Panther – the Father of Jesus and the Panther from the Book of Hosea

Abstract

The article examines the ancient figure of Panther, considered by enemies of Christianity to be the biological father of Jesus, and by Christians to be a member of his family or a fictional character. The author analyzes the early Christian idea of prefiguration from the Book of Hosea, which, based on the Greek translation of the Septuagint, presented Christ under the symbolic guise of a panther attracting people with its scent. Based on the writings of Eusebius of Caesarea and the text of the 'Physiologus', the researcher posits the thesis that the figure of Mary's alleged seducer might have originated in the Jewish community as a polemical response to this Christian allegory.