Kata Markon

["Dennis Ronald MacDonald" <dmacdon AT cst.edu>]

I am new to this discussion, so I am not sure I am locating this message
properly. I'd be glad for any suggestions on how to enter more precisely
the discussion of my book, The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark. I
have read a few of the responses (I'm grateful for them all), and would
make a few comments.
Homer was the basis of ancient education. Mark did not have to do advanced
studies to have been exposed to mimesis of the epics. In fact, paraphrase
of the epics would have taken place early in one's studies.
Some have said that Mark's "flags" to the epic are weak. I say that, too,
but they are even weaker for us insofar as we know the epics so poorly. We
should expect that ancient readers would have caught allusions that escape
nearly all of us.
What is most important for my argument is the bulk of parallels. I agree
that some of the parallels are faint; they might be products of my
imagination, but surely not all of them are. Furthermore, one cannot find
the bulk of such parallels elsewhere, not even in the LXX. Dennis
MacDonald