La légende des Trente pièces d’argent de Judas et le roi Abgar

Abstract

In his Book of the Bee, the 13th century historian and Syriac bishop Solomon of Baṣra has kept an apocryphal text, here translated and analyzed, concerning the thirty pieces of silver Judas received for his betrayal of Christ, after a long chain of transmission. Godfrey of Viterbo had related this legend before, referring to an Armenian source. Considering later Armenian versions, one may suggest that Armenian played an important role in the diffusion of narrative elements of this text drawn on a Syriac original prior to the 12th century and reworked. Some details could indicate the 6th century as a terminus post quem, and correlations established with Edessa as a production from the Edessean milieu.