<P> The Gospel According to Mark (Greek: τὸ κατὰ Μᾶρκον εὐαγγέλιον, to kata Markon euangelion), the second book of the New Testament, is one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels . It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to his death and burial and the discovery of the empty tomb--there is no genealogy of Jesus or birth narrative, nor, in the original ending at chapter 16, any post-resurrection appearances . It portrays Jesus as a heroic man of action, an exorcist, a healer, and a miracle worker . Jesus is also the Son of God, but he keeps his identity secret, concealing it in parables so that even the disciples fail to understand . All this is in keeping with prophecy, which foretold the fate of the messiah as suffering servant . The gospel ends, in its original version, with the discovery of the empty tomb, a promise to meet again in Galilee, and an unheeded instruction to spread the good news of the resurrection . </P> <P> Traditionally thought to be an epitome (summary) of Matthew, which accounts for its place as the second gospel in the Bible, most scholars now regard it as the earliest of the gospels, dating from c . AD 66--70 . Most scholars also reject the tradition which ascribes it to Mark the Evangelist, the companion of Peter, and regard it as the work of an unknown author working with various sources including collections of miracle stories, controversy stories, parables, and a passion narrative . </P> <P> The Gospel of Mark is anonymous . Early Christian tradition ascribes it to John Mark, a companion and interpreter of the apostle Peter . Hence its author is often called Mark, even though most modern scholars are doubtful of the Markan tradition and instead regard the author as unknown . It was probably written c . AD 66--70, during Nero's persecution of the Christians in Rome or the Jewish revolt, as suggested by internal references to war in Judea and to persecution . The author used a variety of pre-existing sources, such as conflict stories (Mark 2: 1--3: 6), apocalyptic discourse (4: 1--35), and collections of sayings (although not the Gospel of Thomas and probably not the Q source). </P> <P> Mark was written in Greek, for a gentile audience (that they were gentiles is shown by the author's need to explain Jewish traditions and translate Aramaic terms) of Greek - speaking Christians: Rome (Mark uses a number of Latin terms), Galilee, Antioch (third - largest city in the Roman Empire, located in northern Syria), and southern Syria have all been offered as alternative places of authorship . The author may have been influenced by Greco - Roman biographies and rhetorical forms, popular novels and romances, and the Homeric epics; nevertheless, he mentions almost no public figures, makes no allusions to Greek or Roman literature, and takes all his references from the Jewish scriptures, mostly in their Greek versions from the Septuagint . His book is not history in the modern sense, or even in the sense of classical Greek and Roman historians, but "history in an eschatological or apocalyptic sense," depicting Jesus caught up in events at the end of time . </P>

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