Dating Silas in Acts

Discussion about the New Testament, apocrypha, gnostics, church fathers, Christian origins, historical Jesus or otherwise, etc.
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Charles Wilson
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Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2014 8:13 am

Dating Silas in Acts

Post by Charles Wilson »

Acts 15: 22 and on (RSV):

[22] Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsab'bas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren..

Acts maps into the stories of Mucianus and the 12th Legion quite a bit, at least up to this point, at least to me.
All the Markers are there*. It should be easy to find the correct names of the ciphers - we're even given "Judas called Barsabbas" and there is a "Judas" who is known from previous stories as Cestius, who was bribed (Internal story in Acts) and externally in Josephus (Cestius left Jerusalem "without a reason in the world".)

Yet, "Match 'em up" doesn't suggest many identities from this point on in Acts, at least to me.
Any suggestions for Historical Figures that would work to unlock these next few chapters?

CW

*See for example:

Acts 6: 5 (RSV):

[5] And what they said pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Proch'orus, and Nica'nor, and Ti'mon, and Par'menas, and Nicola'us, a proselyte of Antioch.

Nicholas, Proselyte of Antioch, matches with Octavian, who championed that city. The stories and fragments frequently leave clues such as this. These clues allow identification of the Actors and provide a Base for identifying the part of the story.
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