Mara bar Serapion on Jesus

Who is Mara bar Serapion on Jesus?

Mara bar 'Serapion, sometimes spelled Mara bar Sarapion was an Assyrian Stoic philosopher in the Roman province of Syria. He is only known from a letter he wrote in Syriac to his son, who was also named Serapion, which allegedly refers to Jesus Christ.

The letter indicates that Mara's homeland was Samosata, i.e. modern-day Samsat, Turkey, but his captivity appears to have been in Seleucia, in modern-day Iraq.

Mara's captivity took place after the AD 72 annexation of Samosata by the Romans, but before the third century. Most scholars date it to shortly after AD 73 during the first century.