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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture The Aramaic _Cephas_ is retained as a name for Peter on several occasions in the Greek New Testament, including by Paul who otherwise wrote in Greek (some of the Gospels certainly have at least an Aramaic oral substratum of one sort or another, regardless what one thinks about the various theories of _written_ Aramaic originals--therefore the appearance of Aramaic words in the Gospels is less remarkable than Paul's use of it in Galatians?) Aramaic words are also used in the Apocalypse, if memory serves. Gibson's choice to use Latin was vetted by consultants; he has explained that his decision was based on both artistic and historical considerations . Using Greek would certainly have been quite reasonable but soldiers speaking Latin are not implausible. Realism was not his only goal and most of those who fuss over this or that point of realism on this film would, I think, hesitate to tell most other artists that they should have been more "realistic." Dennis Martin >>> [log in to unmask] 03/09/05 5:06 PM >>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Marjorie Greene wrote: > > Brenda's posting reminds me of a question provoked by all this name > discussion. > Is "Peter/Petrus" not a fiction occasioned by the Vulgate? What I > mean is this: Jesus spoke Aramaic as Mel Gibson et al inform us. > Would He have used "Petrus" or the Aramaic word for "rock"? I realize > this is beyond (or before) the scope of our list but beg the > indulgence of all. And forgive me, Paleo-Christianity specialists, > for what is probably a naive query. What the hoo-hah over Mel Gibson's film reminded us was that Greek was very widely spoken in the Eastern Empire; particularly, of course, by the Romans. The film would probably have been much more realistic if it had been in Greek. John Briggs ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html