Jesus à sombra de Hércules:

A influência do militarismo na narrativa cristã sobre Jesus no evangelho de Mateus

Abstract

                The purpose of this article is to show how the interaction between members of the christian community – especially christians living in Syria – and the units of the roman army operating in that province of the empire added to syrian christians modeling the historical figure of Jesus. This is a case of religious syncretism, in which the Matthew’s narrative changes Jesus from a prophet who came to announce the “Kingdom of God” into a character with mythological traits equal to those of the demigod Hercules. Like the hero of greek mythology, Jesus faces dangers far from his hometown and displays an incredible capacity for resistance and self-control, becoming the archetype of virility desired by roman soldiers. The present research proves that, contrary to common sense that ancient christians were averse to military doctrine; a lot of them joined the ranks of the roman army, which had its own system of religious values, with its specific myths, heroes and gods. Such values, in turn, contributed to shaping the christian thinking of certain communities. For this article, the studies developed in the area of ​​language semiotics applied to the literary analysis of documentation by linguist Eni Orlandi were of fundamental importance.