CHAPTER TWO

NAMES FOR THE NAMELESS IN THE A Study in the Growth of Christian Tradition

As nature abhors a vacuum, so early were reluctant to leave unidentified this or that person who is mentioned but not named in the pages of the New Testament. Since those who are curious generally attempt to satisfy their curiosity, pious readers and hearers of the Gospel narratives sought to supply answers to such questions as: What were the names of the Wise Men and the shepherds who came to worship the Christ-child? A list of the names of the twelve apostles is given in each of the Synoptics, but who exactly were the whom also sent out (Lk. IO, I ff.)? At the time of Jesus' trial several persons are mentioned in the canonical sources without being given more precise identification, such as Pilate's wife, the centurion stationed at the Cross, the two thieves who were crucified with Jesus, and the officer in charge of the soldiers guarding the sepulchre. Tradition provided names for all of these - sometimes several different names. Likewise curiosity was aroused concerning individuals mentioned but not named in early apostolic history. People who read the and the Pauline Epistles were desirous of knowing, for example, the name of the Philippian jailer con­ verted by Paul and (Acts 16.27-33) and the names of those who comprised »the household of Onesiphorus« (II Tim. 4.19). We can see how such traditions grew. In the fourth century Eusebius declared that no list of the seventy disciples sent out by Jesus was anywhere extant (Twv 8e t~8oµ~• xovTcx µcx~YJTwv xcxTIXAoyoc; ou8Elc; oMcxµ';i qitpe:Tcxi)1. At the same time, however, on the basis of hearsay (Mye:Tcxt ... qicxa( ... ) he identifies five of the number, namely , , Cephas, Matthias, and Thaddaeus. In subsequent centuries more than one list was circulated that included these and sixty-five other names! The following pages, written in honor of a master in the field 0£ Patristics, comprise merely a portion of the rich harvest of information that can be derived from traditions preserved in various New Testament manuscripts, in the apocrypha, in early Christian art, and in patristic and hagiographical documents of all ages.

The Names of the Wise Men 2 Both in the East and in the West a variety of traditions developed concerning the number of the Wise Men, their names, dress, appearance, and age. Although it is usually assumed that the Magi were three in number (probably because Matthew men-

1 Hist. Eccl., I. xii. I. cols. 2949-2951. Among modern monographs the 1 The literature on the Magi is very extensive. Be­ most valuable, from one point of view or another, sides the usual bibliographical tools, for the older are Ch. Schoebel, »L'histoire des rois mages«, Revue literature sec Ulysse Chevalier, Rlpertoire des sources de linguistique et de philologie comparle, XI ( 1878), pp. historiques du Moyen Age ... Bio-bibliographie, nouvelle 181-221, 233-304; K. A. Martin Hartmann, Uber das ed., II (Paris, 1907; reprinted, New York, 1960), altspanische Dreikiinigsspiel nebst einem Anhang, ent- 24 NAMES FOR THE NAMELESS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT (80) tions that they presented three gifts), three is by no means the only tradition - that they were twelve in number was also rather widely held in the East, particularly in Syria. The earliest literary reference to the names of the Magi occurs in what is generally called the Excerpta Latina Barbari. This document, which was first edited in 1606 by Joseph Justus Scaliger, is in the form of a chronicle written in not very good Latin. The original text of the chronicle was Greek; it was drawn up by an Alexandrian Christian who lived, it seems, in the sixth century, either during or just after the reign of the Emperor Anastasius (A. D. 491-518) 3, or just after A. D. 556-57 4• Concerning the Magi the unknown chronicler writes: »In his diebus sub Augusto kalendas Ianuarias magi obtulerunt ei munera et adoraverunt eum: magi autem vocabantur Bithisarea Melchior Gathaspa« (§ 86). Despite the atrocious spelling 6 the familiar triad of Balthasar, Mel­ chior, and Gaspar is apparent .. The works attributed to the Venerable Bede include a variety of traditions concer­ ning the mystical significance of the three Magi as well as a detailed account of their appearance and dress. In his exposition of the Gospel of Matthew, Bede supplies the following interpretation: »Mystice autem tres Magi tres partes mundi significant, Asiam, Africam, Europam, sive humanum genus, quod a tribus filiis Noe seminarium sumpsit« 8• A much more detailed account is included in a treatise entitled Excerpta et Collectanea, which is sometimes included with the Venerable Bede's works but which has been described as a work altogether unworthy of that author 7. The text of the account of the Magi is as follows: »Magi sunt, qui munera Domino dederunt: primus fuisse dicitur Melchior, senex ct canus, barba prolixa et capillis, tunica hyacinthina, sagoque mileno, et calceamentis hyacinthino et albo mixto opcre, pro mitrario variae compositionis indutus: aurum obtulit rcgi Domino. Sccundus, nominc Caspar,juvcnis imberbis, rubicundus, mylenica tunica, sago rubco, calccamcntis hyacinthinis vcstitus: thure quasi Deo oblatione digna, Deum honorabat. Tcrtius, fuscus, integrc barbatus, Balthasar nomine, habens tunicam rubeam, albo vario, calceamentis milenicis amictus: per myrrham Fili um hominis moriturum pro(cssus est. Omnia autcm vestimenta eorum Syriaca sunt« 8• The impression which one gains from this paragraph is that it was written originally in Greek, and that the author may well have been describing a piece of art - whether in a manuscript or in a mosaic - in which the age, appearance, and clothing of the Magi were distinctively depicted. haltcnd cin bishcr ungedrucktcs latcinischcs Drci­ bari«, Festschrift tier dreiundvier~igsten Versammlung konigsspiel, einen Wicderabdruck des altspanischcn deutscher Philologen und Schulmiinner (Bonn, 1895), Stiickcs, sowic einen Excurs iiber die Namen dcr drei pp. 193-214. Konigc ... Diss. Leipzig (Bautzen, 1879); Eberhard • So Theodor Mommscn, Chronica minora, saec. IV. Nestle, »Einigcs iiber Zahl und Namcn dcr Wciscn V. VI. VII. (= Monumenla germaniae historica; Auctorum aus dem Morgenland«, in Marginalien und Materialien antiquissimorum, tomus IX; Berlin, 1892), p. 272. (Tiibingen, 1893); Hugo Kehrer, Die luiligen drei • For other examples of misspelling in the Latin Kiinige in Literatur und Kunst, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1908- rendering, sec Hocveler, op. cit., p. 201. 1909), especially »Die Nomcnklatur dcr Konigc« • In Matthaei Evangelium Expositio, I, ii (Mignc, P. L. (vol. I, pp. 641£.), and »Die Namen in dcr Kunst« XCII, col. 13 A). (vol. II, pp. 2251£.); A. Vitti, »Apocryphorum de 7 E. g. William Cave, Scriptorum ecclesiasticorum historia Magis ennarationcs«, Verbum Domini, VII ( 1927), literaria, I (Basel, 1741), p. 614 a. pp. 3-13; and Karl Mciscn, Die luiligen drei Kiinige 8 Mignc, P. L., XCIV, col. 541 C-D. In the final und ihr Fesllag im volkstiimliclun Glauben und Brauch. sentence Syria&a should be emended to serica (»silk«). Eine volkskundliclu Untersuchung (Koln, 1949). For other emendations and lexicographical com­ 1 So Joh. Jos. Hocveler, »Die Exccrpta Latini Bar- ments, sec Kehrer, op. cit., vol. I, p. 67.