03-07-2008, 10:19 PM
Quote:Going back to the speculator, the word might actually, a contrario, constitute a hint for the datation of the Gospel. If, as it seems, the equites speculatores of the Praetorian Guard started to be used as imperial bodyguards by Otho (69 CE - and here I think to the discussion of the issue in Rose Mary Sheldon's Intelligence Activities in Ancient Rome) and if Mark refers to a speculator as the bodyguard of a king in order ot be understood by his Latin-speaking audience, this might move us towards the upper limit of the 65-70 CE range.I find it hard to believe that the new meaning of a Latin word surfaces for the first time in a Greek text, written by someone whose first language was (probably) Aramaic...
