Letter on the "wise king" of the Jews
AuthenticityDisputed
In a letter written as a prisoner, the Syrian Mara bar Serapion sets three "wise men" side by side: Socrates, Pythagoras and an unnamed wise king of the Jews. He asks what was gained "Or the Jews by the death of their wise king, because from that same time their kingdom was taken away?", and says the Wise King lives on "because of the laws which he promulgated" (Cureton's 1855 translation; modern translations have "the new law"). An executed "king" of the Jews whose laws live on, followed by the loss of the Jews' kingdom, fits Jesus best, and Cureton himself read it so. The letter is genuine Syriac, and the author shows no Christian themes: "king of the Jews" was not a Christian title, and he says nothing of a resurrection. If the majority date, shortly after 73 CE, is right, this is an early outsider who ranked Jesus with the greatest wise men of the ancient world.
Disputed. The letter itself is genuine, preserved in a Syriac manuscript of the 6th or 7th century in the British Library. That it refers to Jesus is probable but not certain, because the wise king is never named. Its date is also disputed: most place it shortly after 73 CE, but some put it as late as the 3rd century. If it does refer to Jesus, what it adds is that an outsider blamed the Jews, not Rome, for his death.
Explore the counterarguments
The figure is unnamed, and some scholars, such as Evans, give the letter little weight for that reason. If the letter is as late as the 3rd century, it is no longer an early witness. Its view that the Jews were to blame for the wise king's death is likely an echo of Christian preaching, so on the point where it says most about Jesus it may not be independent of Christian sources.