BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Solomon, Socrates and Aristotle

In the earliest Biblical painting, Greek philosophers admire the king’s wisdom

Read Theodore Feder’s article “Solomon, Socrates and Aristotle” as it originally appeared in Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 2008. The article was first republished in Bible History Daily in October 2012.—Ed.


Is it possible that the earliest existing picture of a scene from the Bible also includes the philosophers Socrates and Aristotle as onlookers? It is not only possible; I believe that is the case.

The earliest depiction of a Biblical scene comes from a site that is perhaps better known to some for its erotic art than for its religious devotions: Pompeii. The city was buried in volcanic ash in 79 A.D. following the eruption of nearby Mt. Vesuvius. It was a devastating tragedy for Pompeii’s residents but a boon to modern scholars and art historians.

In the building known as the House of the Physician, excavators found a wall painting clearly depicting King Solomon seated on a raised tribunal and flanked by two counselors. As described in the Bible, two women have come to the Israelite monarch, each claiming to be the mother of the same infant. When Solomon orders the baby to be divided in half, the real mother, shown at the foot of the dais, pleads with him to spare the child and announces her willingness to relinquish her claim. The other woman is shown standing by the butcher block on which the infant has been placed. As a soldier raises an axe to do the king’s bidding, she seizes what she believes will be her portion, saying, according to the Biblical text, “Let it be neither mine, nor thine, but divide it.” It is obvious who the real mother is. The child is given to her unharmed as soldiers and observers look on, marveling at Solomon’s wisdom (1 Kings 3:16–28).

solomon

Pleading for her baby’s life, a woman kneels at the feet of King Solomon and relinquishes her claim to the contested child, thus identifying herself as the real mother of the infant in 1 Kings 3:16–28. Nearby a soldier prepares to follow the king’s order to cut the baby in two, while another woman, also claiming to be the mother, stands ready to take her half. This Roman wall painting from the House of the Physician in Pompeii is the earliest known depiction of a Biblical scene—a surprising find in a city better known for its brothels and erotic art than its religious paintings. So who was the person that commissioned this painting: a Jew, a Christian or a gentile? Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.

The wall painting has now been removed and is on exhibit at the Museo Nazionale in Naples. While it is therefore well known to scholars, it has not previously been noted that this is the earliest depiction of a full-fledged Biblical scene known to us!


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Was the painting commissioned by a Jew, an early Christian, a so-called God-fearer (gentiles who adopted many Jewish customs and beliefs, but did not converta) or simply an educated Roman?


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There is good evidence that Jews lived in Pompeii. Kosher brands of the locally popular fish sauces were packed there and appropriately labeled Kosher Garum and Kosher Muria (garum castum, muria casta).1 A two-word inscription, Sodoma Gomora, also survives from a house front in Pompeii and may have been written by a Jew or, less likely, by an early Christian, either before the eruption of Vesuvius or by a digger soon afterwards. It is perhaps more affecting to imagine its having been hastily written in the midst of the eruption by someone who analogized the town’s impending fate with that of the two doomed Biblical cities.

Wondering at the wisdom of King Solomon’s decision, two onlookers in the lower left corner of the painting observe the proceedings. Author Theodore Feder believes these clearly depicted figures represent the great Greek philosophers Socrates and Aristotle. With the creation of the Septuagint in the third century B.C., the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. The presence of these men in a Biblical scene suggests that the owner of this house was a gentile who wanted to draw a parallel between the Classical Greek sages and the wisdom of the Hebrew Bible. Photo: Alinari/Art Resource, NY

My own feeling, however, is that it is more likely that the painting of Solomon displaying his wisdom was commissioned by a non-Jew. True, the Second Commandment’s prohibition against depicting the human form was not always obeyed by Jews in the Roman era.2 But the injunction was particularly strong in the years leading up to the Jewish rebellion against Rome in 66 A.D., when protests against graven and painted images received a strong political as well as religious impetus. On stylistic grounds, the painting can be dated from the period immediately preceding the Vesuvius eruption in 79 A.D.

In any event, it is clear that the work reflects the influence of the Hebrew Bible. The Torah (the Pentateuch or Five Books of Moses) was translated into Greek beginning in about 270 B.C., and the rest of the Bible was added in the immediately following centuries. According to one account, King Ptolmey II Philadelphus of Egypt wanted a copy of the Hebrew Bible for his great library in Alexandria.b More likely, it was made by Jews for the Jews of Alexandria who did not know Hebrew. According to a traditional story, 70 scholars were isolated from each other on an island in Alexandria and instructed to prepare a Greek translation. When they were finished, all Greek copies were identical. Hence, this Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible is still known as the Septuagint.c The Greek translation became available not only to the many Greek-speaking Hellenized Jews of the Mediterranean world, but to non-Jews as well. This text served as both a literary and iconographic source-book for Jew and gentile alike. Although the owner of the House of the Physician could in theory have been either a Jew, a so-called God-fearer, an early Christian or a Roman gentile, he was most likely a gentile, based simply on demographic grounds. In short, gentiles were more numerous, more likely to attain wealth, and under no prohibition with regard to depicting the human form.

The painting contains all the essential narrative elements in the Biblical story without omissions or adumbrations. What’s more, it appears to have sprung whole from the artist’s imagination, as there is no known precedent in the history of art. As noted above, present are Solomon, the two mothers, the butcher block, the baby, the soldier waiting to divide it, and the onlookers who will attest to Solomon’s wisdom. The story has not received a more telling and cogent depiction in the 2,000 years since the painting’s creation.

 

Socrates has long been considered one of the founders of Western philosophy. Museo Pio Clementino at the Vatican. Alinari/Art Resource, NY

 

 

Over the years, a bald head, beard and flat nose became iconic features for depicting Socrates. The similarity to the figure in the Pompeian painting is so striking that he must be Socrates. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples Scala/Art Resource, NY

 

 

Among the onlookers are two figures in the lower left corner of the composition who are more fully delineated than the very lightly sketched group of figures immediately behind them. The features and poses of these two witnesses reflect surprise, wonder and admiration.

I believe these two figures are stand-ins for Socrates and Aristotle, introduced as a way of associating the wisdom of Solomon with that of the Greek philosophers. Put another way, their presence in the composition attests to the respect Greek philosophy could accord to Hebrew wisdom. Such a juxtaposition in art of wise men from the two civilizations was unprecedented, has rarely been done since, and is of great cultural and historical significance.


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The standing figure on the left has the bald head, flattened nose, and beard that almost always characterizes depictions of Socrates.

The figure to the right stands with his right leg thrust forward; his chin rests on his unsupported right arm in a classic thinker’s pose. He would be more natural if he were pictured seated. His features, however, correspond to a prototype for Aristotle: a full head of curly hair, little or no beard in this case and a regular profile. It is likely that the painter modeled Aristotle on a seated prototype derived from a Greek original that was copied in Roman times. A surviving example is the seated Aristotle from the Galleria Spada in Rome. There the pose is almost identical to the standing Aristotle of the Pompeian wall painting; the left leg is thrust forward and the head rests on an upraised arm which is in turn supported by Aristotle’s bent knee.

The Pompeian painter likely modeled his portrayal of the great philosopher Aristotle on an existing statue like this one but modified it to a standing position as seen in the completed painting. Scala/Art Resource, NY

The association of Jews with Greek wisdom and philosophy, though rare, was not entirely unknown in Hellenistic literature. In one of the earliest Greek references to the Jews, Clearchus of Soli (c. 300 B.C.), a disciple of Aristotle, quotes Aristotle as saying that the Jews are descended from Indian philosophers.3 In a similar vein, Theophrastus (372–288 B.C.) remarks that “being a race of philosophers, they converse with each other about divinity, and during the night they view the stars, turning their eyes to them and invoking their God with prayers.”4 This could serve as a still-accurate portrayal of synagogues in the modern era, where evening prayers (Maariv in Hebrew) are traditionally begun at sundown with the appearance of the first stars.

Numenius of Apamaea (Syria), a second-century A.D. Platonist, praised the Jews for worshiping an incorporeal God and declared that Plato had been but “a Moses in Attic garb,” here, too, making an association between the great thinkers of both cultures.5

The owner of the House of the Physician approved the depiction of this scene and likely proposed the subject matter to the painter. In selecting an episode from the Hebrew Bible, the patron departed from the canon of classical religious subject matter and elevated one from the Scriptures of a people whose influence at the time was spreading throughout the empire and would one day, in its Christian formulation, pervade it.


“Solomon, Socrates and Aristotle” by Theodore Feder originally appeared in Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 2008.


Theodore Feder is president and founder of Art Resource, the world’s largest photo archive of fine art, as well as president of the Artists Rights Society. He is author of Great Treasures of Pompeii and Herculaneum (Abbeville Press) and numerous articles.


Related Content in Bible History Daily

The Split of Early Christianity and Judaism

Lovers’ Tale: A Closer Look at Daphnis and Chloe in the Garden of Eden

First Person: Art as Bible Interpretation

Stoa Poikile Excavations in the Athenian Agora


Notes

1. August Mau, Pompeii, Its Life and Art, trans. Francis W. Kelsey (New York: Macmillan, 1902), p. 16.

2. See Harold H. Ellens, “The Library of Alexandria: The West’s Most Important Repository of Learning,” Bible Review 13:01.

3. On Sleep, quoted by Josephus, Against Apion I, 176–182.

4. On Piety, cited by Poryphry, third century A.D., in On Abstinence, 2.26. Meyer Reinhold and Louis Feldman, Jewish Life and Thought Among Greeks and Romans (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996), primary readings, p. 7.

5. Salo Wittmayer Baron, A Social and Religious History of the Jews, vol. 2 (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1937), p. 157.

a. See Louis H. Feldman, “The Omnipresence of the God-Fearers”; Robert S. MacLennan and Thomas Kraabel, “The God-Fearers—A Literary and Theological Invention”; and Robert Tannenbaum, “Jews and God-Fearers in the Holy City of Aphrodite,” all in BAR, September/October 1986.

b. See Jacob Neusner, Symbol and Theology in Early Judaism (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991), pp. 211, 216. Also, Erwin R Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, 13 vols. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 1953–1968).

c. Philo of Alexandria gives a full account of its composition in his “Life of Moses” (2.6: 31–37, 44) See also Leonard J. Greenspoon, “Truth and Legend About the Creation of the Septuagint, the First Bible Translation,” Bible Review 05:04.


 

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16 Responses

  1. Phillip Wochner says:

    The painter and/or the commissioner could have been a Jew, a Christian, a “God-fearer,” a full-fledged Gentile convert to Judaism, or simply an “ordinary” Gentile who knew a good story when he or she read and/or heard it. Whoever each of them was undoubtedly wanted to show how God is smarter than any human (in line with the numerous Biblical verses that “God confounds the wisdom of the wise” and “God’s ‘foolishness’ is wiser than the wisdom of men,” etc.); or simply to show that this Jewish king was smarter than any Greek. You all surely noticed how disturbed and perplexed “Socrates” and “Aristotle” are. The artist clearly wanted to show the superiority of the religion of Israel (as fulfilled in Christ?) to Greek and Roman philosophy, not simply to link them.
    As a side note: “The juxtaposition of wise men from the two civilizations” has not so “rarely been done[in visual art] since.” I forget who most of the initials in “Shazam!” stand for; the “S” stands for “Solomon,” the “H” stands for “Hercules/Heracles” (_no_ wise man he), one of the “A’s” stands for “Achilles” (fairly “noble” for a bloodthirsty warrior and rapist, but not very wise); I forget who the other “A” stands for. It may have been Aristotle or Asclepius, I don’t know. But I am sure that Greco-Roman philosophers and lawgivers were shown with Solomon and Hebrew prophets during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. I believe that the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol Building has both Solon, the Athenian lawgiver, and Moses; and I believe that various state, local, and foreign capitals have and/or have had similar juxtapositions. It was not uncommon, if not the usual practice, during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries to put together Hebrew, Greek, and Roman philosophers, prophets, lawgivers, artists, and other inspirations in various combinations; if not in “great” visual art, then in pretentious, trivial, and other lesser depictions. The medieval “Nine Worthies” don’t count, they were military heroes. This was when it was widely assumed that the Greeks, Romans, and Hebrews were the three main or sole roots of our Western Civilization. Of course, over the past three centuries we have learned about many more of our roots, and about the great Middle/Near Eastern civilizations into which the Israelites inserted themselves. Yes, the Big 3 have been reaffirmed and reiterated many times over, but also put into context. Thank you, Biblical Archeological Society, for bringing both phenomena, with regard to the Israelites, to the general public!

  2. […] Theodore (2022). ‘Solomon, Socrates and Aristotle’. Biblical Archaeology […]

  3. Kurt says:

    Is Unfailing Love Possible?
    ‘How warmly they exchange glances and tenderly hold each other! Who can deny that they are deeply in love!’ These thoughts go through the mind of an elder who has just officiated at the couple’s wedding. As the newlyweds gracefully move across the dance floor at the reception, he cannot help but wonder: ‘Will their marriage stand the test of time? As the years go by, will their love deepen or will it take wings and fly away?’ When it proves to be unswerving and enduring, the love between a man and a woman can truly be beautiful. In view of so many marriage breakups, however, it is not unreasonable to ask if lasting love is really possible.
    True love was rare even in the days of King Solomon of ancient Israel. Commenting on the moral climate of his day, Solomon wrote: “One upright man out of a thousand I found, but a woman among them I have not found. This alone I have found: The true God made mankind upright, but they have sought out many schemes.” (Eccl. 7:26-29, ftn.) Largely as a result of the influence of foreign women who practiced Baal worship, moral standards had dropped so low in his day that Solomon found it difficult to find a man or a woman with good morals. Still, the poem he wrote some 20 years earlier, the Song of Solomon, shows that enduring love can exist between a man and a woman. It also vividly portrays what that love is like and how it is displayed. Both married and single worshippers of Jehovah can learn much about such love by carefully considering this Bible book.
    http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2015046

  4. art history teacher says:

    I have long supposed after studying world art (course I am working on now too) that the Greek thinkers HAD to have been influenced by Solomon. The timing makes sense in what happened to change the quality of thinking and life in ancient Greece and we know from the Bible (1Kings 4:29-31) that many gentiles came to learn from Solomon. I have said this out loud in some lectures, but knew there was little proof, few others ever surmise this -I’ve thot: if I had more time/opportunity I could get a doctorate exploring this. What you’ve found is amazing to me!

  5. The Literary Evolution of Mohammed and Socrates | Prophet Mohammed (Muhammad) Was Nehemiah of Israel says:

    […] But, as we are going to read in the last section of this article, the ‘historical problem of Socrates’ is a major one, about which much has been written and debated. Statues of Socrates, for instance, can be found in post-Christian Roman contexts, such as at Pompeii (http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/solomon-socrates-and-aristotle/). […]

  6. Socrates and Prophet Jeremiah | Parallel Lives, Also BC Afterglows In AD says:

    […] of Socrates, for instance, can be found in post-Christian Roman contexts, such as at Pompeii (http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/solomon-socrates-and-aristotle/). Socrates and Jeremiah were very humane individuals – Jeremiah’s constant concern for the […]

  7. Prophet Jeremiah as the Matrix for Socrates | Prophet Jeremiah Fully Identified says:

    […] But, as we are going to read in the last section of this article, the ‘historical problem of Socrates’ is a major one, about which much has been written and debated. Statues of Socrates, for instance, can be found in post-Christian Roman contexts, such as at Pompeii (http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/solomon-socrates-and-aristotle/). […]

  8. Prophet Jeremiah as the Matrix for Socrates | Huldah The Prophetess says:

    […] But, as we are going to read in the last section of this article, the ‘historical problem of Socrates’ is a major one, about which much has been written and debated. Statues of Socrates, for instance, can be found in post-Christian Roman contexts, such as at Pompeii (http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/solomon-socrates-and-aristotle/). […]

  9. Origins of Socrates and Zoroaster | Daniel Greatly Loved Is Mordecai says:

    […] But, as we are going to read in the last section of this article, the ‘historical problem of Socrates’ is a major one, about which much has been written and debated. Statues of Socrates, for instance, can be found in post-Christian Roman contexts, such as at Pompeii (http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/solomon-socrates-and-aristotle/). […]

  10. Socrates as a Prophet | AMAIC Philosophy says:

    […] But, as we are going to read in the last section of this article, the ‘historical problem of Socrates’ is a major one, about which much has been written and debated. Statues of Socrates, for instance, can be found in post-Christian Roman contexts, such as at Pompeii (http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/solomon-socrates-and-aristotle/). […]

  11. Socrates as a Prophet | Biblical Roots of Classical Philosophy and Mythology says:

    […] of Socrates, for instance, can be found in post-Christian Roman contexts, such as at Pompeii (http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/solomon-socrates-and-aristotle/). Socrates and Jeremiah were very humane individuals – Jeremiah’s constant concern for the […]

  12. Solomon, Socrates and Aristotle: Ancient Art | ἐκλεκτικός says:

    […] Solomon, Socrates and Aristotle: Ancient Art […]

  13. I'm who I'm says:

    Hm-hm…End times wishful thinking is
    rampant!

  14. I'm who I'm says:

    Hm-hm… End times wishful thinking is rampant!

  15. Ric Lotfinia says:

    To cool Mr. Feder! To me your reasoning is sound; I greatly enjoyed the originality of it as well, so refreshing! Often in looking at this work I have been caught by the two strange characters, and felt I knew who they were, now I believe I do. Great eye there!

  16. The Earliest Biblical Painting? says:

    […] AD, and is believed to show the classic scene of the Judgement of Solomon.Bible History Daily has the whole story. Theodore Feder writes:In the building known as the House of the Physician, excavators found a wall […]

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16 Responses

  1. Phillip Wochner says:

    The painter and/or the commissioner could have been a Jew, a Christian, a “God-fearer,” a full-fledged Gentile convert to Judaism, or simply an “ordinary” Gentile who knew a good story when he or she read and/or heard it. Whoever each of them was undoubtedly wanted to show how God is smarter than any human (in line with the numerous Biblical verses that “God confounds the wisdom of the wise” and “God’s ‘foolishness’ is wiser than the wisdom of men,” etc.); or simply to show that this Jewish king was smarter than any Greek. You all surely noticed how disturbed and perplexed “Socrates” and “Aristotle” are. The artist clearly wanted to show the superiority of the religion of Israel (as fulfilled in Christ?) to Greek and Roman philosophy, not simply to link them.
    As a side note: “The juxtaposition of wise men from the two civilizations” has not so “rarely been done[in visual art] since.” I forget who most of the initials in “Shazam!” stand for; the “S” stands for “Solomon,” the “H” stands for “Hercules/Heracles” (_no_ wise man he), one of the “A’s” stands for “Achilles” (fairly “noble” for a bloodthirsty warrior and rapist, but not very wise); I forget who the other “A” stands for. It may have been Aristotle or Asclepius, I don’t know. But I am sure that Greco-Roman philosophers and lawgivers were shown with Solomon and Hebrew prophets during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. I believe that the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol Building has both Solon, the Athenian lawgiver, and Moses; and I believe that various state, local, and foreign capitals have and/or have had similar juxtapositions. It was not uncommon, if not the usual practice, during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries to put together Hebrew, Greek, and Roman philosophers, prophets, lawgivers, artists, and other inspirations in various combinations; if not in “great” visual art, then in pretentious, trivial, and other lesser depictions. The medieval “Nine Worthies” don’t count, they were military heroes. This was when it was widely assumed that the Greeks, Romans, and Hebrews were the three main or sole roots of our Western Civilization. Of course, over the past three centuries we have learned about many more of our roots, and about the great Middle/Near Eastern civilizations into which the Israelites inserted themselves. Yes, the Big 3 have been reaffirmed and reiterated many times over, but also put into context. Thank you, Biblical Archeological Society, for bringing both phenomena, with regard to the Israelites, to the general public!

  2. […] Theodore (2022). ‘Solomon, Socrates and Aristotle’. Biblical Archaeology […]

  3. Kurt says:

    Is Unfailing Love Possible?
    ‘How warmly they exchange glances and tenderly hold each other! Who can deny that they are deeply in love!’ These thoughts go through the mind of an elder who has just officiated at the couple’s wedding. As the newlyweds gracefully move across the dance floor at the reception, he cannot help but wonder: ‘Will their marriage stand the test of time? As the years go by, will their love deepen or will it take wings and fly away?’ When it proves to be unswerving and enduring, the love between a man and a woman can truly be beautiful. In view of so many marriage breakups, however, it is not unreasonable to ask if lasting love is really possible.
    True love was rare even in the days of King Solomon of ancient Israel. Commenting on the moral climate of his day, Solomon wrote: “One upright man out of a thousand I found, but a woman among them I have not found. This alone I have found: The true God made mankind upright, but they have sought out many schemes.” (Eccl. 7:26-29, ftn.) Largely as a result of the influence of foreign women who practiced Baal worship, moral standards had dropped so low in his day that Solomon found it difficult to find a man or a woman with good morals. Still, the poem he wrote some 20 years earlier, the Song of Solomon, shows that enduring love can exist between a man and a woman. It also vividly portrays what that love is like and how it is displayed. Both married and single worshippers of Jehovah can learn much about such love by carefully considering this Bible book.
    http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2015046

  4. art history teacher says:

    I have long supposed after studying world art (course I am working on now too) that the Greek thinkers HAD to have been influenced by Solomon. The timing makes sense in what happened to change the quality of thinking and life in ancient Greece and we know from the Bible (1Kings 4:29-31) that many gentiles came to learn from Solomon. I have said this out loud in some lectures, but knew there was little proof, few others ever surmise this -I’ve thot: if I had more time/opportunity I could get a doctorate exploring this. What you’ve found is amazing to me!

  5. The Literary Evolution of Mohammed and Socrates | Prophet Mohammed (Muhammad) Was Nehemiah of Israel says:

    […] But, as we are going to read in the last section of this article, the ‘historical problem of Socrates’ is a major one, about which much has been written and debated. Statues of Socrates, for instance, can be found in post-Christian Roman contexts, such as at Pompeii (http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/solomon-socrates-and-aristotle/). […]

  6. Socrates and Prophet Jeremiah | Parallel Lives, Also BC Afterglows In AD says:

    […] of Socrates, for instance, can be found in post-Christian Roman contexts, such as at Pompeii (http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/solomon-socrates-and-aristotle/). Socrates and Jeremiah were very humane individuals – Jeremiah’s constant concern for the […]

  7. Prophet Jeremiah as the Matrix for Socrates | Prophet Jeremiah Fully Identified says:

    […] But, as we are going to read in the last section of this article, the ‘historical problem of Socrates’ is a major one, about which much has been written and debated. Statues of Socrates, for instance, can be found in post-Christian Roman contexts, such as at Pompeii (http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/solomon-socrates-and-aristotle/). […]

  8. Prophet Jeremiah as the Matrix for Socrates | Huldah The Prophetess says:

    […] But, as we are going to read in the last section of this article, the ‘historical problem of Socrates’ is a major one, about which much has been written and debated. Statues of Socrates, for instance, can be found in post-Christian Roman contexts, such as at Pompeii (http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/solomon-socrates-and-aristotle/). […]

  9. Origins of Socrates and Zoroaster | Daniel Greatly Loved Is Mordecai says:

    […] But, as we are going to read in the last section of this article, the ‘historical problem of Socrates’ is a major one, about which much has been written and debated. Statues of Socrates, for instance, can be found in post-Christian Roman contexts, such as at Pompeii (http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/solomon-socrates-and-aristotle/). […]

  10. Socrates as a Prophet | AMAIC Philosophy says:

    […] But, as we are going to read in the last section of this article, the ‘historical problem of Socrates’ is a major one, about which much has been written and debated. Statues of Socrates, for instance, can be found in post-Christian Roman contexts, such as at Pompeii (http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/solomon-socrates-and-aristotle/). […]

  11. Socrates as a Prophet | Biblical Roots of Classical Philosophy and Mythology says:

    […] of Socrates, for instance, can be found in post-Christian Roman contexts, such as at Pompeii (http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/solomon-socrates-and-aristotle/). Socrates and Jeremiah were very humane individuals – Jeremiah’s constant concern for the […]

  12. Solomon, Socrates and Aristotle: Ancient Art | ἐκλεκτικός says:

    […] Solomon, Socrates and Aristotle: Ancient Art […]

  13. I'm who I'm says:

    Hm-hm…End times wishful thinking is
    rampant!

  14. I'm who I'm says:

    Hm-hm… End times wishful thinking is rampant!

  15. Ric Lotfinia says:

    To cool Mr. Feder! To me your reasoning is sound; I greatly enjoyed the originality of it as well, so refreshing! Often in looking at this work I have been caught by the two strange characters, and felt I knew who they were, now I believe I do. Great eye there!

  16. The Earliest Biblical Painting? says:

    […] AD, and is believed to show the classic scene of the Judgement of Solomon.Bible History Daily has the whole story. Theodore Feder writes:In the building known as the House of the Physician, excavators found a wall […]

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