Simon of Cyrene

[Newtonscat]

... and his two sons: Alexander and Rufus.

There was a major Jewish uprising in Cyrene in 116 ad which was suppressed by the Romans. Then came the Simon bar Kochba led uprising in 131 ad. Simon was heralded as the Messiah by some of his followers. After Simon's death his son Rufus carried on resisting the Romans for a couple of years.

Simon (of Cyrene) "carried Jesus' cross".

The earliest authenticated references to Christians is found in a Jewish text written about 137 ad.

My thoughts are that someone used the tactic of commenting on current events by writing an historical novel ... set a 100 years earlier.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

... and his two sons: Alexander and Rufus.

There was a major Jewish uprising in Cyrene in 116 ad which was suppressed by the Romans. Then came the Simon bar Kochba led uprising in 131 ad. Simon was heralded as the Messiah by some of his followers. After Simon's death his son Rufus carried on resisting the Romans for a couple of years.

Simon (of Cyrene) "carried Jesus' cross".

The earliest authenticated references to Christians is found in a Jewish text written about 137 ad.

My thoughts are that someone used the tactic of commenting on current events by writing an historical novel ... set a 100 years earlier.

The theory is that Simon of Cyrene was a black guy from North Africa who was on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Of course he could have been of any ethnicity but he's normally depicted as a black guy.

[url=http://breakfastwithian.blogspot.com/2012/03/stations-of-cross-simon-of-cyrene.html]

Cyrene was on the Libyan coast east of Benghazi.
http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrene,_Libya

[jesus_wept]

The theory is that Simon of Cyrene was a black guy from North Africa who was on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Of course he could have been of any ethnicity but he's normally depicted as a black guy.

A bit off topic but it always amuses me how Christians change the race of the characters to suit the audience they're preaching to. For instance Europeans think Jesus was a white guy, Middle Easterners think he's a Semite, Africans think he's black, Indians think he was Indian and the Chinese think he looked Chinese. No doubt if Martians ever visited he'd suddenly be a small, green man with eyes on antennas to suit them too.

[robvalue]

I wonder what he was called before they changed his name to Simon.

[watchamadoodle]

... and his two sons: Alexander and Rufus.

There was a major Jewish uprising in Cyrene in 116 ad which was suppressed by the Romans. Then came the Simon bar Kochba led uprising in 131 ad. Simon was heralded as the Messiah by some of his followers. After Simon's death his son Rufus carried on resisting the Romans for a couple of years.

Simon (of Cyrene) "carried Jesus' cross".

The earliest authenticated references to Christians is found in a Jewish text written about 137 ad.

My thoughts are that someone used the tactic of commenting on current events by writing an historical novel ... set a 100 years earlier.

That's an interesting idea.

[polar bear]

I wonder what he was called before they changed his name to Simon.

What do you mean Simon is a very popular arabic / Libyan name

[robvalue]

Is it? Ah Ok then

I'll let him off with a light spanking from a table tennis paddle.

[Cyberman]

I wonder what he was called before they changed his name to Simon.

Barry.

[Minimalist]

The Kitos War Kitos War was a widespread, if disjointed, series of outbreaks among Jews. Because it coincided with the advance of Trajan into Mesopotamia there is some speculation that it was Parthian-inspired as there was a sizable jewish community in Parthia.

We get a "historical" account of these events from Cassius Dio, over a century later. Oddly, Appian, a Roman writer who lived in Alexandria during the revolt, has little to say about it.

Who knows.

[Pyrrho]

The theory is that Simon of Cyrene was a black guy from North Africa who was on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Of course he could have been of any ethnicity but he's normally depicted as a black guy.

A bit off topic but it always amuses me how Christians change the race of the characters to suit the audience they're preaching to. For instance Europeans think Jesus was a white guy, Middle Easterners think he's a Semite, Africans think he's black, Indians think he was Indian and the Chinese think he looked Chinese. No doubt if Martians ever visited he'd suddenly be a small, green man with eyes on antennas to suit them too.

That is not something that originated with Christianity, as it was observed about religion long before Christianity existed:

• Ethiopians say that their gods are snub-nosed and black;
  Thracians that theirs are blue-eyed and red-haired. (frag. 16)
  But if horses or oxen or lions had hands
  or could draw with their hands and accomplish such works as men,
  horses would draw the figures of the gods as similar to horses, and the oxen as similar to oxen,
  and they would make the bodies
  of the sort which each of them had. (frag. 15)

Xenophanes
http://www.iep.utm.edu/xenoph/