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Jesus and the Theatre*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Abstract

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Type
Short Studies
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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References

NOTES

[1] The Markan passage (7. 6) is paralleled by Mt. 15.7. Matthew (22. 18) adds ὺποκριτής to Mark 12. 15 (cf. Lk. 20. 23). Of the eight occurrences of ὺποκριτής in Q, one has ὺποκριτής in both Mt. (7. 5) and Lk. (6. 42); one has ὺποκριτής in Lk. (12. 56) but not in the Matthean parallel. The remaining six of the Q passages have ὺποκριτής in Matthew but not in the Lukan parallel (Mt. 23. 13 and Lk. 11. 52; Mt. 23. 23 and Lk. 11.42;Mt. 23. 25 and Lk. 11. 39; Mt. 23. 27 and Lk. 11. 44; Mt. 23. 29 and Lk. 11. 47; Mt. 24. 51 and Lk. 12. 46). M has four occurrences of ὺποκριτής-three are found in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 6. 2, 5, 16) and one in the woes against the Pharisees (23. 15). [Mt. 23. 14 is a spurious passage that also contains ὺποκριτής.] L uses ὺποκριτής only once (Lk. 13.15).

[2] Argyle, A. W., ‘“Hypocrites” and the Aramaic Theory’, The Expository Times 75 (1963–1964), pp. 113–4Google Scholar; and Greek Among the Jews of Palestine in New Testament Times’, N.T.S. 20 (1973), pp. 88–9.Google Scholar Recent archaeological evidence tends to substantiate Argyle's assertion that Jesus spoke Greek as well as Aramaic. Meyers, Eric M. and Strange, James F., Archaeology, the Rabbis, and Early Christianity (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1981), pp. 7888.Google Scholar Also see Sevenster, J. N., Do You Know Greek? (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1968), p. 176CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Joseph, A.Fitzmyer, S. J., ‘The Languages of Palestine in the First Century A.D.’, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 32 (1970), p. 516Google Scholar; Silva, Moisés, ‘Bilingualism and the Character of Palestinian Greek’, Biblica 61 (1980), pp. 215–16Google Scholar; Mussies, Gerard, ‘Greek as the Vehicle of Early Christianity’, N.T.S. 29 (1983), pp. 358–64.Google Scholar

[3] ὺποκρίτής occurs only twice in the LXX (Job 34. 30 and 36. 13) where its meaning is ‘godless’ or ‘irreligious’. These are not the primary meanings implied by the contexts in which ὺποκριτής is used in the Synoptics.

[4] Bieber, Margarete, The History of the Greek and Roman Theater (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1939), p. 323.Google Scholar ‘The mime was, of course, also played in the dress of daily life. Since it never adopted the mask, the mimetic art, after which it is named, was especially well developed, and thus, from the first century B.C. and later, enjoyed a much greater popularity than the masked plays.’

[5] Frova, A., ‘Caesarea, the Theater’, Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, edited by Michael, Avi-Yonah (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1975), 1, p. 275Google Scholar; Levine, Lee I., Roman Caesarea (Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1975), p. 25.Google Scholar

[6] Antiquities XV. 8.1 (Loeb).

[7] Waterman, Leroy, Preliminary Report of the University of Michigan Excavations at Sepphoris, Palestine, in 1931 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1937), p. 29. Antiquities XVII. 2. 1.Google Scholar

[8] Waterman, , p. 29.Google Scholar

[9] Classical Weekly 31 (April 1938), p. 148.Google Scholar

[10] Thomas R. W. Longstaff served as associate director and computer programmer.

[11] This quotation is taken from James F. Strange and Thomas R. W. Longstaff, ‘Soundings at Sepphoris, 1983’ to be published in the Israel Exploration Journal and in Revue Biblique. Since the date of the theatre is important for Jesus' social world, I asked Professor Strange to give me his latest best judgment on its founding. In a letter dated October 23, 1983 he wrote: ‘The material from the undisturbed fill beneath the seats in probe II.2 yielded a small corpus of sherds. In field readings a small but consistent number (8%) appeared to be of the Middle Roman period. It is possible that further study will alter the inferred date for the theater. However, it seems simplest to report in a preliminary fashion that the date of the theater is more likely second than first century A.D. Further excavation and study are needed to settle the matter.’

[12] Antiquities XVII. 1. 3. Archelaus, Antipas, Herod and Philip were all educated in Rome, according to Josephus. Alexander and Aristobulus while in Rome stayed part of the time with Augustus himself, Antiquities XV. 10.1. Antipater was personally delivered to Augustus by Herod the Great, Antiquities XV. 9.1.

[13] Hoehner, Harold W., Herod Antipas (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1972), p. 14.Google Scholar

[14] Antiquities XV. 10. 1.

[15] Hoehner, , p. 17.Google Scholar

[16] Bieber, , pp. 326–7. Tacitus Annals XIV. 20, 21.Google Scholar

[17] Bieber, , p. 383Google Scholar; Plutarch Vita Pompei 42 (Loeb); Cassius Dio XXXIX. 38 (Loeb).

[18] Bieber, , p. 347. Suetonius Augustus 29 (Loeb).Google Scholar

[19] Bieber, , p. 349.Google Scholar

[20] Vitruvius I. Preface 1–3 (Loeb).

[21] Batey, Richard A., ‘Is Not This the Carpenter?’, N.T.S. 30 (1984), p. 251.Google Scholar

[22] Intro, to Vitruvius, p. xiv.

[23] Vitruvius V. 4. 1.

[24] Vitruvius I. 1. 3.

[25] Vitruvius I. 1.12.

[26] Vitruvius V. 3. 1–3.

[27] Vitruvius V. 6. 1–3. Bieber has an instructive diagram of the theatre of Marcellus on p. 347. Also see pp. 351–3.

[28] Vitruvius I. 2.1.

[29] Vitruvius V. 5.1–6.

[30] Vitruvius V. 5.8. Vitruvius apparently had seen the bronze vases from the theatre in Corinth that had been brought to Rome by Lucius Mummius in 146 B.C. after he destroyed Corinth.

[31] Josephus Antiquities XVII. 9. 4. Also see Hoehner, , p. 17Google Scholar; Bruce, F. F., ‘Herod Antipas, Tet-rarch of Galilee and Peraea’, The Annuals of Leeds University Oriental Society, edited by John, Mac-Donald (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1966), 5, pp. 68.Google Scholar

[32] Antiquities XVII. 10. 9. Wars II. 5. 1.

[33] Antiquities XVIII. 2. 1. Cf. Life 8.

[34] Waterman, , p. 11.Google Scholar

[35] Frova, , p. 275.Google Scholar

[36] Stuart, Saul Miller, Studies in the History and Traditions of Sepphoris (Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International, 1983), p. 117.Google Scholar

[37] Freyne, Sean, Galilee from Alexander the Great to Hadrian 323 B.C.E. to 135 C.E. (Notre Dame: University Press, 1980), pp. 126–8Google Scholar and The Galileans in the Light of Josephus' Vita’, N.T.S. 26 (1980), pp. 400–5.Google Scholar Also see Manns, Fredric, ‘Un centre judéo-chrétien important: Sepphoris’, Essais sur le Judéo-Christianisme. Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, Analecta 12 (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1977), pp. 170–8Google Scholar; Klein, Samuel, Beiträge zur Geographie und Geschichte Galiläas (Leipzig: Verlag von Rudolf Haupt, 1909), pp. 2640.Google Scholar

[38] ‘Naheliegend ist da die Frage, ob es denkbar sei, dass Jesus selbst das Theater von Sepphoris besucht hat.’ Schwank, Benedikt, ‘Das Theater von Sepphoris und die Jugendjahre Jesus’, Erbe und Auftrag 52 (1976), p. 206.Google Scholar Also see Schwank's, Theaterplätze für “Gottesfürchtige” in Milet’, Biblische Zeitschrift 13 (1969), pp. 262–3.Google Scholar

[39] MacMullen, Ramsay, Enemies of the Roman Order (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1966), pp. 172, 340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

[40] Suetonius Caligula XXVII. 4 (Loeb).

[41] Acts 12. 20–23; Antiquities XIX. 8. 2. Paul defended himself before the mob assembled in the theatre in Ephesus (Acts 19. 29).

[42] Argyle, , p. 89Google Scholar; Shirley, Jackson Case, Jesus, A New Biography (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1927), pp. 206–12.Google Scholar

[43] Hengel, Martin, Jews, Greeks and Barbarians, trans. John, Bowden (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980), p. 125. ‘Thus by and large we may term Judaism of the Hellenistic Roman period, both in the home country and the Diaspora, “Hellenistic Judaism”.’Google Scholar