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Jesus may have been a prodigy, regardless of who his father really was. If Panthera was indeed his biological father, he didn’t live to see his son.
Ultimately, whether this remarkable story has any historical truth to it or was simply fabricated in an attempt to discredit Christianity, is still up for debate.
Sources: (Times of Israel) (Grunge) (Museum.de) (A True Discourse) (Kehila News) (Robin Helweg-Larsen) (Imperium Romanum)
The 'Toledot Yeshu' is a Jewish text on the life of Jesus. The disputed biography also portrays Jesus as an illegitimate child. The ‘Toledot Yeshu’ is not considered canonical or normative within Rabbinic literature.
Furthermore, Paul convinced the Greeks that Jewish religious practice was not required, nor was circumcision. He also insisted that Jewish dietary laws be relaxed, Ben-Sorek adds.
“Jesus did not found a new religion. He was born and died a Jew. The movement of early Christianity was created by Saul (Paul) of Tarsus, the only disciple who never met nor heard the voice of Jesus,” alleges Esor Ben-Sorek, a former professor of Hebrew, Biblical literature & history of Israel.
Jesus mingled with the Samaritans, who were excluded by rabbinic Judaism. He also questioned the rabbis and made his own interpretations of Jewish law.
The fact that Jesus was not a prophet offended Jews and indeed violated written Jewish law. Jesus healed on the Sabbath, which was forbidden. And his miracles were interpreted as Egyptian magic.
Then, the angel Gabriel appeared to Joseph and convinced him to marry Mary, as the baby would be the savior of their people.
When the rabbis discovered Mary’s pregnancy, they “declared her a sotah, an adulteress woman.“ Her fiancé, Joseph, refused to marry her.
According to scholars’ calculations, it’s estimated that Panthera was born between 45 and 22 BCE. Jesus is believed to have been born in 7 BCE, and Panthera's cohort of archers are reckoned to have passed through Palestine from Germany anywhere between 6–9 CE. So there is a mathematical chance that a Roman soldier named Panthera could have met Mary at the time.
According to The Times of Israel, Panthera fell for a young Jewish girl named Miriam (Mary). There is some dispute about whether they had consensual intimacy or not. Either way, the story goes that they did engage in intimate relations regardless.
Yeshu (Jesus) was born and declared a mamzer (a child born of an illicit relationship). Yeshu went on to claim to be the Son of God “when such a thought was anathema to all strains of Jewish belief and thought.”
All historical evidence mentioned previously derives from a tombstone (pictured) found in Bingerbrück, Germany, in 1859.
The Latin inscription on the tombstone 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). Which translates to “Tiberius Iulius Abdes Pantera from Sidon, aged 62 years served 40 years, former standard bearer (?) of the First Cohort of Archers lies here.”
Panthera’s tombstone can be found at the Museum Römerhalle in the town of Bad Kreuznach, Germany.
Panthera was a common name among soldiers, especially in the Roman province of Judaea. The standard bearer of a Roman unit wore animal fur on their head (usually a predatory cat), and Panthera's responsibility was just that, according to his tombstone inscription.
Panthera was known to be the standard bearer of the "1st Sagittariorum cohort" of Roman archers, a position he held for 40 years, until his death at the age of 62.
Another reference to this version can be found in the Babylonian Talmud, where Jesus is referred to as “Yeshu ben Pantera” (“Jesus, son of Pantera”).
Celsus argues that Jesus was born from a poor Jewish woman, who “was turned out of doors by the carpenter to whom she had been betrothed, as having been convicted as guilty of adultery, and she bore a child to a certain soldier named Panthera.”
The book is a lost work, the text itself only known of because quotes from it appear in another book, Contra Celsum ('Against Celsus').
Jesus is also mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud, referred to as “ha hu” (“that one”).
The 2nd-century Greek philosopher Celsus wrote a book called ‘A True Discourse’ (c. 175 to 181 CE) in which he criticized and refuted early Christianity.
It should be noted that this gallery is not deliberately blasphemous, nor is it intended to cause offense to or refute Christianity. All information presented here is factual, and not a matter of opinion.
This second book was written by Origen of Alexandria, a Christian, about 70 years after the publication of ‘A True Discourse.’
Panthera was a non-native Roman of Semitic origin who didn’t become a Roman citizen until after he had served Emperor Tiberius (14 to 37 CE) for 25 years.
But who was this mysterious Roman soldier named Panthera Celsius, who claimed to be the biological father of Jesus? His full name was Tiberius Julius Abdes Panthera (sometimes spelled Pantera or Pandera).
His military service to the empire granted him citizenship and consequently, "Tiberius Julius" was added to his name.
In this case it's been suggested that the name Panthera was a satirical connection between the Greek words panthēr ("panther") and parthenos, which means "virgin."
Panthera was a Roman-Phoenician soldier born in Sidon (modern-day Lebanon) circa 22 BCE.
The story of how Jesus Christ came into the world is a cornerstone of the Bible, and indeed of the Christian faith. The immaculate conception of the Son of God is an important concept which lays the foundations of the holiness of the Virgin Mary and her son, Jesus. But as it turns out, a second-century philosopher named Celsius disagreed. And his (unpopular) opinion that Jesus had a biological father is backed up by other sources and archeological evidence. So if true, who is this individual?
Click on and find out who was supposed to have fathered Jesus.
Was Jesus the biological son of a Roman soldier?
What we know about Jesus' supposed father
LIFESTYLE Religion
The story of how Jesus Christ came into the world is a cornerstone of the Bible, and indeed of the Christian faith. The immaculate conception of the Son of God is an important concept which lays the foundations of the holiness of the Virgin Mary and her son, Jesus. But as it turns out, a second-century philosopher named Celsius disagreed. And his (unpopular) opinion that Jesus had a biological father is backed up by other sources and archeological evidence. So if true, who is this individual?
Click on and find out who was supposed to have fathered Jesus.