Disciple, as the author of this Gospel. This John, he claimed, lived in Ephesus and died ca. 98 during the reign of the emperor Trajan. As with the other Gospels, this tradition seems to have taken hold in the 2nd century with the purpose of defending the authority behind the writing, rather than establishing its actual writer. The Gospel itself does not identify the writer, although editorial comments associate authorship with the Beloved Disciple. At the foot of Jesus’ cross is “the disciple whom