Article,
Kestês und Dêmas, die beiden Schächer am Kreuz – aus einer koptischen Paraphrase der Acta Pilati
Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum, (2007)
Abstract
This edition of a fragment of the Coptic text (in the Sahidic dialect) quoting the or being a paraphrase of the Acta Pilati rises new questions about the history of this text. The names of the two criminals crucified with Jesus are reversed here. Usually Dêmas is the good and Kestês is the bad one. In this text, however, the good one is Kestês. Since the names are firmly connected with the tradition of the text, this fragment poses the interesting question as to whether the origin of this textual tradition should not be placed in a time-period, when the names of the two were not yet firmly established. This would probably place the version of the Acta Pilati that is used here around the first decades of the fourth century.
