Religion
In reply to the discussion: Hillel the Elder and Jesus were contemporaries, according to the stories. [View all]MineralMan
(149,013 posts)I think, at the time, Hillel, as a teacher and sage, was probably much better known in Jerusalem than Jesus ever was. In Judaism, Hillel is revered as a fount of wisdom, while Jesus didn't do as well in his home area, and Christianity really developed in the Gentile community.
It's also possible that time has confused the two identities, sometimes conflating them with each other. Since the Gospels were written by people who never saw either one in person, and since the New Testament is a hodgepodge of writings with uncertain origins and missing original manuscripts, it's hard to say what is what and who was who. It all dates back so far that much is obscured by time.
Religion is a collection of writings, myths, and tales told by and to a long chain of people. There is much we do not know about exactly what happened, when, and to whom.
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