Peter Kirby wrote:If mentions of "Judas Iscariot" and "Simon the Cyrene" are (veiled) references to the revolt in Cyrene by the
sicarii, which took place in 73 CE.
This is the post where I develop that idea:
http://www.earlywritings.com/forum/view ... f=3&t=1356
It's not a completely secure identification by any means.
If one wants to seek a connection between Judas Iscariot and Simon from Cyrene i.e. to connect both names to zealot activity, then why not go back to when the 'zealot' activity began? Way back - to Judas Maccabeus and his brother Simon Maccabeus...That would indicate that it is not only the events post 70 c.e. that are reflected in gMark but earlier events are also reflected in the gMark story. Seeking only to use a reflection of a later event, post 70 c.e., as the deciding factor in dating gMark is not allowing gMark the full scope of it's story.
Strange is it not, that prominent zealots mentioned by Josephus are named 'Judas'..
Slavonic Josephus
And at that time was
a revolt of the people against him.
For there were in the city two wise men
who observed
the ancestral laws
and (were) famous
in Judaea for this:
Judas, son of Sepphoraeus, and [Matthew, son of Margalos)
Many young people were coming to them,
enquiring about the Law.
And they used to assemble every day
like an army.
Come men of Judaea, now is the time
men to behave like men, to show what
reverence we have for the Law of Moses.
Let not our race be shamed, let us not bring
disgrace on our Law-giver.
‘Let us take as the model for (our) exploits
Eleazar – first – and the seven Maccabee brothers
and the mother who made men (of them).
For, when Antiochus had conquered and
subjugated our land and was ruling over
use, he was defeated by these 7 youths
and (their) old teacher and an old woman.
Let us also be worthy of them, let us not
prove weaker than a woman. But even if we
are to be tortured for our zeal for God
a greater wreath – has been –plaited for us.
And if they kill us, our soul as it
leaves (this) dark abode and will return to
(our) forefathers, where Abraham and
his offspring (dwell).
Now the people, fearing that the king’s
wrath would fall on them all, begged him
to kill
those (arrested)
but leave the rest.
And he ordered a furnace to be lit
and cast them into it alive. And it was so.
Josephus’ Jewish War and Its Slavonic Version: A Synoptic Comparison. Leeming (editor) K. Leeming (editor)
my formatting
Eleazar Maccabeus being the brother of Judas and Simon who was killed re the incident with an elephant during battle with the Seleucid army.
Interesting, War 1.33 makes no mention of either Eleazar or the 7 Maccabee brothers....What the Slavonic text does indicate is that as late as the end of the rule of Herod I the 'spirit' of the zealot movement was not simply anti Herod and anti Rome - it was pro Maccabee/Hasmonean.
So - if mention of a Judas and a Simon in gMark is a connection to a zealot linkage - then that linkage goes back a long way to the two Maccabee brothers, Judas and Simon.
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
W.B. Yeats