View Message

Mary, Miriam, Mariamne ... all extremely popular versions of the same name; there would have been plenty of Marys in Bethany, Bethlehem, Magdala, Jerusalem etc, etc and there is no reason to imagine that biblical writers were even slightly modern in their approach to scholarly referencing - unfortunately. Look at Salome - important enough to attend a crucifixion; not important enough to rate a reference. The only avenue to explore, sensibly, is where the -ene ending came from and whether it can have a figurative meaning - tower - rather then just a geographical one.

---

Instinct tells me that it is so odd to call a woman from Bethany a woman from Magdala that she probably wasn't a woman from Bethany in the first place ... if we're lucky, some nice, scholarly person will be able to help us out with the Greek (and/or Aramaic).