I. Name

The term mesitēs originates from Hellenistic legal terminology and was usually a technical term for a mediator or intermediary between two or more parties, such as the peace negotiator, the arbitrator between two legal parties, the witnesses in a legal transaction, the neutral party with whom a disputed object could be deposited, or the guarantor (see Schultess 1931 and Oepke 1942). Especially in the Hellenistic-Jewish sphere mesitēs is also used figuratively for the mediator betw…