Jesus

===Language, ethnicity, and appearance===
{{further|Language of Jesus|Race and appearance of Jesus}}
[[File:CompositeJesus.JPG|thumb|The ethnicity of Jesus in art has been influenced by cultural settings.{{sfn|Houlden|2006|pp=63–99}}<ref name="Erricker44" />|alt=Twelve depictions of Jesus from around the world]]
Jesus grew up in Galilee and much of his ministry took place there.{{sfn|Green|McKnight|Marshall|1992|p=442}} The languages spoken in Galilee and Judea during the 1st century AD include [[Jewish Palestinian Aramaic]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], and [[Koine Greek|Greek]], with Aramaic being predominant.<ref name="BarrLang">{{cite journal|first=James|last=Barr|title=Which language did Jesus speak|journal=Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester|year=1970|volume=53|issue=1|pages=9–29|url=https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/uk-ac-man-scw:1m2973|doi=10.7227/BJRL.53.1.2|access-date=27 July 2011|archive-date=3 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181203184449/https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/uk-ac-man-scw:1m2973|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Porter110">{{cite book |last=Porter |first=Stanley E. |url=https://archive.org/details/handbooktoexeges00port |title=Handbook to exegesis of the New Testament |publisher=Brill |year=1997 |isbn=978-90-04-09921-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/handbooktoexeges00port/page/n124 110]–112 |language=en |url-access=limited}}</ref> There is substantial consensus that Jesus gave most of his teachings in Aramaic{{sfn|Dunn|2003|pp=313–15}} in the [[Galilean dialect]].<ref name="Allen C. Myers">{{cite encyclopedia |year=1987 |title=Aramaic |encyclopedia=The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary |publisher=William B. Eerdmans |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |url=https://archive.org/details/eerdmansbibledic00myer/page/72 |editor=Myers |editor-first=Allen C. |page=[https://archive.org/details/eerdmansbibledic00myer/page/72 72] |isbn=978-0-8028-2402-8 |quote=It is generally agreed that Aramaic was the common language of Israel in the first century AD. Jesus and his disciples spoke the Galilean dialect, which was distinguished from that of Jerusalem (Matt. 26:73).}}</ref><ref name="Encyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/32043/Aramaic-language |title=Aramaic language |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=27 June 2019 |archive-date=27 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427072726/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/32043/Aramaic-language |url-status=live }}</ref> Other than Aramaic and Hebrew, it is likely that he was also able to speak in [[Koine Greek]].<ref>{{Cite book | last=Porter | first=Stanley E. | author-link=Stanley E. Porter | title=Handbook to exegesis of the New Testament | publisher=Brill | year=1997 | isbn=90-04-09921-2 | pages=110–112 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last=Hoffmann | first=R. Joseph | title=Jesus in history and myth | publisher=Prometheus Books | year=1986 | isbn=0-87975-332-3 | page=98 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Interpretation of Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity: Studies in Language and Tradition|first=Craig A.|last=Evans|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1841270760|date=1 June 2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WbbUAwAAQBAJ&dq=G.R.+Selby,+Jesus,+Aramaic+and+Greek&pg=PA244|access-date=13 August 2023|archive-date=6 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230906220012/https://books.google.com/books?id=WbbUAwAAQBAJ&dq=G.R.+Selby,+Jesus,+Aramaic+and+Greek&pg=PA244|url-status=live}}</ref>

Modern scholars agree that Jesus was a Jew of 1st-century [[Judea]].{{sfn|Ehrman|1999|p= 96}} ''[[Ioudaios]]'' in New Testament Greek{{efn|In the New Testament, Jesus is described as Jewish / Judean (''[[Ioudaios]]'' as written in Koine Greek) on three occasions: by the Magi in [[Matthew 2]], who referred to Jesus as "King of the Jews" (''basileus ton ioudaion''); by both the [[Samaritan woman at the well]] and by Jesus himself in [[John 4]]; and (in all four gospels) during the Passion, by the Romans, who also used the phrase "King of the Jews".<ref>{{cite journal|first=John |last=Elliott|journal= Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus |year=2007|volume= 5|issue= 119|title=Jesus the Israelite Was Neither a 'Jew' nor a 'Christian': On Correcting Misleading Nomenclature|page=119|doi=10.1177/1476869007079741|doi-access=free}}</ref>}} is a term which in the contemporary context may refer to religion ([[Second Temple Judaism]]), ethnicity (of Judea), or both.<ref>{{cite book |last=Garroway |first=Rabbi Joshua |url=https://archive.org/details/jewishannotatedn0000unse/page/524 |title=The Jewish Annotated New Testament |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-529770-6 |editor=Levine |editor-first=Amy-Jill |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jewishannotatedn0000unse/page/524 524–526] |chapter=Ioudaios |editor2=Brettler |editor-first2=Marc Z. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DZRJ5zXUI2QC&pg=PA524}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=David M.|last=Miller|title=The Meaning of ''Ioudaios'' and its Relationship to Other Group Labels in Ancient 'Judaism'|journal=Currents in Biblical Research|volume=9|issue=1|date=2010|pages=98–126|doi=10.1177/1476993X09360724|s2cid=144383064}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=Steve |last=Mason |title=Jews, Judaeans, Judaizing, Judaism: Problems of Categorization in Ancient History |journal=Journal for the Study of Judaism |volume=38 |issue=4 |date=2007 |pages=457–512 |url=http://www.stevemason.eu/resources/SMason-JSJ-2007-Jews-Judaism.pdf |doi=10.1163/156851507X193108 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150325062826/http://www.stevemason.eu/resources/SMason-JSJ-2007-Jews-Judaism.pdf |archive-date=25 March 2015}}</ref> In a review of the state of modern scholarship, [[Amy-Jill Levine]] writes that the entire question of ethnicity is "fraught with difficulty", and that "beyond recognizing that 'Jesus was Jewish', rarely does the scholarship address what being 'Jewish' means".{{sfn|Levine|2006|p=10}}

The New Testament gives no description of the physical appearance of Jesus before his death—it is generally indifferent to racial appearances and does not refer to the features of the people it mentions.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|first=Robin M. |last=Jensen |title=Jesus in Christian art|encyclopedia=The Blackwell Companion to Jesus|editor-first=Delbert|editor-last= Burkett|year= 2010 |isbn= 978-1-4443-5175-0 |pages= 477–502 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons}}</ref><ref name="Perkinson30">{{cite book |last=Perkinson |first=Stephen |title=The likeness of the king: a prehistory of portraiture in late medieval France |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-226-65879-7 |location=Chicago, Illinois, USA |page=30 |language=en-us}}</ref><ref name="Kidd48">{{cite book|title=The forging of races: race and scripture in the Protestant Atlantic world|url=https://archive.org/details/forgingracesrace00kidd|url-access=limited|first= Colin|last= Kidd|year= 2006| isbn =978-1-139-45753-8 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages= [https://archive.org/details/forgingracesrace00kidd/page/n57 48]–51}}</ref> Jesus probably looked like a typical Jewish man of his time and place; standing around {{convert|166|cm|ftin|abbr=on}} tall with a thin but fit build, [[Olive skin|olive-brown skin]], brown eyes and short, dark hair. He also likely had a beard that was not particularly long or heavy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Joan E. |title=What did Jesus look like? |date=2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing Plc |location=London |page=168|isbn=978-0-567-67150-9 |edition=1st |url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/what-did-jesus-look-like-9780567671509/ |access-date=20 May 2020 |archive-date=8 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008222012/https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/what-did-jesus-look-like-9780567671509/ |url-status=live }}</ref> His clothing may have suggested poverty, consisting of a mantle (shawl) with tassels, a knee-length basic tunic and sandals.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Taylor |first1=Joan |title=What Did Jesus Wear? |url=https://getpocket.com/explore/item/what-did-jesus-wear |website=Pocket |publisher=Mozilla |access-date=20 May 2020 |archive-date=20 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200520060147/https://getpocket.com/explore/item/what-did-jesus-wear |url-status=live }}</ref>