Review of Panayotakis et al. (eds.), Holy Men and Charlatans in the Ancient Novel

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW:

Stelios Panayotakis, Gareth Schmeling, Michael Paschalis (ed.), Holy Men and Charlatans in the Ancient Novel. Ancient Narrative. Supplementum, 19. Eelde; Groningen: Barkhuis; Groningen University Library, 2015. Pp. xii, 211. ISBN 9789491431906. €85.00.

Reviewed by Donald Lateiner, Ohio Wesleyan University (dglatein@owu.edu)

Preview

[Authors and titles are listed at the end.]1

Is there an objective difference between the two categories of the title, or was the mordant Morton Smith right when, in Jesus the Magician (rev. New York 1981), he asked why some, many, or most of Jesus’ contemporaries considered this eastern miracle worker (thaumaturge) a magician, or a charlatan, rather than ‘son of god’?

[...]