Letter to His Son

by Mara bar Sarapion, edited by Annette Merz

Book cover: Letter to His Son

Extent: 300 pages

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Subjects: Religious Studies

Series: Scripta Antiquitatis Posterioris ad Ethicam REligionemque pertinentia

Language: English

Paperback (Out of print)

(December 2014)

ISBN: 9783161501630

Price: $38.00

Out of stock

Hardback (Out of print)

(December 2014)

ISBN: 9783161501647

Price: $75.00

Out of stock

This first monograph-length treatment of the Syriac Letter of the Stoic Mara bar Sarapion of Samosata to his son contains a critically edited text, English and German translations, and notes on language, syntax, cultural background, and parallels from ancient literature, along with an introduction and essays on central questions of interpretation.


This first monograph-length treatment of the Syriac Letter of the Stoic Mara bar Sarapion of Samosata to his son contains a critically edited text, English and German translations, and notes on language, syntax, cultural background, and parallels from ancient literature, along with an introduction and essays on central questions of interpretation. These include the letter’s linguistic position within Aramaic literature and the form-critical location of the text within the genre of Hellenistic epistolography. The most probable historical context is identified as the Roman-Commagenean war (72 CE). The mention of the wise king of the Jews in a series of paradigmatic philosophical figures occasions a discussion of the relationship of this cultured citizen of Commagene to Judaism and early Christianity. Mara’s lucid argumentation is located within the philosophical discourse of the imperial era.

  • By (author) Mara bar Sarapion
  • Edited by Annette Merz
  • Edited by David Rensberger
  • Edited by Teun Tieleman