SANHEDRIN
SAXHEDRIN
399
the other hand, that faithful adlicreiice to tradi- tion about the ancient Saidiediin secured the retention in the new body of many peculiarities of the institution its it had existed in its last decades. In this way even the statements about the Sanhi-ilrin preserved in Tannaite tradition and in halachic theory may be treated as historical evidence. It is hard, to be sure, to briiii; this evidence into harmony with the statements of Josephus and the NT, but all the same it is to the.se first-named witnesses that we owe our aci|uaintance with most of the features in the l^icture we are to draw of tlie character and activity of the Sanhedrin.
5. In distinction from the lesser courts of justice ■which were found in all the cities of the Jew.s' country, the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem was called the Great Sanhedrin (nSni jmnjo or nSnj '-nnjo, the same as '■nj pn p'd). The Mishna (SanhciJ. i. ti) says on this point: 'There was a great Sanhedrin of 71 members and a little Sanhedrin of 2:!.' Aocordini; to the Tannaite Jose b. Chalaftlia, well known as a chroiiologist and a -source of historical information, there were in Jerusalem itself, besides llie Great Sanhedrin, other two little sijiti'dria. This statement, which is coupled with informa- tion about the activity of the Sanhedrin (To.sefta, Chnijiiia ii. 0. and Sanhed. vii. 1 ; .Jerus. SanUed. I'.ic ; I5al). Sfinhi'il. 886), agrees with the anonymous statement of the Mishna (^Hanhed. xi. 2) and the Sifre (on l)t 17* § 1.52).
iii. Pl.ACK OK Mketixo. — ^The seats of the two lesser courts of justice of Jerusalem are specified in the above passages as, respectively, ' the entrance of the Temple nioimt' [in one version 'the Temple mount'], and 'the entrance of the Temple court' [in one version 'of the C'hel,' Middoth ii. ;i]. The legend of the destruction of .lerusalem (Eclia rah. I'rocem. n. 2:!, ib. on La 2- and 4''' ; Kohfl. mil. on lOc 81" ; Bab. GitdH 676) also speaks of the great and the little Sanhedrin. — As the seat of tlie Great Sanheilrin, the Tannaite tradition (be- sides the above-cited passages, see Mishna, Peiik ii. 6, Eduijiith vii. 4) names ' the Hall of Hewn Stone' (-'tjn rx'S), which, according to Middoth V. 4, was on the south side of the great court. This hall served the priests also for the disposing by lot of their functions (.Mishna, Tamid ii. end; Tosefta, Yomn ii. 10 ; I5ab. Toma 25n), and as the place for the recitation of the Shema' (Tumid iv. end).
Arconilntr to a huraitha of llie Bab. Tahiiuil ( Yomtt ITya) the 'litill of lii-wii Stone ' was in tlio form of a 'prejil l)U^iUcu.' Itiit thi.H .sliitLMiierit iniiy httve arisen from tho (lescriptioii of tlio bH.Hilk'a at Ak-xaiiiirla In which the Sanhedrin thoro held U.s Hlttinirs (Tos. Siik'kft Iv. 6; liab. Snkkut Mh). Ahavi, a Bab. Amorn of tlie 4th cent., inferred ft-om the Htatements 'about Iho use of the Hull of Hewn Stone, that the latter lay half on 8acre<l f,'rotirid an<l half ontnlde tt. In any case the Hall must bu thought of as within the Temple area", and the view of .Schuror {O.rv II. 8in that P'lJn means the (varot and n'tjn pjrS the iiall by the .\'i/t/uti, and that the latter Is Identical with tlio ^ouA^ mentioned by .losejilms (/V./ v. Iv. ii). cannot hold irround. .lose|ihus irlves in this [lassace tlie situation of the jilace where the 'eoiincir (Sanhedrin ( held Its sltllnu's durlliir the last years ofthe.tewlsh State. Hut, accordlni? to a tradition which is to be refranleil as In Us kernel true, duiirii; the last years of .lerusalem the slttlnirs of the Sanhedrin were no loiicer held in the Hall of Hewn Stone, but wore removcil from it to a [ilaee called the ' trade hall ' (."Ijn, r</r. ler,. pliir. .i^'Un • trade halls '), and from there af:ntn to 'ilerusalern ' i.^hahhath l.'wf ; /lonh htiHtutna 'A\it \ .^tnhftl. 4lrt ; Ahutta zara xh\. Accordlni; to this autlirirltv the last sltlliifrs of the Sanhedrin were held outslflo the 'remplc area, In the city itself, and It Is to this situation that .Iriseiihiis' words about the |3ovAi} In the neigh- bourhood of the fuffToff refer.
iv. Composition OF THKCori:T.—1. The Great Sanhetirin consisted, according to the above-cited testimony of the Mishna, of 71 members. It is called on that account insiD'ya:''";' i>iti;d ( Slirl/iinth ii. 2), or inxi sv^." ":•-' V ^'^ (Jose b. Chalaftha, I.e. ; cf. also Mishna, Sanhed. i. 5; Tos. Sanhed. iii. 4).
The derivation of this number from that of the 70 elders of Nu 11"', which with Moses amounted to 71, appears to be old (Mishiui, Sanhed. i. 6 ; Sifre on Xumhers, § 92). It is (luestionable whether it was this derivation that determined the number of members, or whether the number already estab- lished found its sanction by thus going back to the Hible narrative. According to the above-cited statement about the basilica of Alexandria, there was in that city also a Sanhedrin of 71 members. The same number w,as retained at .Tamnia, for, as Simon b. Azzai (before A.Ii. 160) relates, there were 72 elders present, when Kleazar b. Azarja was associated with Ciamaliel II. as president (Mishna, Zebachimi. 3; Yadaim iii. 5, iv. 2), i.e. one more than the usual number. An isolated tradition, from .Jehudah b. Uai, fixes the total membership at 70 (Mishna, Sanhed. i. 0 ; 'i"os. Sanhed. iii. 9), and the Great Sanhedrin is called accordingly z^;2y Ss' 'D (Sifre on Kuiabers, S 92). .losepluis likewise cho.se 70 of the elders of the land to constitute the supreme authority in the Iirovince of Galilee, which had been assigned to him (B.f \l. XX. v) ; and in the same way the court .set up by the Zealots (.see above, ii. 3) numbered 70 members. The vacillation of our authorities between the numbers 70 and 71 is no doubt due to the circumstance that the president might be regarded as belonghig to the total number or not.