From Anointing to Arrest. Some Observations on the Composition of Mark... 15 9.2 From Chart 1 it is also clear that, in his first saying, Mark 14: 6b-9, Jesus uses 89 + 46 = 135 syllables. This saying, of course, is the main element, the raison d’être of the little episode. The frame of the episode, however, Mark 14:1-2 and 10-11, featuring Judas and the chief priests26, is of exactly the same size, and here again, the symmetry of the opening and closing parts is obvious, as it is elsewhere: Mark 14: 1-2: 46 + 21 = 67 3-5: 69 + 69 = 138 6-9: 6 + « 135 »= 141 | 279 10-11: 31 + 24 + 13 = 68 | 135 | 414 syllables Does the frame, mainly N(arrative), copy the size of the sayings in v. 6-9 - or is it perhaps the other way around? It is difficult to tell; but that the sizes match is beyond doubt. 9.3 If we make a (slight) break after the introduction in v. 6b-d, moreover, we once more find two balancing elements and a center piece: Mark 14:6bc,d: « 5˙ 9; 11. = 25 7-8a: 39. 7˙ = 46 8b: 11 + 7. = 18 9: Ἀμήν ... » 46 | 110 | 135 syllables V. 8b: προέλαβεν μυρίσαι τὸ σῶμά μου εἰς τὸν ἐνταφιασμόν is the central element, and this interpretation of the unnamed woman’s act of anointing Jesus is probably the main thing the reader should remember from the incident.27 The Amen-saying in v. 9 is a unit of 46 syllables, and so is its pendant in v. 7-8a. Already the opening of the story in Mark 14:1 uses 17 + 29 = 46 syllables (in 23 words), and thereby presents a key number: the full size of Mark 14:1-11 is, as we saw, 414 or 9 x 46 syllables. The following survey could show some of the internal proportions: 26 In Mark 14:10, and also in 14:1, ἀρχιερεῖς is counted as four syllables. On Mark 14:1- 2, 3-9, 10-11 as a well-known example of ’intercalation’ in Mark, see G. van Oyen, ‘Interca- lation and Irony in the Gospel of Mark’, The Four Gospels 1992, Festschrift F. Neirynck (BETL 100), Leuven: Peeters, 1992, [100-B] p. 949-974, especially p. 949-951, 960. Those who reconstruct a pre-Marcan passion narrative usually consider Mark 14:3-9 as a Mar- can addition in the earlier document. See, e.g., F.C. Grant, The Gospels, Their Origin and Growth, London: Faber and Faber, 1965, p. 78-79. Cf. M. Dibelius, Die Formgeschichte des Evangeliums, Tübingen: Mohr, (²1933) ³1959, p. 178-180: ‘... nur ein ohne weiteres auslösba- res Erzählungsstück ... Mk 143-9 ...’; see also pp. 186 and 206. 27 Cf., e.g., E. Schweizer, Das Evangelium nach Markus (NTD), Göttingen: Vanden- hoeck & Ruprecht, 1967, p. 167: ‘... die Geschichte .. ist ... wegen V. 8 an den Anfang der Passionsgeschichte gestellt worden ..’.