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the name "Mainwaring" were found among the parchments The reference is actually about a group of people who addressed elonging to that family. Jesus and said, "Your mother and your brothers and your sisters Many Hebrew names in the Old Testament are believed to bear _—_ are outside asking for you". Here is a profound truth. Modern a special significance, as individual subjects originally were Bibles show the three words "and your sisters" to have been called by a name expressive of some characteristic, e.g., Edom, removed or indexed to a footnote. From here onwards, Mary red; Esau, hairy; Jacob, supplanter; and Sarai (Sara), from the almost vanished from the Church texts and, apart from an obscure ase word sharat. A similar concept applied in Jewish writings final reference to her in the Acts of the Apostles (1:14), she disap- and for a long time confused researchers.'* Like Roman and peared forever from the New Testament. Hebrew tradition, the names of the characters "often appear in dis- However, when the name "Mary" in the Gospels was replaced torted form in Rabbinic literature" and were sometimes an attempt with the original Hebrew version, "Mariamne", an historic aspect to disguise their true personality.” This type of understanding arose. Combining the evidence available, the position advanced rovided the key that enabled researchers to unlock the true in this book is that Mary, the mother of Jesus in the Gospels, essence of what was really being relayed in ancient writings. Stadea of the Jewish writings, and Mariamne of the House of "Names research" is an open-ended and complex domain, and Herod were one and the same person. one which is particularly greedy of the researcher's time. In any At the time of the development of the Gospels, Mariamne was study of the New Testament, however, it must be remembered that __ the younger sister of Herodias and the two girls were an integral the first Gospels were written in Hebrew,” and part of the vast "family of Herodes" ("Herod" this is a vital point in determining who Stadea today). They were the much-loved grand- really was. "The name [Stadea] has various daughters of King Herod and he "cared for forms and may have been borrowed from a them with great devotion".* Their mother, fanciful name that meant a scholar; or had a The osition Berenice, later remarried and moved with her regional identity like Stabiae or Statila, or a p . . teenage daughters to live in Rome, where she woman of good family."*' According to Jewish advanced in this gained the friendship of Emperor Augustus.” writings, Stadea was "the descendent of princes . Mariamne and Herodias Herod were of and rulers"” and her royal heritage provided a book Is that Mary, noble birth through King Herod (c. 73-74 BC) clue to her real name. The Talmud further states the mother of Jesus and his wife, Mariamne I. Mariamne Herod's that Yeshu'a (Jesus) ben Panthera's mother "was . th G | father was Aristobulus, the son of Herod the also called Miriam, yes, but she was nicknamed e a oe Ss, Great, and her mother Berenice was the daugh- Stada...Stat-da, this one has turned away, being adea 0 e ter of Herod's sister, Salome. Mariamne also unfaithful [Stat-da] to her husband".* . Pr had two brothers named Herod II, King of St Jerome explained the difficulty that Jewish writings, Chalcis, and Agrippa, who became he had in translating the earliest Gospels and Mariamne of Agrippa I. King Herod himself was into Latin™ and added that the "original descended from a noble line of kings Hebrew" versions of Matthew's Gospel the House of Herod through his Nabatean mother, Cypros of were one and the same person. and the earliest Luke Gospels were written Petra. in the Chaldaic language but with Hebrew The Nabateans were a Semitic people letters. The "original Hebrew" version of and the earliest sources regarded them as the name "Mary" was "Mariamne". ?° Arabs. Today they are generally referred Therefore, "Mary" in the English-language to as Nabatean Arabs. Owing to its secure location, Petra was adopted by the Gospels of today was originally written "Mariamne" in the Hebrew versions and Nabatean kings as their capital city, and it was sometimes translated as "Miriam". became incorporated into the Roman Empire in 106. The Nabatean Arabs Mary Unknown in Early Church History passed out of history with the advent of Islam.” What was actually recorded of Mary/Mariamne in the only The House of Herod was founded by the marriage of Cypros of accepted Christian writings provides scant information indeed Petra to Antipater (Antipas) the Idumean, to whom Cypros bore about the woman the Church now calls "the Mother of God". In _ four sons, Herod being one. The name "Herod" subsequently the Gospels she is rarely mentioned. In fact, she is not mentioned became the title of seven rulers mentioned in the New Testament by name in the oldest version of the Mark Gospel in the oldest and in Roman history. Bibles. Nor is she mentioned in the oldest version of the John King Herod was known to the Romans as "the Great", but in the Gospel. The Church has said that "the reader of the Gospels is at eyes of the people over whom he ruled he was always known as first surprised to find so little about Mary...this obscurity has been "the Impious", despite his costly restoration of the Temple in studied at length".”” Both the Gospels of Mark and John introduce Jerusalem. Herod was a Roman citizen, Governor of Galilee by Jesus as an adult. Only in contrived narratives does Mary play an _— 47 BC, and then King of Judea from 37 to 4 BC. He was one of important role in the biblical texts and, excluding these, she is the major figures in politics of Palestine in the early years of the mentioned only briefly on three occasions. Roman Empire. In 7 BC he strangled to death two of his sons, The church presbyters were also silent on Mary. There was Aristobulus and Alexander, drawing a comment from Roman nothing recorded of her, external to the Church, for more than Emperor Augustus (27 BC-14 AD) that it was safer to be one of four centuries after the time she was said to have lived. She had Herod's pigs than one of his sons. Another son was later born to no ancestry or background except in spurious apocrypha. Herod and, for his safety, his mother dispatched him to the care of The earliest documented reference to Mary can be found in the her family in Ariminum, a city near Ravenna in northern Italy.” Mark Gospel of the Sinai Bible (Mark 3:32). This narrative refers He was Prince Joseph, the Joseph of Arimathea in the Gospels, to her as simply the earthly mother of several sons and daughters. and he later became the unseen power behind his father's throne. _The position aioe in the Gospels, _Stadea of the Jewish writings, and Mariamne of ; same person. NEXUS = 45 advanced in this book is that Mary, the mother of Jesus the House of Herod were one and the DECEMBER 2001 — JANUARY 2002 www.nexusmagazine.com