From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Sun Aug 30 1998 - 10:25:07 EDT
At 7:51 AM -0500 8/30/98, Jonathan Robie wrote:
>In Mark 6:7 we see DUO DUO, in 6:39 we see SUMPOSIA SUMPOSIA, in 6:40 we
>see PRASIAI PRASIAI. Is it accurate to think of this as laying out the
>nouns spatially, or in "Old Macdonald" fashion, "here a two, there a two",
>"here an eating party, there an eating party", "here a clump, there a clump"?
Yes, I think you've got it exactly right. Whether it's a Semitism, I don't
know, but that is surely the sense.
>Also, what kind of language is this? One source I have says it is a
>semiticism, but when I look at the language in Mark 6:38-6:40, this feels
>like storyteller's language, with strong oral rhythms and plenty of rhyme:
>
>hO DE LEGEI AUTOIS
>
> POSOUS ARTOUS ECETE;
> hUPAGETE IDETE
> KAI GNONTES LEGOUSIN, PENTE
> KAI DUO IXQUAS
>
>KAI EPETAXEN AUTOIS ANAKLINAI
>
> SUMPOSIA SUMPOSIA
> EPI TWi XLWRWi XORTWi
>
>KAI ANEPESAN
>
> PRASIAI PRASIAI
> KATA hEKATON KAI KATA PENTHKONTA
>
>KAI LABWN TOUS PENTE ARTOUS
> KAI TOUS DUO ICQUAS
>
>KTL
>
>Is the repeated noun a form used primarily for the sake of rhythm? And is
>it really laying things out spatially, as I have guessed?
Storytelling of a sort, yes. But the rhythm here is LITURGICAL. What Mark
is narrating here is a celebration of the Lord's Supper to a mass
multitude, and the language is comparable to the account of the Lord's
Supper within the Passion narrative.
I should add that I'm not arguing "history" here, but saying simply that,
however "Mark" INTENDS the audience to understand this story, one thing
that he is doing deliberately here is echoing the language and rhythm of
the supper on the night Jesus was arrested and suggesting an association.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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