise.
But Mark gives us two Mary’s, representing two aspects of this legendary role. “Magdalene” is a variant Hellenization of the Hebrew for “tower,” the same exact word transcribed as Magdôlon in the Septuagint—in other words the biblical Migdol, representing the borders of Egypt, and hence of Death. In Exodus 13, the Hebrews camped near Migdol to lure the Pharaoh’s army to their doom, after which “they passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness three days” (Numbers 33:7-8), just as Jesus had done, on their way to the “twelve springs and seventy palm trees” of Elim (33:9), just as we know the gospel would be spread by twelve disciples and—according to Luke 10:1-17—seventy missionaries. Meanwhile, “Mary the mother of Jacob” (many don’t know it, but “James” is simply Jacob in the original languages, not a different name) is an obvious reference to the Jacob, of Jacob’s well, whose connection we already see Mark intended. This Jacob is of course better known as Israel himself.
So these two Marys in Mark represent Egypt and Israel, one literally the Mother of Israel; the other, the harbinger of escape from the land of the dead. Thus they represent (on the one side) the borders of the Promised Land and the miraculous defeat of death needed to get across, and (on the other side) the founding of a new nation, a New Israel—both linked to each other, through the sister of the first savior, Moses, and Aaron (the first High Priest), and mediated by Wisdom (Salome).
James David Audlin comes up with 36 suggestions where the word ‘Magdalene’ might come from https://www.academia.edu/6485720/Quite_ ... Magdalene_
Firstly (a) from “Magdala a village on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee”
Secondly (b) from the Hebrew “migdal tower related to μαγδωλος in Greek watchtower
Thirdly (c) from the Aramaic “magdala, ‘tower’ ‘elegant’ or ‘great’ … Joan Taylor (Palestine Exploration Quarterly 146:3 [2014]) suggests, her cognomen means ‘the Tower-ess’ to say she was a towering woman in faith or personality.” Or why not a tall woman? Or he writes it could refer to her tall neck or large breasts.
Fourthly (d) from the Aramaic “mgdlā … for a woman braiding her hair, to the woman being “described as … mgdlytā, which is exactly Mary’s cognomen in Aramaic”. This seems to be a very good fit. He says that women who had taken the vow of Notzrim braided their hair (Nazarite).
He writes the word was later associated with the town Magdala
Fifthly (e) from the Hebrew “Mahanaim … meaning ‘Two Camps’, a place so called by Jacob because he and God both camped there”. At this place Jacob erected a watchtower (Gen 31:48-52 …)”
Audlin states there is no evidence that Magdala existed in the first century CE.
He said that the Hebrew migdal should be rejected because the Aramaic word magdala (for a the description of a woman who has braided hair) is closer to the Greek text.
He concludes that “I personally lean toward (the) option” that “her cognomen means ‘of the Plaited Hair’, … one of those who took the vows of the Notzrim (Nazarite)”.
If Audlin is correct and migdal should be rejected and Mary the Magdalene is another way of saying she is a Nazarite then Carrier’s explanation of her name would fall. His explanation of Salome I find weak and it should be remembered that Mary was a very popular name to give girls at this time.
It seems to me that Carrier’s view is based on his conclusion that “most of the book of Mark is constructed fictionally … (therefore) we really ought to admit it’s more likely so is the rest of it. While Goodyear’s view is that it is possible that behind what Mark has written is a tradition which goes back to an actual Jesus who lived in the first century CE.
If Mary the Magdalene was originally in Aramaic is this a factor in favour of Mark having Aramaic traditions which he has translated into Greek? There are other Aramaic words which Mark explains (talitha koumei - girl arise 5:21, ephphatha – be opened 7:34) and some New Testament scholars see Aramaic behind some of parables and sayings of Jesus.
Each person should decide for themselves which they feel is the more probable. Having different options should not be used as evidence that the idea that Mark is relaying a tradition which he had been told about can’t be the most probable. A person’s choice will be influenced by how they feel about the likelihood that there was an actual man called Jesus (Greek shortened version of Joshua) who was believed after his death to have be ‘resurrected’ (whatever that may have meant).