CONTENTS
Preface to the Third Edition vii
Note on the Translations 00
Introduction 00
Texts, Traditions and Gods of the Ancient Mediterranean World 00
Bibliographical Prelude 00
1 | The Christian Savior 00
The Priene Inscription
The Coptic Gospel of Thomas
The Acts of the Holy Apostle Thomas
Jesus after the Resurrection
Pistis Sophia, Books 1.1; 2.1-8; 4.141-143
The Gospel of Philip
The Gospel of Peter
Fragment of an Uncanonical Gospel
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 840
A Letter from Pilate to Claudius and The Trial of Pilate in Rome
Jesus’ Medical Correspondence with King Abgar
Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 1.13.1-10
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew
The Birth of Jesus
A Latin Infancy Gospel
Fragments of an Unknown Gospel
Papyrus Egerton 2
The Gospel of James
Protevangelium Jacobi
v
vi | Contents
The Apocryphon of James
Nag Hammadi Codex I, 2:1.1—16.30
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene
The Gospel of Judas Iscariot
2 |Greek, Jewish, and Roman Parallels Illustrating the Milieu
of the Gospels 00
Prefaces
The Sacred History of Asklepios
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1381
Two Prefaces from Arrian
Arrian, Letter to Lucius Gellius
Isocrates
Evagoras
Birth and Youth
The Birth of Plato (1)
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 3.1-2, 45
The Birth of Plato (2)
Origen, Against Celsus 1.37
The Birth of Alexander the Great
Plutarch, Parallel Lives, Alexander 2.1—3.2
The Birth of Augustus
Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars II.94.1-7
The Birth and Childhood of Pythagoras
Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras, 3-10
The Birth of Herakles
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.9.1-10
Teachings
Aesop’s Fables
Rabbinic Parables
Sayings of Thales, Aristippos, and Aristotle
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 1.35-37; 2.68-81; 5.17-18
Sayings of Alexander and Others
Alexander the Great (Plutarch, Morals 179D‒181F)
Epictetus (Arrian, Discourses of Epictetus 3.22.1ff.)
Two Stories from Epictetus (Arrian, Discourses of Epictetus 1.2.19-29)
Miracles
Asklepios
The Epidauros Inscriptions
Pythagoras
Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras, 36, 60-61, 134-36
Contents | vii
Vespasian
Tacitus, Histories 4.81
A Syrian Exorcist
Lucian, The Lover of Lies 16
Chanina ben Dosa
A Jewish Boy Calms the Sea
The Rabbis Reject Miracles
The Murder of Julius Caesar
Virgil, Georgics 1.463-468
Suetonius, The Lives of the Caesars 1.88-89
Plutarch, Caesar 69.3-5
The Wine Miracle of Dionysos
Pausanius, Description of Greece 6.26. 1f.
Sacraments
The Salvation of Lucius
Apuleius, Metamorphoses 11
The Messianic Banquet at Qumran
The Scroll of the Rule (The Rule Annexe [1QSa 11-22])
Apocalyptic Predictions
2 Esdras II; 13
A Roman “Messianic” Prophecy (Virgil, Eclogue IV)
The Footsteps of the Messiah (Mishnah Sotah 9:15)
Martyrdom
Zeno
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 9.26
Eleazar
4 Maccabees 5:1—6:28 Rabbi Akiba
Ascensions and Epiphanies
Romulus
Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.805-851
Ovid, Fasti 2.481-509
Livy. Book l.l6
The Dream of Scipio
Cicero, The Republic 6.9-26
Apotheosis of Antinous
Hadrian’s Memorial to Antinous
Dio Cassius, Roman History 69.11.2 Pausanius,
Description of Greece 8.9.7-8 Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 4.8.2
Justin Martyr, Apology 1.29
Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus 4
viii | Documents and Images for the Study of the Gospels
Herakles
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.38.3-5; 39.1-2
3 |Greek, Jewish and Roman “Gospels” 00
The Divinization of Augustus Caesar
The Life of Apollonios of Tyana
Flavius Philostratus
Poimandres
The Hermetic Tractates
The Life of Moses
Philo of Alexandria
Alexander the False Prophet
Lucian of Samosata
Ovid
Metamorphoses (selections)