The name 'Simon' was prohibited after the First Revolt

Discussion about the New Testament, apocrypha, gnostics, church fathers, Christian origins, historical Jesus or otherwise, etc.
Giuseppe
Posts: 13732
Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:37 am
Location: Italy

The name 'Simon' was prohibited after the First Revolt

Post by Giuseppe »

Because it evoked the name of Simon bar Giora, the name of Simon was prohibited after the First Revolt.

This may give a reason for Peter's change of name (from Simon to Cephas).

A scholar has argued that the name of Barabbas could be not "Jesus", originally, but Simeon. A Christian scribe would have replaced Simon with Jesus to respect the prohibition.

Since Simon Magus adored the Unknown Father (adversus to YHWH), then it could be not a coincidence that he was also called 'Son of the unnamed Father', i.e. 'Bar-Abbas'.
Giuseppe
Posts: 13732
Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:37 am
Location: Italy

Re: The name 'Simon' was prohibited after the First Revolt

Post by Giuseppe »

If then Simon bar Jora == Simon Peter == Simon Magus == Simon bar Abbas,

...how could the passage happen from an enemy of Rome to an enemy of YHWH ?
Giuseppe
Posts: 13732
Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:37 am
Location: Italy

Re: The name 'Simon' was prohibited after the First Revolt

Post by Giuseppe »

If the "Egyptian Prophet" was defamed by Josephus by being called 'Egyptian', could Simon bar Jora be defamed by being called 'the Samaritan Simon' ?

Hence we have the passage, for effect of that defamatory anti-Zealot propaganda, from Simon bar Giora to Simon of Samaria.
StephenGoranson
Posts: 2311
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2015 2:10 am

Re: The name 'Simon' was prohibited after the First Revolt

Post by StephenGoranson »

Giuseppe wrote the following, which is not true: “Because it evoked the name of Simon bar Giora, the name of Simon was prohibited after the First Revolt.”
Tal Ilan detailed 257 men named Simon in the period 330 BCE-200 CE, nearly 100 of them after 70 CE and before 200 CE.
Lexicon of Jewish names in Late Antiquity. Part I. Palestine 330 BCE – 200 CE (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002; Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 91) pages 56 and 218 to 235 and 449. Simon was the most popular male Jewish name in the subtitle time period.
Giuseppe
Posts: 13732
Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:37 am
Location: Italy

Re: The name 'Simon' was prohibited after the First Revolt

Post by Giuseppe »

StephenGoranson wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 6:05 am Giuseppe wrote the following, which is not true: “Because it evoked the name of Simon bar Giora, the name of Simon was prohibited after the First Revolt.”
Stephen, my source is academic:


However that may be, it seems certain that in the first century and perhaps for some time afterwards the use of the name Simon was deliberately avoided by Jews, whether from symbolic or patriotic or superstitious reasons, or even out of sheer nervousness.[13]

Hence the picture of Peter's change of name seems to present itself in a light which differs somewhat from the accepted and traditioonal account. His original name was Simeon (Simon), to which was added as a sort of nickname or byname the Aramaic Kaipha (= Rock), perhaps referring to his physical characteristic or firmness of character. The name Simeon was commonly omitted for some reason, [14] probably patriotic, as was at this time usual with persons bearing this designation. The name Kaipha (= Peter) was thus left. At a later stage, this change was naturally given a more elaborate explanation.

(my bold)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1508491?se ... b_contents

Note 13 reads:

In view of this it seems possible that the 'brigand' or rebel Barabbas, who was saved by the popular clamor from crucifixion, was in fact Simeon bar Abbas, though the tradition recorded by Origen preseved the name Joshua (Jesus).
Giuseppe
Posts: 13732
Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:37 am
Location: Italy

Re: The name 'Simon' was prohibited after the First Revolt

Post by Giuseppe »

Note 10 of the same my article reads:

It is curious that the other names occasionally omitted in favor of a patronymic (see above) also had patriotic undertones: Johanan (cf. John of Gischala, one of the oustanding leaders of the First Revolt) and Eleazar (cf. Eleazar ben Dinai, who led an uprising about A.D. 44: Eleazar ben Hannaniah, Captain of the Temple at the outbreak of the First Revolt: Eleazar ben Simon, the Zealot leader: Eleazar ben Jair, who led the Sicarii of Masadag: and Eleazar the Priest, second leader of the Revolt of 132/5 after Simeon bar Kochba). The patriotic implications of the name Judah need to be stressed.

Note 12 reads:

It may perhaps be noted that the name of Simeon is omitted in the Blessing of Moses in Deuteronomy, and in connection with the Rabbis noted that this Tribe alone never produced any King in Israelite history. Conceivably some more precise Midrash on the verse, now lost, was current at the time, which would help to solve our problem.

Giuseppe
Posts: 13732
Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:37 am
Location: Italy

Re: The name 'Simon' was prohibited after the First Revolt

Post by Giuseppe »

Further evidence that the Jews had some 'problem' (to use an euphemism) with the name 'Simon', after 70 CE:


In Jewish tradition from Talmudic times onwards, as is well known, the author of the Book of Ecclesiasticus was universally called "Ben Sira". In the original Hebrew text of the work found in the Cairo Genizah, however, he is styled "Simeon [ben Joshua ben Eleazar] ben Sira"; the personal name was thus omitted in general parlance, only the patronymic being preserved.


It is a most curious coincidence that a number of other personalities named Simeon or Simon, in the period of the birth of Christianity, are similarly known generally by their patronymics, their personal names being consistently eliminated. Moreover, this is the case only (or virtually only) with persons called Simeon.

StephenGoranson
Posts: 2311
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2015 2:10 am

Re: The name 'Simon' was prohibited after the First Revolt

Post by StephenGoranson »

This is not the only mistake that Cecil Roth made. Nor the only mistake that Harvard Theological Review made.
Will you consider the better and abundant evidence detailed by Tal Ilan?
Giuseppe
Posts: 13732
Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:37 am
Location: Italy

Re: The name 'Simon' was prohibited after the First Revolt

Post by Giuseppe »

StephenGoranson wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 7:25 am This is not the only mistake that Cecil Roth made. Nor the only mistake that Harvard Theological Review made.
Will you consider the better and abundant evidence detailed by Tal Ilan?
Surely I agree with independent scholar Greg Doudna about the identity Simon Magus == Simon Bar Giora:


Further, the historical late-2nd century ce “Simonians” of Judea and Samaria against whom the late 2nd-century heresiarchs polemicized, I suspect may well descend in continuity from the significant organizing activity of Simon bar Giora who aroused the countryside with hopes for autonomy from Rome. In this picture the “Simonians” are historical, and their origin-tradition figure Simon goes back to Simon bar Giora. Simon Peter and Simon Magus become variant traditions in legend of Simon bar Giora.

(source, my bold)
StephenGoranson
Posts: 2311
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2015 2:10 am

Re: The name 'Simon' was prohibited after the First Revolt

Post by StephenGoranson »

Giuseppe, the fact that you agree with Greg Doudna does not make the statement—“The Name ‘Simon” was prohibited after the First Revolt”—any less false.
Post Reply