A male
Germanic name during the time of the
Roman Empire. Anti-
Christian writings of the second century allege that
Jesus was the offspring of an
illicit affair between Mary and a
German soldier of the Empire stationed in
Israel, and refer to Jesus as "Yeshua Ben Pantera". (Which literally would read "son of the
leopard".) Some scholars have suggested that this has additional meaning as a
play on words in
Greek suggesting a
liaison of a shockingly
scandalous and
wanton nature.
Most scholars reject this story as mere gossip with no historical basis, but it does tell us much about the controversy generated by the early movement and its founder.