Tiberius Julius Abdes Pantera

Tiberius Julius Abdes Pantera (; ) was a Roman-Phoenician soldier born in Sidon, whose tombstone was found by railworkers in Bingerbrück, Germany, in 1859.

Tombstone Discovery The Roman tombstones in Bingerbrück, Germany, as illustrated when published. Tiberius Julius Abdes Pantera's is on the left

In October 1859, during the construction of a railroad in Bingerbrück in Germany, tombstones for nine Roman soldiers were accidentally discovered by railworkers. One of the tombstones was that of Tiberius Julius Abdes Pantera and is currently kept in the museum in Bad Kreuznach, Germany.

The inscription (CIL XIII 7514) on the tombstone of Abdes Pantera reads:

Analysis The name Pantera is Greek, although it appears in Latin in the inscription. It was perhaps his last name, and means 'panther'. Pantera is not an unusual name, and its use goes back at least to the 2nd century. Prior to the end of the 19th century, at various times in history, scholars had hypothesized that the name Pantera was an uncommon or even a fabricated name; however, in 1891, French archaeologist C. S. Clermont-Ganneau showed that it was a name that was in use in Iudaea by other people and Adolf Deissmann later showed with certainty that it was a common name at the time, and that it was especially common among Roman soldiers, Biblical scholar James Tabor proposed that Tiberius Pantera could have been serving in the region at the time of Jesus's conception. Christopher Zeichmann goes so far as to say: "Where precisely Pantera's unit was located during the years leading up to Jesus' conception is uncertain, but it is beyond doubt that it was Judaea or Galilee."

Tabor's hypothesis is considered highly unlikely by mainstream scholars given that there is little other evidence to support Pantera's paternity outside of some texts. Some scholars and religious figures postulate Pantera was a Roman ancestor of Jesus but not his father. |author=|title=|source=

Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan state that given the antagonism of Celsus towards Christianity, his suggestion of the Roman parentage of Jesus might derive from the memory of Roman military operations suppressing a revolt at Sepphoris near Nazareth around the time of Jesus' birth. The "common legionary name" Panthera could have arisen from a satirical connection between the Greek words meaning 'panther, various spotted Felidae' and meaning 'virgin'.

Jewish usage in the Middle Ages

The story that Jesus was the son of a man named Pantera is referred to in the Talmud, in which Jesus is often understood to be the figure referred to as "Ben Stada":

It is taught that Rabbi Eliezer said to the Wise, "Did not Ben Stada bring spells from Egypt in a cut in his flesh?" They said to him, "He was a fool, and they do not bring evidence from a fool." Ben Stada is Ben Pantera. Rabbi Hisda said, "The husband was Stada, the lover was Pantera." The husband was "actually" Pappos ben Judah, the mother was Stada. The mother was Miriam "Mary" the dresser of women's hair. As we say in Pumbeditha, "She has been false to "satath da" her husband." (b. Shabbat 104b)

There are significant differences, however, between the Talmud's Ben Pantera/Ben Stada and Jesus of Nazareth. The passages mention that Miriam was the daughter of Bilgah, rather than Joachim as Christian tradition holds. The Talmud also mentions the husband questioning Rabbi Akiva on how to handle the situation, with Rabbi Akiva being born around 20 years after the commonly held date for Jesus' death. This has led some to reject the connection between Ben Pantera and Jesus, including many prominent Tosafists of the Medieval era. Rabbeinu Tam held that Ben Pantera referred to Pappus ben Yehuda himself, a cell-mate of Rabbi Akiva and local troublemaker.

A few references found in Jewish exegesis explicitly name Jesus ("Yeshu") as the "son of Pandera". These explicit connections are found in the Tosefta, the Qohelet Rabbah, and the Jerusalem Talmud, but not in the Babylonian Talmud. The book accuses Jesus of illegitimate birth as the son of Pandera, and of heretical and at times violent activities along with his followers during his ministry. James Tabor suggests that Celsus' information about Jesus' paternity is correct, and argues that Tiberius Julius Abdes Pantera's career places him in Judea as a young man around the time of Jesus' conception, so he may have been Jesus' father.

Throughout the centuries, both Christian and Jewish scholars have generally only paid minor attention to the Toledot Yeshu. Robert E. Van Voorst states that the literary origins of Toledot Yeshu cannot be traced with any certainty, and given that it is unlikely to have been written before the 4th century, it is far too late to include authentic remembrances of Jesus. The nature of the Toledot Yeshu as a parody of the Christian gospels is manifested by the claim that the Apostle Peter pretended to be Christian so he could separate them from the Jews and its portrayal of Judas Iscariot as a hero who posed as a disciple of Jesus in order to stop the Christians.

Ethiopian ecclesiastical literature A soldier by the name of Pantos/Pantera also appears twice in Ethiopian church documents. In the First Book of Ethiopian Maccabees he is listed as one of three brothers who resists the Seleucid invasion of Judea. Within the text itself he is cited as receiving his name from the act of strangling panthers with his bare hands. This name and personage also appears in the text of the Ethiopian Synaxarion , where he is remembered along with his brothers in the canon of Ethiopian saints.