(urth) Soldier of Sidon writeup

[David Duffy]

I have been seeking in vain for any evidence that Latro meets Jews or Judaeans along the way.
The most obvious place would have been at Yeb a.k.a. Elephantine Island, from where there are a 
heap of papyri dating from exactly the time that L. visits (spans 525 to 420 BCE), written by members of the Jewish community there eg

"On the 18th of Paophi, in the 4th year of Artaxerxes the king [461 BCE], in Yeb the fortress, said Malchiah b. Joshibiah, Aramaean, holding property in Yeb the fortress, of the detachment of Nabukudurri...I should challenge you by Herembethel the god before 4 judges: I did not enter your house by force..."

They were originally Judaean mercenaries manning the fortress. Their temple has five doors that probably represent Yahu (the God of Heaven), but also Bethel (Canaanite, Herembethel is "house/temple of Bethel"), Anathya'u (possibly Syrian, the queen of heaven) etc.

My original thinking was that Seven Lions might have something to do with Ethiopian Beth Israel Jewry, Sheba etc etc - he originally came from the south.

Cheers, David Duffy.


> On 4/3/2018 David Stockoff wrote:

> It is striking that, from our vantage, that association just seems
> wrong. And yet, upon reflection, so right. I suppose Sol Invictus must
> be a link somewhere.

On 4/1/2018 10:54 PM, Marc Aramini wrote:

> Wolfe really brought things full circle by having Latro wind up on the
>> Island of Philae at the end of Sidon ... a place where Christian
>> iconoclasts effaced all the Egyptian gods but the war god Horace and
>> his winged disk because they felt he somehow resonated with Christ.