Thracian Jannaeus
Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2018 9:23 am
Lotsa' thread material on Mark 13 these days. In reviewing my positions, I came across another small item that may point to a solution. It is tentative and will require someone with much more knowledge than I have. Nonetheless...
1. My view is that Mark 13 is written from a Hebrew/Aramaic Document concerning Alexander Jannaeus. It is told in Josephus, Antiquities..., Book 13 Chapters 13 and 14. Interwoven into the story is a Roman rewrite, from the Post-Domitian Court, probably written within a decade or two from the death of Domitian. "The Holy Spirit" is a Code for Domitian, who has been voted "Damnatio Memoriae" (As someone has stated, D.M. is possibly a derivative term). All physical evidence of Domitian has been wiped away. Thus, the disembodied, featureless "Holy Spirit". The later Project almost certainly began with Domitian answering the deification of Titus since the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit" replaces the "Baptism of John" when only a handful of "believers" would have known of a "Baptism of John". With this in mind, much of Mark 13 gives away its Roman Origins.
2. The Ur-Document tells of Jannaeus suffering a disastrous defeat at the hands of the Greek General Demetrius Eucerus. Josephus is intentionally hiding what occurs. He tells of Demetrius Eucerus camping out at Shechem. "OK...Fine...So, what?...". Shechem is near the Temple at Gerizim. Jannaeus has designs on re-creating a "Greater Israel" ("I was sent only to the House of Israel". "Go to the Decapolis and tell them how..."). At this time, the mercs/Jews who supported Demetrius Eucerus desert the Greek and run to Jannaeus. Josephus is astonishing in his disingenuous descriptions here. Beyond laughable (Again: "President Truman, the atomic bombs have completely destroyed Japan's will and capacity to make war!" "Great!! Now, let's retreat!!!").
Demetrius Eucerus has committed the Abomination of Desolation.
3. In the timeline here, after the Abomination of Desolation comes the Tribulation:
Mark 13: 14 - 18 (RSV):
[14] "But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains;
[15] let him who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything away;
[16] and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his mantle.
[17] And alas for those who are with child and for those who give suck in those days!
[18] Pray that it may not happen in winter.
I believe that the proper alignment of Logic and Sequence places verse 17 with Jannaeus' actions of crucifying his opponents while slitting the throats of their wives and children in front of them. Then comes a most interesting verse:
[24] "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,
This is Supernaturalism and it "obviously" places this occurrence far into the future - Doesn't it? It is possible that giant dust storms hid the sun and the moon (See also: The "rising" of Jesus in Acts 1) but that does not appear to be the intention here. This is about the End Times.
Josephus, Antiquities..., 13, 14, 2:
"However, this barbarity seems to have been without any necessity, on which account he bare the name of a Thracian among the Jews (40) whereupon the soldiers that had fought against him, being about eight thousand in number, ran away by night, and continued fugitives all the time that Alexander lived; who being now freed from any further disturbance from them, reigned the rest of his time in the utmost tranquillity..."
After the Abomination of Desolation, with the defection of Jewish fighters from Demetrius Eucerus to Jannaeus, the Jewish King and High Priest has a change in fortune, so to speak. His opponents - those who are left anyway - are in hiding and will not come back out until Salome takes over.
4. Did you catch it? That one word.
"...he bare the name of a Thracian among the Jews..."
What is that all about? In the quote above, there is a note, # 40:
"This name Thracida, which the Jews gave Alexander, must, by the coherence, denote as barbarous as a Thracian, or somewhat like it; but what it properly signifies is not known..."
I believe that it might mean more than that. I believe it might be a religious epithet. "So...Whadya' got Charlie?" Probably not much. Only a coupla' Tell-Tales. In an article from the ever-politicized Wiki-P, "Proto-Indo-European religion", we find that there are Motifs repeated often enough:
"Well-attested myths of the Proto-Indo-Europeans include a myth involving a storm god who slays a multi-headed serpent that dwells in water, a myth about the Sun and Moon riding in chariots across the sky, and a creation story involving two brothers, one of whom is sacrificed by the other in order to create the world..."
At least there is a tie-in with Jannaeus and his brother. There is also this:
"The myth of the Sun and Moon being swallowed by some kind of predator is also found throughout multiple Indo-European language groups..."
And the "Thracian Horseman":
"The Thracian Horseman (also "Thracian Rider" or "Thracian Heros") is the name given to a recurring motif of a horseman depicted in reliefs of the Hellenistic and Roman periods in the Balkans (Thrace, Macedonia,[1] Moesia, roughly from the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD).
"Its depiction is in the tradition of the funerary steles of Roman cavalrymen, with the addition of syncretistic elements from Hellenistic and Paleo-Balkanic religious or mythological tradition. The Thracian horseman is depicted as a hunter on horseback, riding from left to right. Between the horse's hooves is depicted either a hunting dog or a boar. In some instances, the dog is replaced by a lion..."
On the alignment of Jannaeus with the Lion, it might fit.
In short, there may be the barest hint that the "Thracian Jannaeus" isn't just the angry, warlike Jannaeus. He may be despised as another murdering tyrant but he may be deprecated in a religious manner here as well. This may give another link to Mark 13 being a rewrite of Jannaeus' troubles.
CW
1. My view is that Mark 13 is written from a Hebrew/Aramaic Document concerning Alexander Jannaeus. It is told in Josephus, Antiquities..., Book 13 Chapters 13 and 14. Interwoven into the story is a Roman rewrite, from the Post-Domitian Court, probably written within a decade or two from the death of Domitian. "The Holy Spirit" is a Code for Domitian, who has been voted "Damnatio Memoriae" (As someone has stated, D.M. is possibly a derivative term). All physical evidence of Domitian has been wiped away. Thus, the disembodied, featureless "Holy Spirit". The later Project almost certainly began with Domitian answering the deification of Titus since the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit" replaces the "Baptism of John" when only a handful of "believers" would have known of a "Baptism of John". With this in mind, much of Mark 13 gives away its Roman Origins.
2. The Ur-Document tells of Jannaeus suffering a disastrous defeat at the hands of the Greek General Demetrius Eucerus. Josephus is intentionally hiding what occurs. He tells of Demetrius Eucerus camping out at Shechem. "OK...Fine...So, what?...". Shechem is near the Temple at Gerizim. Jannaeus has designs on re-creating a "Greater Israel" ("I was sent only to the House of Israel". "Go to the Decapolis and tell them how..."). At this time, the mercs/Jews who supported Demetrius Eucerus desert the Greek and run to Jannaeus. Josephus is astonishing in his disingenuous descriptions here. Beyond laughable (Again: "President Truman, the atomic bombs have completely destroyed Japan's will and capacity to make war!" "Great!! Now, let's retreat!!!").
Demetrius Eucerus has committed the Abomination of Desolation.
3. In the timeline here, after the Abomination of Desolation comes the Tribulation:
Mark 13: 14 - 18 (RSV):
[14] "But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains;
[15] let him who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything away;
[16] and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his mantle.
[17] And alas for those who are with child and for those who give suck in those days!
[18] Pray that it may not happen in winter.
I believe that the proper alignment of Logic and Sequence places verse 17 with Jannaeus' actions of crucifying his opponents while slitting the throats of their wives and children in front of them. Then comes a most interesting verse:
[24] "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,
This is Supernaturalism and it "obviously" places this occurrence far into the future - Doesn't it? It is possible that giant dust storms hid the sun and the moon (See also: The "rising" of Jesus in Acts 1) but that does not appear to be the intention here. This is about the End Times.
Josephus, Antiquities..., 13, 14, 2:
"However, this barbarity seems to have been without any necessity, on which account he bare the name of a Thracian among the Jews (40) whereupon the soldiers that had fought against him, being about eight thousand in number, ran away by night, and continued fugitives all the time that Alexander lived; who being now freed from any further disturbance from them, reigned the rest of his time in the utmost tranquillity..."
After the Abomination of Desolation, with the defection of Jewish fighters from Demetrius Eucerus to Jannaeus, the Jewish King and High Priest has a change in fortune, so to speak. His opponents - those who are left anyway - are in hiding and will not come back out until Salome takes over.
4. Did you catch it? That one word.
"...he bare the name of a Thracian among the Jews..."
What is that all about? In the quote above, there is a note, # 40:
"This name Thracida, which the Jews gave Alexander, must, by the coherence, denote as barbarous as a Thracian, or somewhat like it; but what it properly signifies is not known..."
I believe that it might mean more than that. I believe it might be a religious epithet. "So...Whadya' got Charlie?" Probably not much. Only a coupla' Tell-Tales. In an article from the ever-politicized Wiki-P, "Proto-Indo-European religion", we find that there are Motifs repeated often enough:
"Well-attested myths of the Proto-Indo-Europeans include a myth involving a storm god who slays a multi-headed serpent that dwells in water, a myth about the Sun and Moon riding in chariots across the sky, and a creation story involving two brothers, one of whom is sacrificed by the other in order to create the world..."
At least there is a tie-in with Jannaeus and his brother. There is also this:
"The myth of the Sun and Moon being swallowed by some kind of predator is also found throughout multiple Indo-European language groups..."
And the "Thracian Horseman":
"The Thracian Horseman (also "Thracian Rider" or "Thracian Heros") is the name given to a recurring motif of a horseman depicted in reliefs of the Hellenistic and Roman periods in the Balkans (Thrace, Macedonia,[1] Moesia, roughly from the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD).
"Its depiction is in the tradition of the funerary steles of Roman cavalrymen, with the addition of syncretistic elements from Hellenistic and Paleo-Balkanic religious or mythological tradition. The Thracian horseman is depicted as a hunter on horseback, riding from left to right. Between the horse's hooves is depicted either a hunting dog or a boar. In some instances, the dog is replaced by a lion..."
On the alignment of Jannaeus with the Lion, it might fit.
In short, there may be the barest hint that the "Thracian Jannaeus" isn't just the angry, warlike Jannaeus. He may be despised as another murdering tyrant but he may be deprecated in a religious manner here as well. This may give another link to Mark 13 being a rewrite of Jannaeus' troubles.
CW