This is an ancient thread (in more ways than one), but I just came across some more information and have a couple more questions and comments..
> However Socrates lived between 469-399 and as far as I know the last > Prophets of Israel were Malachi 500-450 Jonah 450-400. B.C.E ( I'm > not sure Jonah's dates are accurate or if we should consider him a prophet) Malachi (a probable contemporary of Nehemiah) was apparently written sometime between 440 and 430 B.D.according to the NIV Study Bible, so Socrates would have been around 29-39 years old at the time it was written, definitely of an age to converse with the writer. Additionally, while not designated "prophets", Ezra and Neamiah were contemporaries of Malachi, with whom Socrates could also have conversed. Ezra and Nehemiah led returns from Babylon in 458 & 454 B.C. Either of whom chould have discussed the prophets with Socrates (had he traveled to Jerusalem), or who may have even journyed to Athens on trading missions to equip some aspect of the re-building of Jerusalem. Ezra 7:8 & 7:9 indicate that the journey from Babylon to Jeruslamen by land took 4 months, including children and elderly. This trip is roughly a similar distance to what the journey from Athens to Jerusalem would have been, so assuming that Socrates travelled by land (if he did indded travel to the Holy Land) he could have probably done it in less time than that. And, as noted before, given the Athenian seafaring culture, he would likely have traveled by ship, which could make the one way journey in a week. Zechariah born in Babylonia, was young during the first return to Jerusalem from Babylon in 538/537 BC. The NIV Study Bible I'm looking at suggests he may have ministered into the reign of Artaxerxes [465-424]. It may be a bit of a stretch, but if so, depending on how far into the reign of Artaxerxes he survived, a 20 year old Socrates could have met with a 90 + year old Zechariah (if Zechariah started his ministry at around age 20 in 520 B.C.). The information I have on Jonah (again from the NIV study Bible) indicates he was a contemporary of Amos, who prophesied in the 792-753 time frame, which would not make him a candidate to have talked with Socrates. > Now while it is possible that Socrates went to Israel and studied the works > of the prophets, I am not sure how he could have found the time to learn > Hebrew. Aramaic was the "language of international diplomacy" at that time, according to the NIV Study Bible (p. 667), and portions Ezra (the kings letters) are in Aramaic. Given their service in the court of Persia, it is likely that many, if not all of the Hebrew leaders of the time know Aramaic. My question is if it is fair to assume that Socrates also spoke Aramaic? Is there any evidence for this one way or another? It seems like mass transfers of thousands of people from Babylon to the Holy Land would have been noted in Athens. And again, given all of this movement of people, is it not likely that some of the Hebrews ended up traveling to or moving to Athens, where Socrates' interest could have been piqued enough to visit, talk with a prophet or two, and check out the rebuilding of the temple and Jerusalem? I'm not saying that this was necessarily the case, but I think it's worth considering the possibilities. As I noted before, just because Xenophon didn't mention a trip by Socrates to the Holy Land doesn't mean it didn't happen, Xenophon was a generation younger than Socrates, and would not necessarily have known or cared about everything Socrates did in his younger years (yes, his early military career was of some interest to Xenophon because he was a military man himself). I'm certain I don't know everything my parents did in their youth (although I do have a rough idea of where the traveled), but I don't know much, if anything, about the youthful travels of my friend's parents or my older friends. Patti ---------- You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://list.jccc.net/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=bahai-st news://list.jccc.net/bahai-st http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist (public) http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] (public)
