Tiberius Iulius Abdes Pantera
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Tiberius Iulius Abdes Pantera (c. 22 BC – AD 40) was a Roman archer of the Cohors I Sagittariorum. He is most notable because of suggestions that he is to be identified with the Roman soldier Panthera, whom the the anti-Christian writer Celsus claimed was the true father of Jesus. All information about Abdes Pantera's life comes from his tombstone, found in Bingerbrück, Germany in 1859.
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[edit] Life
Abdes Pantera's tombstone was discovered during the construction of a railroad in Bingerbrück. It was part of a Roman grave field which contained several other monuments. It is presently kept in the Schlossparkmuseum in Bad Kreuznach, Germany.
The inscription (CIL XIII 7514) on the monument of Abdes Pantera reads:
- Tib(erius) Iul(ius) Abdes Pantera
- Sidonia ann(orum) LXII
- stipen(diorum) XXXX miles exs(ignifer?)
- coh(orte) I sagittariorum
- h(ic) s(itus) e(st)
- Tiberius Iulius Abdes Pantera
- from Sidon, aged 62 years
- served 40 years, decorated(?) former soldier
- of the first cohort of archers
- lies here
Judging from the text of the monument, Abdes Pantera was born in Sidonia, which is identified with Sidon in Phoenicia, and joined the Cohors I Sagittariorum (first cohort of archers). The meaning of his Syriac name Abdes is still disputed. Some scholars believe that it means servant (of Isis), while others believe that it was a genuine Syrian name. Pantera is the Latin name for panther. He probably obtained the Roman names Tiberius Iulius when receiving Roman citizenship after completing 25 years of service during the reign of emperor Tiberius between 19 and 37. The Cohors I Sagittariorum was stationed in Syria Palaestina until 9, and was stationed in Bingen between 40 and 70. He served 40 years, was probably decorated and died at the age of 62 in Germany.
[edit] Jesus connection
The alleged connection to Jesus derives from the interpretation of the writings of Celsus, an anti-Christian Greek philosopher quoted by Origen in Contra Celsum. According to Origen, Celsus wrote:
- when she [ Mary] was pregnant she was turned out of doors by the carpenter to whom she had been betrothed, as having been guilty of adultery, and that she bore a child to a certain soldier named Panthera.
A figure known as Yeshu ben Pandera is mentioned in the Tosefta, a secondary collection of Jewish oral law. Yeshu is sometimes interpreted as a reference to Jesus of Nazareth.
The link between Celsus's Panthera and Tiberius Iulius Abdes Pantera was first suggested in Marcello Craveri's 1966 book La vita di Gesù.[1] The connection depends on the assumption that Celsus' information about Jesus' illegitimacy was correct, and so a soldier with this name, living at the right period, might be the father. Tiberius Iulius Abdes Pantera's career would place him in Palestine as a young man around the time of Jesus' conception.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- P.Haupt/S.Hornung, "Ein Mitglied der Heiligen Familie? Zur Rezeption eines römischen Soldatengrabsteines aus Bingerbrück", Kr. Mainz-Bingen. In: Archäologische Informationen 27/1, 2004, S.133-140.
- Marcello Craveri, La vita di Gesù, Feltrinelli, Milano, 1966, 466 pp
- Origenes Adamantius, Contra Celsum, AD 248
