Endnote 20 – Sepphoris—An Urban Portrait of Jesus
James F. Strange pointed out to me that the Greek word translated “street corners” (plataon) is plural of plateia or colonnaded street. The main street of Sepphoris is referred to as palatia in rabbinic sources. (See Berakhot 3; Y Ketubbot 1.10). Strange translates the passage in Matthew as, “And when you pray, you must not be like actors, for they love to stand and pray in [public] assemblies and on the corners of the [colonnaded] streets to be seen by people.” Strange stated this idea in an unpublished paper read at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (Nov. 20, 1988).