The shepherd imagery of Jesus features prominently in John’s narrative of Jesus mythology (John 10:11 and John 10:14). Christian theology relates this to psalm 23 of David in Hebrew Bible, which says that the G_d is his shepherd and that he shall not wander. However, in John, Jesus is a good shepherd and a good shepherd is defined as ‘one who lays down his life for his sheep’ (10:11). Christian evangelists, who try to convert Jews, often use this statement as a kind of a continuity and fulfilment of Judaism in Christianity. Yet the psalm 23 which, begins as ‘a song of David’, speaks of G_d leading his herd to greener pastures etc. and not ‘laying down his life’.

Hence it is interesting to see if the Christian imagery of ‘good shepherd’ is really a continuation or even derived from Judaism or if it is inspired by non-Jewish elements. In this context, it should be noted the Jesus story of John is considered as the highly Hellenised version of all the four narratives endorsed by Council of Nicea in the fourth century CE.

Let us assume that a time machine has transported us to the Rome of early decades of the first two centuries of the Common Era. Standing in the streets of Rome, we ask for the shrine of the good shepherd. We are led to a shrine. It is not that of Jesus but that of Orpheus.