Meditating (as one should on Good Friday afternoon) on the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion of Jesus,
I’ve put together a few notes on the terms used by the Evangelists for the ‘notice’ written by Pilate and posted on the cross.
Matthew 27:37 uses the Greek word aitían, the Latin Vulgate has causam, the AV/KJV has ‘accusation’, the NRVS ‘charge’;
Mark 15:26 has epigraphē tēs aitías, Vulgate titulus causae, AV ‘superscription of his accusation’, NRSV ‘inscription of the charge’;
Luke 23:38 says epigraphē ep’autōi, Vulgate superscriptio super eum, AV ‘superscription...over him’, NRSV ‘inscription over him’
John 19:20 títlon, Vulgate titulum, AV ‘inscription’, NRSV ‘inscription’.
In Matthew and John the word is in the accusative case, in Mark and Luke epigraphē is nominative, aitías in Luke is genitive.
Note that only John used the Greek títlon, although Jerome also used titulus to translate Mark’s epigraphē. Títlos/ titulus simply meant ‘a small notice’ of any kind, not necessary a sign of disgrace; it was used by extension, much as our ‘title’ still is, for titles of honour, legal entitlements, headings of chapters etc. By Jerome’s time (4th century), the irony of this ‘notice of accusation’ being also a ‘title of honour’ would have been obvious. But it’s a mistake to assume that this word would necessarily have been associated by Greek or Latin speakers with crucifixions, at least not until the triumph of Christianity in the late Empire.
Epigraphē/ superscriptio is literally ‘something written on or above’, and Luke seems to emphasis the point by adding ep’autōi ‘above him’, presumably meaning it was placed physically above Jesus (a matter we’ve been debating, as it implies a stauros/stipēs extending above the patibulum). Again, the word is neutral in meaning, just something written in a prominent place.
Only aitía used by itself by Matthew, and qualifying epigraphē by Mark, carries connotations of criminality, though only by implication, it’s literally, like Jerome’s Latin causa, the ‘cause’, the reason why Jesus is being crucified. Nevertheless, although the Evangelists use different terms, they all write as if posting such a notice was a reasonably common practice, not perhaps in all cases (there’s no mention of the two thieves having such explanations posted for their executions), but at least in unusual, ‘celebrity’ cases or where the authorities wanted to make an example of the victim.
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