The Greek term συνεδριον (synedrion) has appeared in an array of Classical Greek, Hellenistic-Greek, Judaic, and Romano-Judaic literature, used as a term to describe a council or conciliatory meeting. The usage of synedrion in a purely Greek context appears to be much more simplistic and informal than the synedrion of the Judaic and Romano-Judaic uses, all three of which are inconsistent with the Mishnah synedrion or “The Sanhedrin”: the Jewish Supreme Court. Though most simply translated as council, the actual usage of the term synedrion demands investigation towards the nature of these councils: Who was involved? Was there a difference in functionality throughout time? Was there a single synedrion in which historians can define with an all-encompassing definition? Thorough analysis of synedrion as used in Josephus, the New Testament, Demosthenes, and Xenophon suggests that there is not a single, simple answer to any of these questions; both the nature and function of synedrion is dependent on the time, location, and political power during which a synedrion was employed. Here, I examine the distinction between that of the synedrion as used elastically across Greek, Judaic, and Romano-Judaic literature and that of The Sanhedrin as described by the Mishnah.

Synedrion: An Ambiguous Term for a Fluid Entity