Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

Does Epictetus really mean ‘Christians’ when he speaks of Galileans? Most scholars have held this identification as a self-evident fact. Bonhöffer is among them. Martin Hengel, however, presented an alternative interpretation: the Galileans are Zealots. He referred to the fact that during the Jewish War Epictetus lived in Rome, where it was possible to learn the details of the war in Palestine. Hengel also notes that, according to Josephus, the Jewish resistance movement sicarii – which he lumps together with the Zealots – became very famous (Jewish War 7.409–421, 433–450).