The Inscriptions of Ephesos and the New Testament Author(s): G. H. R. Horsley Reviewed work(s): Source: Novum Testamentum, Vol.

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Novum Testamentum XXXIV, 2 (1992)

THE INSCRIPTIONS OF EPHESOS AND THE NEW TESTAMENT* by G. H. R. HORSLEY

Victoria, Australia

Introduction For the contemporarytourist with an interest in antiquity, for the classicist, and for the student of the New Testament, Ephesos is a
* The Tyndale Biblical Archaeology Lecture, delivered at Tyndale House in Cambridge on 9 July 1990, now much enfleshed. The hospitality and other kindnesses of the Warden, Dr B.W. Winter, is gladly acknowledged. In considerably different form, some of this material was employed for papers at the SBL annual conference in Chicago in November 1988, at the Fellowship for Biblical Studies in Melbourne in May 1990, and at the University of Durham in June 1990. My visit to England was partly supported financially by the School of Humanities at La Trobe University, by the Australian Institute of Archaeology, and by the generosity of an anonymous prostatis.

ANRW - Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt AS - Anatolian Studies CIJ -J.B. Frey, Corpus InscriptionumJudaicarum(2 vols; Rome, 1936, 1952); vol.1

in the main; but note the Abbreviations conform to those in L'Annee Philologique, following, used with some frequency in this article:

Foss - C. Foss, Ephesus afterAntiquity. A late antique, Byzantineand Turkish city (CamFiE - Forschungenin Ephesos I.Eph. - Die Inschriften von Ephesos (8 vols; IK 11.1-17.4; Bonn, 1979-1984) IK - InschrifiengriechischerStadte aus Kleinasien Institutes in Wien JOAI - Jahresheftedes Osterreichischen Archdologischen

repr. with Prolegomenon by B. Lifshitz (New York, 1975)

bridge, 1978)

MM - J.H. Moulton/G. Milligan, The Vocabularyof the Greek Testamentillustrated from the Papyri and other non-literarySources (London, 1930) New Docs 1976-1979 - G.H.R. Horsley, New DocumentsIllustratingEarly Christianity. A Review of the GreekInscriptions and Papyri published in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 New Docs, vol. 5 - id., New DocumentsIllustrating Early Christianity, vol. 5: Linguistic Oster, Bib. Eph. - R.E. Oster, A Bibliographyof AncientEphesus (A TLA Bibliog. Series PW - Pauly/Wissowa, Realencyclopddie der classischenAltertumswissenschaft SEG - SupplementumEpigraphicum Graecum

Rulein AsiaMinor(2 vols; Princeton, 1950; repr. Salem, Magie - D. Magie, Roman 1988)

(4 vols.; North Ryde, 1981-1987)

Essays(North Ryde, 1989) 19; Metuchen, 1987)

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name to conjure with. The city is undoubtedly special, but how? Wherein lies its distinctiveness? Here we have one of the largest and most famous of all ancient cities; but others were larger, and others again were more famed. Ancient though it is, other cities are older; extended history though it had, some possess a far longer, continuous history on their site extending right through to the present. There were others (though very few in number) which shared the distinction of possessing one of the canonical Wonders of the world; and some others have been taken more readily to be a byword for cosmopolitanism. Yet today Ephesos is arguably the Graeco-Roman site most visited for its own sake anywhere by tourists, certainly so in Turkey at any rate. Athens and Rome may attract more visitors, but they come for the modern features of those cities at least in part. The physical relocation of Ephesos in different periods-the archaic and classical city now inaccessible because of the change in the level of the water table; the byzantine one beneath modern Selguk, overlooked by the church of St John built in the sixth century by Justinian-has ensured that we are a full of this archaeologically gaining very picture city during the half-millennium which saw its floruit (say, I BC to IV AD), though considerably less about its beginning or its end. This detailed, chronological 'section through the middle', the excavation of its later Hellenistic and Roman ruins on an easily accessible site, has resuscitated this city, has made it possible to capture some sense of what life may have been like in one of the great cosmopolitan centres at the turn of the era. Here is what makes Ephesos at once special and representative: the century-long archaeological attention it has received makes it special; and the finds yielded by the site show the city to be representative, mutatis mutandis, of other Graeco-Roman cities which have been given much less exposure. The continuing history of this city as a great urban centre ceased in late antiquity with the destruction of much of it in 614 AD, perhaps by the Sassanids.1 The change of level of the Mediterranean and adjacent seas may also have been a factor which contributed2 to the eventual demise of Ephesos as a great entrepot.3
' Foss, vii. The evidence is disputed: see Foss, 187 n. 9. 3 ...ttLX6Oplov oua0a ieTL=tOVXtv xata&xTv 'AavoiLav vtvt6o Tou Tocapou, Strabo 14.1.24 (641C). Like Miletos, Ephesos not only possessed a major harbour for international trade, but was also a terminus for the great Royal road leading from
2

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And lying on the Kaystros river at the coast, it harbour had constant silt problems4 even before the time of the Pergamene rulers who took over control of the city after the Seleucids under Antiochos the Great were defeated by Rome at Magnesia ad Sipylum in 190 BC.5 Yet it still had its temple of Artemis, the patron deity of the city; and this Artemision was a great magnet for tourists in antiquity because of its status as one of the ancient in the Hellenistic period after being burned Wonders6-rebuilt to down, according legend, on the very night in 356 BC that Alexander was born.7 Here, too, at the site of the Artemision, water was the enemy: the modern visitor sees a single column still standing amid the swamp. The non-specialist does not easily make much sense of the other remains there, though meticulous research continues to be undertaken with profit for our understanding.8 It is
Persia westwards across Anatolia, which served as an important caravan route in
the Hellenistic period: M.I. Rostovtzeff, The Social and Economic History of the

HellenisticWorld(3 vols; Oxford, 1941, repr. 1959) 2.1264. 4Magie, 1.76, with n. 89 at 2.888. 5 Like the other great cities of the Ionian coast, Smyrna and Miletos, Ephesos' progress to prosperity was not a straight and easy path because of the struggles between the Seleucids and Ptolemies for political mastery of it. Ephesos passed into the Attalid kingdom as part of Rome's settlement of Asia Minor after Magnesia at the peace concluded at Phrygian Apamea in 188 BC. In 133 BC Ephesos came under direct Roman control as part of the legacy of Attalos III. On all these points see, e.g., Rostovtzeff, SEHHW, 1.530, 2.640, and 1.61, respectively. On Seleucid/Ptolemaic manoeuvrings affecting the Ionian cities, see D. Knibbe, PW Suppl. 12 (1970) 254-56. 6 The Artemision is included in two-thirds of the 24 ancient lists assembled by J. Lanowski, 'Weltwunder', PW Suppl. 10 (1965) 1020-30. 7 For the references see Magie, 2.887 n. 88. On Alexander's offer later to underwrite the rebuilding costs and its diplomatic rejection by the Ephesians, see Strabo 14.1.22 (641C). 8 Of the numerous publications by A. Bammer, particular note may be taken
of 87; and Das Heiligtum der Artemis von Ephesos (Graz, 1984). Earlier: J.T. Wood, Discoveriesat Ephesus, including the sites and remains of the great Temple of Diana (Lon-

'Forschungen im Artemision von Ephesos und ihre Datierung', AS 32 (1982) 61-

Die Architektur des jingeren Artemision von Ephesos (Wiesbaden,

1972);

don, 1877); the contributions in FiE 1 (Vienna, 1906) by O. Benndorf (205-20) and W. Wilberg (221-34), and R.C. Kukula (237-77, 278-82 [the former on literary testimonia, the latter on epigraphic testimonia to the temple]); and D.G. der Tempel recently again on the earlier temple note W. Schaber, Die archaischen
Artemis von Ephesos. Entwurfsprinzipen und Rekonstruktion(Schriftenaus dem Athenaion derklassischenArchiologie Salzburg 2; Waldsassen, 1982). This work includes sections Hogarth et al., Excavationsat Ephesus. The Archaic Artemision(London, 1908). More

on the chronological development of the Artemision (13-23), on previous attempts to reconstruct what it was like (24-48), and detailed attention in particularto the temple in the time of Kroisos (49-104, 117-18; plans 1 and 2). One feature of the

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G. H. R. HORSLEY

geese which now lay claim to the right of asylia at this temenos.The rise of Christianity and the institutional backing given to it by Roman Imperial authority from the fourth century onwards ensured that all such great religious centres would wither. The opposition to Christianity which did continue emanated from the sort of people who were in any case less likely to patronise the gods' temples:9 the intellectual elite from aristocratic families.'0 By the fifth century, once Christianity had gained support at a geographitrend already beginning to cally widespread, popular level-a to manifest itself by early II AD in Pliny's Bithynial--opposition too small to resist the was iconoclastic Christianity numerically activity of which there is such open testimony in late antiquity.'2 At Ephesos, the cult of Artemis began to suffer at the hands of Christians from the fourth century. Early in the fifth, an otherwise unknown Demeas set to work on a marble base which must have carried a statue of the goddess, replacing it with a cross and inscribing the following epigram:'3
Having destroyed a deceitful image of demonic Artemis, Demeas set up this sign of truth, honouring both God the driver-away of idols, and the cross, that victorious, immortal symbol of Christ.

Often iconoclasts went to much less trouble to achieve the same result. An honorific inscription14 for Aur. Salluvius Timotheos
later temple is addressed by A. Riigler, Die Columnae Caelatae Artemisions desjingeren von Ephesos(Ist.Mitt. Beiheft34; Tiibingen, 1988). 9 The Artemision had already been sacked by the Ostrogoths in 262 AD: Foss, 3. 10 We know, for example, thatJulian studied at Ephesos in 351 under Maximus the Theurgist, some years before being named co-Caesar by Constantius in late 355: Eunapius, VS 475. On this, see most recently J.F. Matthews, The Roman Empireof Ammianus (London, 1989) 123-24. 11 Ep. 10.96. 12 Cf. R. Lane in theMediterranean world Fox, Pagansand Christians from thesecond AD to theconversion century of Constantine (1986; repr. London, 1988) 671-74. 13 I.Eph. IV.1351; repr. with discussion and bibliography at New Docs 1979, 125. For further discussion see Foss, 32. G. Mussies places this inscription in the first decade of the fifth century 'when the emperor Arcadius fervently continued the christianizing policy of his father Theodosius I': 'Pagans, Jews and Christians at Ephesus', in P.W. van der Horst/G. Mussies, Studies in theHellenistic Background reeks10; Utrecht, 1990), 177-94, at 194. More of the NT (Utrechtse theologische speculatively, he infers from this inscription that Demeas may have been responsible for the destruction of the cult statue of Artemis (ibid.). 4 I.Eph. VII, 1.3263, noted at New Docs 1979, 28, p. 128; cf. SEG 31.957. On the term neopoios see further, pp. 143-144 below.

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describes him as 'the pious and voluntary neopoios of our lady Artemis.' At some time later than II/III AD when the text was inscribed Artemis' name was erased, leaving 11.7-9 to read: rov xal auOacpETov Tj xuptaS'itC)v[['Ap]] |[[t4uLboS]], | VOEtoIOV UGE3Pi xtr. Other examples of erasure of Artemis' name include I.Eph. II.508, and 509; in the latter, however, only the Greek version was affected, the preceding Latin version being left untouched. It is very death of Roman Ephesos which has enabled it to be recovered in modern times. Visit the city of Antakya today, almost on the Turkish border with Syria, and there is very little to see of the ancient metropolis which was Syrian Antioch from which the first Christian Mission set out, one of the largest three or four Graeco-Roman cities in the Imperial period. Constant rebuilding on the same site has effectively ensured that what will ever be recovered from there is comparatively little. So also for Antalya on modern Turkey's southern coast: all that survives of ancient Attaleia, where Barnabas and Paul made landfall from Cyprus on their way to Pisidian Antioch and from which they took ship to return to Syrian Antioch at the end of that journey, is a gate of Hadrianic date and some parts of the city wall greatly rebuilt at a much later period. The same may be said of Smyrna (modern Izmir) and of so many other sites of interest both in themselves but particularly so for our present context in view of their being mentioned in the New Testament. Ancient Ephesos, in contrast, is now more accessible than ever it was since the end of late antiquity. The consequence of the relocation of the city in the sixth century has been that it is possible to recover so much tangible evidence about Imperial-period Ephesos since there was no longer a resident population. Excavation stretches back a long way. J.T. Wood discovered the Artemision, other public buildings and a considerable range of artifacts during more than a decade of work (1863-74). For almost a century now the Austrian Archaeological Institute has worked systematically at the site; and in conjunction with the Turkish authorities has done a magnificent job of exposure and careful restoration in order to recover knowledge of the Roman city, and to attract modern visitors. The single most famous monument, the Artemision, to visit which people in antiquity travelled great distances, is no longer the focus for today's tourist. It lies over a kilometre away from the Roman city; and what little remains makes too great a demand on the historical imagination to detain

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many for long. It is the theatre,15 the library of Celsus,'6 the temples of Domitian17 and Hadrian,18 the Memmius monument,19 the streets,20 agoras (civic and commercial),21 baths and gymnasia,22 private houses,23 the stadium,24 the Prytaneion25 and the
15 R. in Ephesos (FiE 2; Vienna, 1912). See further Heberdey, et al., Das Theater the index in Oster, Bib. Eph., 154. The riot in Ephesos recorded in Acts 19 may well have occurred while the theatre was undergoing alterations; for it was enlarged under Claudius, and other changes were effected under Nero. Today, the amount of restoration and conservation is highlighted by comparing the present state of the theatre with the plates in FiE 2, p. 1 and facing p. 4. For the inscriptions from the theatre see Heberdey, ibid., 95-203. Capacity: perhaps 20,000. 16 W. (FiE 5.1; Vienna, 1945; repr. 1953); and Wilberg, et al., Die Bibliothek Oster, Bib. Eph., 142. J. Keil calculated that the library had space for up to 12,600 rolls (FiE 5.1.82). The 15 inscriptions from the Library published by Keil in that volume (61-80) are included in I.Eph. at VII, 2.5101-15. 17 See references in Oster, Bib. Eph., 144. 18 E.L. Bowie, 'The "Temple of Hadrian" at Ephesus', ZPE 8 (1971) 137-41; id., 'The Vedii Antonii and the Temple of Hadrian at Ephesus', in E. Akurgal Archaeology Congress of Classical (Ankara, 1978), (ed.), Proc. of theXth International 2.867-74; B. Brenk, 'Die Datierung der Reliefs am Hadrianstempel in Ephesos und das Problem der tetrachischen Skulptur des Ostens', Ist.Mitt. 18 (1968) 23858; H. Engelmann, 'Der Tempel des Hadrians in Ephesos und der Proconsul Servaeus Innocens', ZPE 9 (1972) 91-96; M. W6rrle, 'Zur Datierung des Hadrianstempels an der "Kuretenstrasse" in Ephesos', AA 88 (1973) 470-77; and further items in Oster, Bib. Eph., 146. Another Hadrianic monument erected nearby was a gateway at the intersection of Kouretes and Marble streets: see H. in Ephesos(FiE 11.1; Vienna, 1989). Thiir, Das Hadrianstor 19 W. Alzinger/A. Bammer, Das Monument des C. Memmius(FiE 7; Vienna, 1971); Oster, Bib. Eph., 149. 20 Oster, Bib. Eph., 140, 153-54. 21 W. Wilberg/J. Keil, 'Die Agora' (FiE 3.1; Vienna, 1923) 1-168, of which Keil contributes 85 inscriptions (91-168), reproduced in I.Eph. VII, 1.3001-85. Further bibliography on the agoras in Oster, Bib. Eph., 139, 153. The Commercial Agora is of Hellenistic date, though alterations were made to it under both Augustus and Nero. 22 Seven of these complexes have been located and partly or fully excavated. Oster, Bib. Eph., 146, 153, 154. 23 H. Vetters, 'Die Hanghauser an der Kuretenstrasse', JOAI 50 (1972-75) Beiblatt col. 331-79. Especially noteworthy has been the excavation of two insulac of private houses on the south side of Kouretes Street, opposite the temple of Hadrian. See V.M. Strocka, Die Wandmalerei derHanghduser in Ephesos (FiE 8.1; 2 vols: Vienna, 1977), which includes a contribution by H. Vetters, 'Zur Mosaiken aus Ephesos, Baugeschichte der Hanghiuser' (12-28); W. Jobst, Romische 1. Die Hanghauser desEmbolos (FiE 8.2; Vienna, 1977), including an essay by Vetters very similar to his last-mentioned one (17-28). Oster, Bib. Eph., 153, provides references to many other discussions. The most recent seen by me is Vetters' report on the excavations for 1986/87 in Anz. Wien 125 (1988 [1989]) 85-98. 24 Oster, Bib. Eph., 153. This edifice was constructedduring Nero's principate, very close to the time of Paul's presence in the city. 25 D. Knibbe, DerStaatsmarkt. Die Inschriften desPrytaneions. Die Kureteninschriften

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with the later Christian adjacent Bouleuterion26-together monuments, such as the church of St Mary27 and (a few kilometres away on the hill overlooking modern Selguk) the Basilica of St draw the modern student of antiquity and the John28-which
tourist alike.29

Apart from buildings, many portable artifacts have been recovered at the site: coins, statues, mosaics and-what is our concern here-inscribed texts. Classicists and European antiquarians have shown an interest in Greek and Latin inscriptions from ancient cities for over three centuries, although scientific editing and publishing of them is little more than 150 years old,30 reaching its apogee in the magisterial work of the late Louis Robert, who dominated Greek epigraphy in this century as Theodor Mommsen did Latin in the last. So many of these texts are published in a multitude of scattered journals that they are not always easy to locate. It is no exaggeration to say that in a typical year from the last two decades several thousand new Greek and Latin inscriptions are published, to say nothing of the continuing process of re-editing
und sonstigereligiose Texte(FiE9.1.1; Vienna, 1981); Oster, Bib. Eph., 151. A useful summary of the religious, political and civic importance of the Prytaneion is now provided in Oster, 'Ephesus as a religious center under the principate, I. Paganism before Constantine', ANRW II.18.3 (1990) 1661-1728, at 1688-91. 26 E. Fossel, 'Zum sogenannten Odeion in Ephesos', in E. Braun (ed.), Festschriftfir F. Eichler zum achtzigstenGeburtstag(JOAI Beiheft 1; Vienna, 1967), 7281; Oster, Bib. Eph., 142. 27 E. Reisch, et al., Die Marienkirchein Ephesos (FiE 4.1; Vienna, 1932), with 50 inscriptions from Keil (79-106), just over half of which are not Christian. These texts are reproduced in I.Eph. VII, 2.4101-50 (4104 = V.1687(1)). For further bibliography on the building see Oster, Bib. Eph., 154-55. Note most recently S. Karwiese, Die Marienkirchein Ephesos (Vienna, 1989)-non vidi. 28 G.A. Sotiriu, et al., Die Johanneskirche(FiE 4.3; Vienna, 1951), including Keil's publication of the 62 inscriptions then known (275-95); these are now reproduced in I.Eph. VII, 2.4301-62 and V.1678B (note that 4362 is in fact from Klaros, not Ephesos). For a spectacular epigraphical find just published from this Basilica but not original to it, see pp. 133-134 below. Further bibliography on the building in Oster, Bib. Eph., 151. 29 A useful contoured sketch map giving the sense of the predominant buildings and areas so far excavated is provided at the back of several of the I. Eph. volumes. Another clear plan may be found in D. Knibbe/W. Alzinger, 'Ephesos vom Beginn der r6mischen Herrschaft in Kleinasien bis zum Ende der Principatszeit', ANRW II.7.2 (1980) 760. Several figures accompany notes on the major buildings excavated in E. Akurgal, Ancient Civilizations and Ruins of Turkey(Ankara, 19856) 142-71, 378-84. 30 CIG began to appear in 1825; in 1847 the Berlin Academy first considered the proposal for a corpus of Latin inscriptions, which became CIL.

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and improving others long in circulation. For Ephesos specifically, Robert's contribution was no minor one, as Oster's Bib. Eph. indicates. There are many others who have contributed substantially to our understanding of this city through study of its inscriptions. Perhaps the name above all which should not be lost to sight in this regard is that of Josef Keil, who figures in the Oster Bibliographywith some 75 items contributed over more than half a century. Keil's work has been continued by others from Austria: the name of Dieter Knibbe may be instanced, in particular. Deissmann and Moulton With very few exceptions indeed, NT specialists late last century took little notice of non-literary publications. What did cause some people to think again at that time was the recovery from Egypt of large numbers of papyri. Papyrus was used everywhere in antiquity. That the find spots today are geographically limited to Egypt and Palestine31 reflects the climatic conditions needed to preserve this writing material, although there are quirks of survival like the rolls found at Herculaneum carbonised as a result of the volcanic catastrophe which overwhelmed the city in 79 AD and 'froze' everything in time. Only very rarely do papyri turn up which reveal a place of writing far removed from Egypt. For example, two documents concerning the sale of slaves emanated from mid-II AD Side on the southern coast of Asia Minor.32 It was Gustav Adolf Deissmann (1866-1937) who first drew widespread attention to the significance for the NT of these non-literary texts. Papyrus finds were the catalyst, but he rightly perceived the equal importance of inscriptions. His Bibelstudien,33and especially his Licht vom Osten,34 made a considerable impact; and Deissmann's
A mid-III AD archive from Syria which includes 12 papyrus texts has recently come to light: see the preliminary discussion by D. Feissel/J. Gascou, 'Documents d'archives romains inedits du Moyen Euphrate (IIIe siecle apres J.C.)', CRAI (1989) 535-61. 32 P. Turner (1981) 22; BGU 3 (1903) 887, with which see J. Nolle, 'Pamphylische Studien', Chiron16 (1986) 199-212, at 206-08. See also briefly id., in P.R. Franke et al., Side. Minzprdgung, undGeschichte einerantiken Stadtin Inschrifien der Tirkei (Saarbrucken, 1988), 59 (with a pl. of the P. Turner text on p. 58). 33 in 1897. Both were translated into English 1895; followed by NeueBibelstudien in a single volume named Bible Studies(Edinburgh, 1901; repr. Winona Lake, 1979). 34 1908. ET: London, 19272; repr. Grand Rapids, 19804.
31

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work was picked up and built on in England by James Hope Moulton (1863-1917), a Methodist clergyman and the first nonConformist to be awarded a Fellowship at Cambridge. Moulton's attention was taken particularly by the papyri; and after a number of lexical and syntactic studies in journals, he drew into collaboration George Milligan (1860-1934), a Presbyterian minister from Perthshire, with whom he produced an extensive series of lexarticles.35 Moulton established his name icographical conwith the first volume of his Grammarof New TestamentGreek,36 the and from his as Greenwood of position Prolegomena; sisting Lecturer in Hellenistic Greek at Manchester (appointed in 1902) he was translated into the Greenwood Professor there in 1908, while continuing to work as a Tutor at Didsbury, a Wesleyan College in was largely comthe same city. The second volume of the Grammar for before India in Moulton's 1915, which is departure plete another story; it was published posthumously after the First War.37 The productive teamwork with Milligan resulted in the publication of the first fascicule (rapidly followed by the second a year later) of their Vocabulary of the Greek Testamentwhose subtitle, Illustratedfrom the Papyri and otherNon-LiterarySources, indicates the focus of their MM- was brought to complework. This dictionary-henceforth tion by Milligan in the course of the next decade after the War was over, Moulton having died in 1917.38 When finally the Vocabulary
35 For a brief survey of their productive collaborative work see New Docs, vol. 5.86-87. 36 Edinburgh, 1906; 19083. A German translation was made of the third edition (Heidelberg, 1911). 37 Edinburgh, 1929. Portions of the whole had already appeared in 1919 and 1921 (preface, v). The volume was completed by a former student of Moulton, W.F. Howard. 38 The full set of fascicules ran as follows: i. A (London, May 1914; repr. 1915); distinctive preface included which was dropped from the complete, one-volume work. ii. B-A (Oct. 1915); acknowledgement of the contribution of A. Thumb (ob. 14.8.1915). iii. E-@ (Oct. 1919); preface reveals that GM prepared first draft of parts i and ii, which JHM revised. iv. I-A (Jan. 1920). v. M-O (July 1924).

vii. ?-T (April 1928). viii. Y-Q (July 1929); contains the same preface and introduction as the complete, one-volume work.

vi. n-P (Oct. 1926).

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appeared complete in one volume in 1930 it was rightly welcomed not only as a major linguistic contribution to NT research but as that great rarity: a dictionary that was enjoyable to read! Some intriguing and hitherto unknown aspects about the genesis of MM will be delineated in a separate article. In their enthusiasm for the papyri, inscriptions were considerably under-represented in MM. The authors were conscious of this as they show in the opening paragraph of the Preface to fasc.i:
Students will see at once that we have dealt very differently with the various sources of vernacular Common Greek. The record of New Testament words in the non-literary papyri is intended to be given with fullness, though in the case of very common words we have not sought to be exhaustive where practical purposes are not served. The inscriptions are quite another matter. To deal with their material on anything like an adequate scale appeared to us hopeless. But we have used some easily accessible collections as carefully as possible; and we have cast our net fairly wide for illustration. Specialists in later Greek epigraphy will certainly be able to supplement our articles with riches we have been unable to quarry. And if our book prompts work of the same kind in this still wider field, no one will rejoice more than we. (p. 5)

The value of each of these writing media varies: papyri are geographically very focussed, enriching so greatly our knowledge of Ptolemaic through to Byzantine Egypt that a detailed book on the law in Egypt in that period can be written,39 as is possible for no other region. Inscriptions and coins, by virtue of their vast geographical spread, help us discern what conventions apply across diverse regions: for example, how to honour a benefactor.40 In genre, papyri and inscriptions offer much that is different, too: private letters have always elicited a special interest from NT scholars, and this is one reason why the latter have focussed on the papyri much more heavily.41 Yet inscriptions preserve letters of dif-

39 R. Taubenschlag, TheLaw of Greco-Roman Egyptin theLightof thePapyri (Warsaw, 19552). 40 The importance of this type of document for NT work has been recognised: F.W. Danker, Benefactor: and New Testament Epigraphic Studyof a Graeco-Roman Semantic Field(St Louis, 1982). Professor Danker is preparing a second volume on the subject. See also now, e.g., B.W. Winter, 'The public honouring of Christian benefactors: Romans 13:3-4 and 1 Peter 2:14-15', JSNT 34 (1988) 87-103. 41 Among the most recent contributions may be mentioned S.K. Stowers, in Greco-Roman Antiquity Letter-Writing (Philadelphia, 1986); and J.L. White, Light Letters fromAncient (Philadelphia, 1986). For further notable items of bibliography see New Docs 1979, 16, pp. 58-59.

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ferent kinds, public, royal, 2 and imperial.43 The epigraphical genre to survive in greatest numbers is undoubtedly the epitaph." Under that heading occur several sub-groups: while the majority are in prose, many epigrams nevertheless survive. A multitude of epitaphs is extremely laconic, including little else except the name of the deceased. Others provide somewhat more, brief and conventional tags. A much smaller number, but one which affords greater interest, is that group of epitaphs containing extended comment specific to the deceased.45 Posthumous honorific inscriptions constitute an especially informative group.46 In their wide chronological range all three media, inscriptions, coins and papyri, allow us to trace the development of imperial and magisterial titulature, shifts in economic conditions, and changes in social attitudes. In that these documents were produced by people from a wide social range-coins are an exception here-they can provide an illuminating corrective to the aristocratic biases which permeate the literary sources. The earliest Greek papyrus dates from late IV BC, but in numbers they increase rapidly in the late Ptolemaic period, reaching their height in II and IV AD, eventually disappearing from view in IX AD. Greek inscriptions begin much earlier with the Linear B tablets, and are still with us today in various, mainly funerary, contexts. Another feature of these non-literary texts is their linguistic diversity: because people in antiquity often
C.B. Welles, Royal Correspondence in the HellenisticPeriod.A Study in Greek Epigraphy (London, 1934; repr. Chicago, 1974). 43 From Ephesos note I.Eph. Ia. 15 + 16 (II AD, probably Antoninus Pius), 25 (162/3), 41 (probably soon after 344), 42 (probably 370/1), 43 (probably between 372-78), possibly 45 (VI); II.199-231; V.1485-97. To these should be added a letter from Octavian to the city, the only surviving version of which is a II/III AD andRome(JRS Monograph 1; Loncopy from Aphrodisias:J. Reynolds, Aphrodisias don, 1982) no. 12 (very late 39/early 38 BC); cf. SEG 32.1128. 4 In I.Eph. the main groups of sepulchral texts occur at V.1622-77; VI.210026, 2200-2330, 2401-2580. 45 E.g., New Docs 1976, 23 (Lyon, III/IV); New Docs 1977, 16 (Tomis, II/III). 46 E.g., New Docs 1977, 18 (Julia Gordos in Lydia, 75/6 AD); New Docs 1979, 9 (Ayazviran in Lydia, 96/7 AD); New Docs 1979, 2 (Kyzikos in Mysia, second quarter of I AD). See further index 4 in New Docs, vol. 5, s.v. 'honorific inscriptions'. Although formally a funeral oration, the famous 'LaudatioTuriae'is also appropriateto mention here. This Latin text (c. 18-2 BC)-the most recent edition is E. Wistrand, Theso-called LaudatioTuriae (G6teborg, 1976); an extract is reproduced at New Docs 1978, 8-is perhaps the single most impressive statement from Graeco-Roman antiquity of the strength of the marriage-bond. Has it ever been given attention by those in NT research?
42

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G. H. R. HORSLEY

spelled phonetically, we are able to deduce from these documents a number of significant changes occurring in pronunciation, and in morphological and syntactic usage.47 It is just these non-literary documents which were not subjected to the process of grammatical and orthographical 'tidying-up' which was applied to texts surviving via a MS tradition. This is especially true of koine Greek, which in general terms I take to run from late IV BC-V AD. This may seem to some an all-embracing way to view the koine; but I submit that on linguistic grounds it is appropriate to view it as referring to all Greek falling between the classical and the byzantine periods. It has not always been usual to include the LXX as part of the koine, let alone the Atticising authors and texts of the imperial period. Yet what we see in them, as in the non-literary documents, are a great diversity of linguistic registers. The koine certainly embraces much more than solely the NT, as some classicists would have it. Further, 'koine' is a preferable term to use because of the danger of confusing 'Hellenistic' Greek with the Hellenistic historical period.48 Die Inschriftenvon Ephesos No papyri survive from Ephesos, of course; but for epigraphic study49 of the city we are in a much better position than ever before.
47 F.T. Periods, Gignac, A Grammar of the Greek Papyriof theRomanandByzantine I. Phonology; II. Morphology (Milan, 1976, 1981); S.-T. Teodorsson, ThePhonology Koine(StudiaGraeca et LatinaGothoburgensia 36; G6teborg, 1976). On the of Ptolemaic latter's researches see briefly New Docs, vol. 5.62. Professor Gignac's volume on syntax will probably appear in two parts (perlitt., 18.6.90). On the relevance of morphological and phonological changes in the koinefor establishing the text of the NT, see Gignac's two recent articles, respectively: 'Morphological phenomena in the Greek papyri significant for the text and language of the NT', CBQ 48 (1986) 499-511; and 'Phonological phenomena in the Greek papyri significant for the text and language of the NT', in M.P. Horgan/PJ. Kobelski (edd.), To Touch theText. Biblicaland RelatedStudiesin HonorofJ.A. Fitzmyer (New York, 1989), 33-46. 48 See in general New Docs, 5.41-48. 49 Considerable work has been done on the city's coin issues: see the useful survey by S. Karwiese in PW Suppl. 12 (1970) 297-364. His most recent discussion is 'Fundminzen Ephesos 1986', Anz. Wien125 (1988 [1989]) 105-26. Oster, Bib. Eph., lists (150) a large number of numismatic studies and research which draws upon the coin evidence for other purposes. Too late for inclusion in the latter is L.J. Kreitzer, 'A numismatic clue to Acts 19:23-41. The Ephesian cistophoroi of Claudius and Agrippina', JSNT 30 (1987) 59-70, which attempts to link a special silver issue under Claudius with the events behind the riot narrated in Acts 19. For a more general plea for NT researchers to give due attention to

THE INSCRIPTIONS OF EPHESOS AND THE N.T.

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This is due in large part to the publication beginning just over a decade ago by Austrian and German colleagues of Die Inschriften von Ephesos, a multi-volume sub-set within the series Inschriften Stddteaus Kleinasien.50Before that time, inscriptions had griechischer been included in various corpora, notably publications of the British Museum,5' or in the case of Christian texts in two works published almost simultaneously in the 1920s by Gregoire and Bakhuizen van den Brink.52 I.Eph. deserves some explanation so that potential users of it who are not especially familiar with epigraphy may see it in context. Eight volumes have appeared for Ephesos in the IK series, with vols.7 and 8 each in two parts. It appears that the set is destined to remain incomplete, for the separate commentary volume intended to partner vol.Ia is now unlikely to be published; and not all the indexes which were intended to be provided have appeared.53 The I.Eph. volumes form part of a most ambitious enterprise conceived by Professor R. Merkelbach, recently retired from Koln. The function of the IK series to which I.Eph. belongs is to produce repertoria of texts on a city-by-city basis for various places in Asia Minor for which no adequate collection currently exists. Elsewhere in Germany and in other countries quite different projects conceptually are under way as regards the Graeco-Roman cities and Roman Provinces in Asia Minor.54 The following merit particular note by those whose focus of interest is the New Testament and early Christianity. After a gap of many years the Austrian series Tituli Asiae Minoris was revived at the end of the 1970s, with major new volumes published on Bithynia and Lydia.
numismatic evidence see R.E. Oster, 'Numismatic windows into the social world of early Christianity: a methodological enquiry', JBL 101 (1982) 195-223. 50 I.Eph. constitutes vols. 11.1-17.4 in the IK series (Bonn, 1979-1984). The collaboratorsare: C. Borker (II, V), H. Engelmann (III, IV, VIII, 2), D. Knibbe (III, IV), R. Merkelbach (II-VIII, 1), R. Meri~ (VII), J. Nolle (VI-VIII, 2), and H. Wankel (I).
51

3, sect. 2 (Oxford, 1890).

52

E.L. Hicks, The Collectionof Ancient GreekInscriptionsin the British Museum, part H. Gregoire, Recueil des inscriptionsgrecques-chretiennes de l'Asie Mineure (Paris, 1923).

Monumentenvan Ephesus. EpigraphischeStudie (The Hague,

53

1922; repr. Amsterdam, 1968); J.N. Bakhuizen van den Brink, De oud-christelijke

The indexes are of Greek and Latin words (VIII, 1), and proper names (VIII, 2). A concordance to past publications of the texts is also provided. A planned subject index may now not appear; it undoubtedly remains a desideratum. 54 A useful tabulation and map is provided by S. Mitchell, CR 37 (1987) 80-82.

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The latest of these includes over 300 texts from Thyatira.55 Under the auspices of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, a project entitled Regional Epigraphic Corporaof Asia Minor (RECAM) was conceived in the 1970s: one volume, on Galatia, has been published.56 Also from Britain the series MonumentaAsiae Minoris Antiqua has recently been brought to life again after being in abeyance for a generation.57 Within the last decade three volumes of inscriptions have added greatly to our knowledge of Aphrodisias in Caria.58 Publication of inscriptions from Pergamon has continued
from the Germans whose concession that site is.59 Work on the

necropolis areas at Hierapolis is going to lead to a complete rewriting by Italian and Belgian colleagues of the existing corpus of inscriptions from that city, produced at the end of last century.60 Cilicia has received major attention recently from French scholars.61 A project housed at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton is producing in machine-readable form texts and a

55 F.K. D6rner, TAM IV. Tituli Bithyniae linguis Graeca et Latina conscripti, 1. Paeninsula Bithynica practer Calchedonem(Vienna, 1978); P. Herrmann, TAM V. Tituli Lydiac linguis Graecaet Latina conscripti, 1. Regio septentrionalis ad orientemvergens (Vienna, 1981); id., TAM V, 2. Regio septentrionalisad occidentemvergens(Vienna,

1989). The Thyatira inscriptions are nos. 855-1181.

56

- BAR S135; Oxford, 1982). In addition, the journal Anatolian Studies has carried nine 'RECAM Notes and Studies': S. Mitchell, AS 27 (1977) 63-103; D.H. French, ibid., 191-92; Mitchell, AS 28 (1978) 93-96; French, ibid., 175-80; Mitchell, AS 29 (1979) 13-22; A.A.R. Sheppard, ibid., 169-80; id., AS 31 (1981) 1927; id., ibid., 29; A.S. Hall, AS 36 (1986) 137-58. 57 B. Levick/S. Mitchell (edd.), Monumentsfrom the Aezanitis (MAMA 9; JRS 5; London, 1988). A tenth volume is being prepared for publication by Monograph the same two editors. 58 J. Reynolds, Aphrodisias and Rome (JRS Monograph 1; London 1982); J.
at Aphrodisias (CambridgePhilological Reynolds/R. Tannenbaum, Jews and Godfearers Society Suppl. vol. 12; Cambridge, 1987); C. Roueche, Aphrodisias in Late Antiquity

S. Mitchell, The Inscriptions of North Galatia (RECAM 2 = BIAA Monograph 4

(RS Monograph 6; London, 1989).

59

C. Habicht, Altertiimervon Pergamon, 3. Die Inschriftendes Asklepieions (Berlin, T. Ritti, Hierapolis. Scavi e ricerche,1. Fonti letterarie e epigrafiche(Archaeologia53;

1968).
60

61 G. Dagron/D. Feissel, Inscriptions de Cilicie (Travaux et memoiresdu Centre de recherche d'histoire et civilisation de Byzance, Monographies 4; Paris, 1987).

Rome, 1985). With M. Waelkens (Leuven) she is working on the cemetery monuments, both the texts and carved stylistic features of which may help to narrow the dating parameters. Already, the amount of new material found there more than doubles the several hundred texts published late last century by W. Judeich in Altertumer von Hierapolis (Berlin, 1898) 67-202.

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OF EPHESOS

AND THE N.T.

119

bibliography of inscriptions city by city both for Asia Minor and the adjacent Greek islands where there are gaps.62 Not everyone in epigraphical circles has responded well to the approach taken by the IK series. Merkelbach describes these books as repertoria, not finished editions.63 The aim is to reproduce the best existing text and bibliography rapidly city by city without much attention to a commentary on the text or to details of lettershape, etc. This is confessedly interim measure against the day when there will be an opportunity to put together a detailed and comprehensive publication. (Of course, many of the inscriptions have already been published in detail, in FiE, JOAI, and elsewhere). The series has attracted criticism for publishing material which is subject to considerable typographical error, with too little guidance given even to specialists about the condition of the stone or the date of the inscription. This last point needs underlining: the lack of provision of dating information is a significant limitation on the usefulness of the volumes. Granted that for many texts we cannot be terribly precise, yet it is normally easy enough for the specialist to determine that a stone was inscribed in a one or two hundred year range or, at worst, that it belongs to the Hellenistic, Imperial, or Byzantine period. It would not have been hard to add some basic help of this kind, especially when it is realised that the sparse notes on the texts quite occasionally contain clues about the date for professionals in the field, clues which would not always be easy for nonspecialists to perceive. The risk is real, that in wanting to draw upon the I.Eph. volumes (or of many of the others in the IK series) the latter group of researchers may, without realising it, make connections between particular inscriptions, or between certain of them and literary sources, which are simply ruled out on chronological grounds. Yet against this must be balanced the very considerable service provided in making available all the epigraphical material of each city, albeit sometimes with provisional texts. By any standard the IK series has been very productive: in twenty years a large number of cities has been covered, including some with vast amounts of material-pre-eminently Ephesos. Assos and Smyrna are two other cities mentioned in the
The Princeton Epigraphical Project (PEP) is led by D.F. McCabe. Preface to I.Eph. II (1979) v-viii, where he distinguishes vols. II-VII from vol. Ia in this regard.
63
62

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G. H. R. HORSLEY

NT which have been dealt with in IK.64 These last two items, however, illustrate the considerable qualitative range of the series. The editor of I. Smyrnahas produced a really excellent publication, with valuable though very concise notes on the texts. In contrast, the Assos volume, one of the earliest in the IK series, constitutes a disconcertingly small advance on Sterrett's late-XIXth century publication of this material.65 I.Eph. fits somewhere in the middle along the qualitative continuum which stretches from I.Smyrna to I.Assos. Vol. a (which more nearly approximates to an edited corpus) includes most of the longest texts from the city, regardless of date or genre: they extend from VI BC-VI AD, and cover laws, honorific degrees, Imperial letters and edicts, donors' lists, and building inscriptions. The longest single item is no.27 (104 AD), which records the establishment of a foundation by C. Vibius Salutaris.66 Fragmentary in parts, this text runs to 568 lines, and in fact consists of several associated documents, including not only the details of the foundation itself (11.134-332), but public decrees and proconsular and legatorial letters concerning it. The second volume of I.Eph. illustrates the provisional nature of the repertorium approach: whereas 47 texts are included in vol.I, numbered 1-47, yet vol.II begins with text no. 101. Space has been left in the numbering sequence for new items to be added. Vol.II runs from nos. 101599), but in fact there are 369 numbered texts (101-33, 199-243, 251-342, 401-599), the other numbers being left vacant. To this tally should be added several 'a' and 'b' inscriptions (e.g. 424, 424a, etc.), yielding a total of c. 400 items. It is important to understand, then, that reference to the final text in I.Eph. VII, 2 as no. 5115 does not mean that we have a data-bank of 5115 inscriptions.67 Allowing for all the gaps deliberately left in the numerical

R. Merkelbach, Die Inschriften vonAssos (IK 4; Bonn, 1976); G. Petzl, Die vonSmyrna Inschriften (2 vols; IK 23, 24.1, 24.2; Bonn, 1982-1990). 65 School Studies at Athens1 (1885) J.R.S. Sterrett, Papers of theAmerican of Classical 1-87. 66 A few short inscriptions are included in vol. Ia by virtue of their close association with this long document. A detailed study of the Vibius Salutaris text is forthFoundation Identity coming: G. Rogers, TheSacred of Ephesus: legends of a RomanCity (London, 1991). 67 Pace C.J. Hemer, The Bookof Acts in theSetting of Hellenistic History(WUNT 49; Tubingen, 1989) 59.
64

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121

sequence-but allowing also for the countervailing factor of 'a' and 'b' texts, which thus increase the tally-I estimate that in the I. Eph. volumes we may have c. 3600 inscriptions with which to deal.68 To this should be added c. 150 new items picked up in SEG subsequent to the appearance of I.Eph.69 This total, c.3750, is the largest number of published Greek70 inscriptions from any city71 in antiquity apart from Athens and Rome (and possibly Delphi). To revert to the point made at the outset, this quantity of texts from one location alone qualifies Ephesos as special, but their diverse contents make them at the same time representative of any large Graeco-Roman city. Jews at Ephesos One of the surprises, a real disappointment, is how little Jewish material emerges among the 3750 inscriptions. No synagogue has
68 A broad summary of the contents of I.Eph. II-VII, 2 may be given briefly: II (1979) 101-599, actually c.400 texts: early inscriptions, Imperial letters, texts concerning the Emperor, building inscriptions; III (1980) 600-1000, actually c.450 texts: honorifics, agoranomoi,neopoioi, priests/priestesses of Artemis; IV (1980) 1001-1445, actually c.430 texts: kouretes inscriptions, agonistic, Christian/Byzantine items, decrees of the demos; V (1980) 1446-2000, actually c.580 texts: decrees, honorifics, dedications, epitaphs, fragments. Nos. 1446-1785 largely reproduce Hicks' material of 1890. VI (1980) 2001-3000, actually c.800 texts: inscriptions from the theatre, epitaphs; VII, 1 (1981) 3001-3500, actually c.500 texts: agora inscriptions, material from cities and regions near Ephesos (Magnesia, Tralleis, Kaystros valley, Metropolis); VII, 2 (1981) 3501-5115, actually c.400 texts: boundary stones, milestones, texts from east of Tire, Hypaipa, Christian items (Church of St Mary, Seven Sleepers, Church of St John), Celsus Library inscriptions. 69 In SEG 30 (1980 for [1986]) to 36 (1986 [1989]) there are nearly 300 lemmata Ephesos; but the majority are noting new readings/discussions of texts already known. Over one-third of the 95 texts printed in FiE 9.1.1 (1981) are new. The inscriptions from this volume have all been included in I.Eph., mostly in vol. IV in a sequence beginning at no. 1001, although a few are to be located in other volumes (see the concordances to I.Eph. and FiE 9.1.1). 70 Only a tiny fraction of the texts in I.Eph. is in Latin alone, although the number of bilingual items is rather larger. In vol. Ia, for example, nos. 19, 41 and 42 are Latin; and only the Latin portion of no. 32 survives. Bilingual texts are nos. 28-35, 37, 40, and 43. 71 Strictly, the total must be lessened a little, since vols. VII, 1 and VII, 2 include texts from the territorium of Ephesos, and some material from other cities. Further, a very small number of inscriptionsis included in I.Eph. of which the only surviving version is a copy of the Ephesian text inscribed at another city. Thus, in vol. Ia no. 5 is from Astypalaia in the Cyclades, 7 from Pergamon, 11 and 12 from Aphrodisias, and 22 from Nysa.

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yet been found at the city, although for the existence of one in the Imperial period we have tantalising evidence in an inscription which mentions archisynagogoi and presbyteroi.72 The record of Acts confirms the existence of 'the synagoge' where Apollos and subsequently Paul attempted to persuade other Jews about the Way (18:26; 19:8); the most obvious inference is that there was one only in the city. This need not be the case, however,73 as we know of other large cities which possessed more than one synagogue, e.g., Rome. The wording in Acts could equally allude to the particular synagogue where the Christians habitually met early on, until tensions with the Jewish community grew after Paul had been there for three months (Acts 19:8-9). Further, if there is anything to favour the idea that the riot in ch. 19 was not so much a reaction against the Christians as against the Jews of the city74-after all, despite the way the episode is handled by the author of Acts, Christians in the Greek cities at this period75 can scarcely have been visible to nonJewish outsiders as anything other than a schismatic Jewish group, at most-that episode may encourage us to think that there was a sizeable Jewish population at Ephesos,76 and lend some support to the suggestion that there was more than a single synagogue there. This inference coheres with the explicit evidence of Josephus, that Ephesos possessed a very large Jewish community, possibly already by mid-III BC.77 From this period, roughly, they may have formed a politeumawithin the city.78 In turn, Acts 19 raises for our attention
72 73 74

I.Eph. IV.1251;

Christen. Professor Stegemann kindly allowed me to see some of his material in advance of publication.
75 Hemer, Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History, 254 (cf. 123), suggests October

coming book, Zwischen Synagogeund Obrigkeit.Zur historischenSituation der lukanischen

PaceMussies, 'Pagans, Jews and Christians at Ephesus', 186, 187. The newest restatement of this view is contained in W. Stegemann's forth-

cf. New Docs 1979, 113, p. 215, no. 23.

54 as a plausible date for the riot; but whether it is possible to be so specific may be doubted. 76 Mussies, 'Pagans, Jews and Christians at Ephesus', 186, adduces a further argument from Targumic evidence to support the idea of a large Jewish presence in the city at a later period. 77 The relevant passages on which this inference is based are Ant. 12.125, 126, 166-68, 172-73.
78 Ap. 2.39; Ant. 12.125; cf. E.M. Smallwood, TheJews under Roman Rule from Pompey to Diocletian (Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity 20; Leiden, 1976) 139-43.

Other known or positedJewish politeumata include Alexandria, Antioch, Berenike, Cyrene, Sardeis (ibid.; q.v. 226). Whether Ephesos hosted the largest concentration of Jews in Asia Minor (so, Smallwood, 121) seems less than certain. W.M. Ramsay's speculation, that Jews of Ephesos belonged to one of the city's tribes,

THE INSCRIPTIONS OF EPHESOS AND THE N.T.

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the question, whether Christianity made speedier headway in the cities of Asia because relations between Jews and non-Jews were not in a good state.79 A contrast is provided by the adjacent region of Caria, concerning which it has been suggested recently that a significant reason why Christianity was slow to penetrate the area was the combination of a large and influential Jewish population and the latter's generally good relations with others who lived in these cities.80 Aphrodisias provides a good illustration of this thesis; and the recent publication of some new, indubitably pagan inscriptions from Stratonikeia in Caria referring to 'angels'81 is likewise suggestive of a Jewish presence of sufficient size in that city that some of its beliefs had come to the attention of others, even if the latter had a somewhat garbled understanding of them. Van der Horst's hypothesis may not be irresistible, however: at the major city of Apamea in Phrygia (an area where Christianity gained a firm foothold early) we know there was a large Jewish population at least by I BC; and, indeed, the iconography of its Imperial coin issues betrays Jewish influence.82 Or again, Miletos may be adduced, where Acts 20:17-38 appears to imply an early Christian presence; yet we have the much-debated inscription83 from the ct OOacF3tv (sic; i.e., -Pfv), the locatheatre, T67to ElouiEcov'rv xa tion of which is suggestive, at the very least, of a prominent Jewish
has not won much support: TheLetters to theSevenChurches of Asia (London, 1904) 235-36. Cf. C.J. Hemer, TheLetters to theSevenChurches of Asia in theirlocalSetting See Hemer, Seven Churches,38-39, 55, who, however, overemphasises

(JSNTSuppl.11; Sheffield,1986)39. 79 hostility. Jewish/Gentile

80

relationsin othercities of Asia Minor', NTT 43 (1989) 106-21. 81 E. Varinlioglu,'Inschriften von Stratonikeia in Karien',EA 12 (1988) 79128, nos. 7 and 8 on pp. 85-86; cf. NewDocsvol. 5.73, 136, 144-45.
82

P.W. van der Horst, 'Jews and Christians in Aphrodisias in the light of their

70, with n. 65 on p. 393. 83 adduced to be alludingto Godfearers. CIJ2.748, sometimes Concise,recent discussion of thistext maybe foundin Reynolds/Tannenbaum, JewsandGodfearers atAphrodisias, re-examination of the 'Godfearers' 54, in the contextof an extended debate. The text is repr. in D.F. McCabe/M.A. Plunkett,Miletos Inscriptions at p. 159). Princeton,1984) no. 436 (bibliography (Princeton Epigraphic Project; Whether the text can be ascribed to III AD seemsdubious(pace Lane confidently andChristians, Fox, Pagans 257);it is hardto specifyit moretightlythan'Imperial'. LaneFox, ibid., refersalsoto CIG2.2895, a multi-column panelwithinvocations to archangels to protectthe city, implyingthat it, too, emanatedfrom under Yet McCabe/Plunkett aresurelyrightto treat Jewishinfluence,even if indirectly. it as a Christiantext of V/VI AD: no. 631, with bibliography on p. 174.

A.H.M. Jones, The Citiesof theEastern RomanProvinces (Oxford, 19712) 69-

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G. H. R. HORSLEY

community in the city, even if it were not actually inscribed by Jews. I do not think that we yet have enough unequivocal evidence to draw any firm conclusions about this question, Christianity's non-uniform pace of penetration in different regions, and what the local factors were which may have contributed to this difference. Some other Jewish inscriptions from Ephesos may be noted briefly. In a late-II AD text ol 'Iousoiot take responsibility for the burial of a priest.84Of roughly similar date is an epitaph erected by the Jews of the city for a family in which the husband was an These two texts have been taken to reflect the existence archiatros.85 of good relations between the Jewish community and others who lived in the city: the Jews were asked to look after these graves 'presumably because they were respected as reliable people'.86Not so: these are funerary monuments for Jews, and the community takes responsibility for the upkeep of the graves of its own. These two inscriptions do not run counter, therefore, to the notion of Jewish/Gentile tensions at Ephesos, which may have been a factor enabling the speedier penetration of Christianity here than in Carian cities. I.Eph. VII, 2.3822,87 not actually found at Ephesos but within its territory, is an inscription whose two surviving words are 'youngJews': perhaps a reference to Susanna 63 or to the three young men in Daniel.88 Is there an allusion to the avarice of contemporaryJews in Bishop Hypatios' VIth-century letter to Christians at Ephesos (I.Eph. VII, 2.4135.25-26, cptXocpyupitoa 'IouI| alxfi as has been observed,89the woripo6oatv)?Probably not; recently
I.Eph. V.1676= CIJ II.746; cf. New Docs 1978, 116. I.Eph. V.1677 = CIJ II.745; cf. New Docs 1978, 116. For archiatroi see New Docs 1977, 2. 86 Smallwood, Jews under Roman Rule, 508. Equally erroneously, J. Starr, The Jews in the Byzantine Empire 641-1204 (Texte und Forschungen zur byzantinisch84 85

Evangelica, VII. Paperspresentedto the Fifth InternationalCongresson Biblical Studies, held at Oxford, 1973 (TU 126; Berlin, 1982), 333-37. Cf. New Docs 1976, 56, 58-62; New Docs 1977, 88, 90; New Docs 1978, 84, 87-89; New Docs 1979, 104, 105.
89 A.T. Kraabel, 'The Roman diaspora: six questionable assumptions', JJS 33 (1982) 445-64, at 445. The inscription is also treated recently in M. Guarducci,

30; Athens, 1939) 197, believes that Jews served the city Philologie neugriechischen as undertakers, basing his claim on I.Eph. VII, 2.4135 (VI AD). 87 In CIJ as II.755; cf. New Docs 1979, 104, p. 190, and additional comment at ibid., vol. 5.147. 88 For Biblical quotations and allusions in inscriptions see the useful analysis by D. Feissel, 'La Bible dans les inscriptions grecques', in C. Mondesert (ed.), Le monde et la Bible(Paris, 1984), 223-31. Note also L. Malunowicz, 'Citagrecancien tions bibliques dans l'epigraphie grecque', in E.A. Livingstone (ed.), Studia

Epigrafia greca, IV. Epigrafi sacrepagane e cristiane(Rome, 1978) 401-04; and in Foss,

44.

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125

uapXding alludes to the Gospel statement, ol (pptraatot cptXopyupoL ovt~S (Lk. 16:14), and the bishop is urging his Christian readers in the Byzantine period not to be avaricious like the religious leaders of Jesus' day. Scarcity of epigraphical testimonia to the Jewish community at Ephesos is matched by paucity of archaeological. To my knowledge, there are less than ten small items which are indubitably Jewish, most of which were discovered in the 'Seven Sleepers' cemetery. These include four oil lamps with menorahs and some additional symbols;90 a piece of glassware (a jug?) on which is painted a menorah, ethrog, lulab, and shofar;91 and apparently, a menorah carved on a step in front of the Library of Celsus.92 To these scant witnesses may be added a carnelian gemstone93 with a Greek magical inscription on the obverse which includes the wording, 6 ov Typ et, a reference to Exod. 3:14 made certain by the Hebrew wording on the reverse. Cabbalistic writing of the Hebrew alphabet in Greek transliteration contributes to the intriguing nature of this text. Although aJewish milieu for this gem should not be doubted, an Ephesian provenance is not certain, as the first editor acknowledged. But even if we add it to the tally, the striking point is the dearth of the material evidence for Judaism. Apart from the letter of bishop Hypatios, all the inscriptions mentioned in the present section are indubitably Jewish; the evidence is not always so clear-cut. I.Eph. IV.1234 and 1235 are brief, fragmentary dedications to theos hypsistos: respectively, an altar found in the Agora with the words 08c 4uiCa I 'AX,0avSpo~ | 'A-radXou I| ?tU[&axvo;] | [&v907lxv]; and another altar, 0eco

<(~tb[Tx] {| ?Xapt=[il[q]a

eurXilv- Tt3. KXao8to[s]f EivuXtav[og]

90 FiE IV.2 (1937) pls. II no. 180 (description, pp. 114-15); XII nos. 159, 167, 169 (these three described on pp. 187-88). See also E.R. Goodenough,Jewish Symbolsin the Greco-Roman evidence for theDiaspora(Bollingen Period,II. Thearcheological Series37; New York, 1953) 102-03. His vol. III figs. 928, 929 show two of these lamps. 9' J. Keil, 'XV. vorlaufiger Bericht uiberdie Ausgrabungen in Ephesos',JOAI 26 (1930) Beiblatt col. 5-66, at 40-41 (fig. 17); Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, II.108 (and fig. 962 in vol.III). 92 O.F.A. Meinardus, 'The Christian remains of the Seven Churches of the Apocalypse', BA 37 (1974) 69-82, at 71. 93 J. Keil, 'Ein ratselhaftesAmulett',JOAI 32 (1940) Hauptblatt col. 79-84 (fig. 42). The item was purchased at Smyrna in 1912, and was claimed to be from Ephesos. Not included in I.Eph.

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I nit ltpico Nux[tou?] i xcari T yXuxu'rarq ---. Neither of these can be firmly attached to a Jewish milieu in the city, for the epithet hypsistos is well attested in non-Jewish contexts.94 Consideration of the name Sambathios likewise underscores the need for caution in identifying the Jewish presence at Ephesos, as elsewhere. In I.Eph. VII, 2.3307 Aurelius Sambathios purchases a burial plot. This and related forms of the name (Sambas, Sambathion, Sabbatis, Sabbous) are frequently associated elsewhere with a Jewish milieu. Yet VI.2306k raises a problem: an epitaph for [Sa]mbathios, at the head of which is a cross. Was this man a Jew who converted to Christianity? Or do we have a Jewish text to which was added subsequently a Christian cross? That there is precedent for the latter is shown by the first text we encountered (I.Eph. IV. 1351, translatedabove), and as the carving of crosses on the heads of statues indicates.95 The possibility may be worth exploring, however, whether such marks as these last-mentioned ones on statues of known individuals are not always a sign of iconoclasm but reflect an attempt by Christians in a later age to claim these people from an earlier period for Christ: perhaps we have expressed in visual terms a commitment to that baptism on behalf of the dead of which Paul speaks so briefly in 1 Cor. 15:29. To return to the name Sambathios, it should be pointed out further that P.Oxy. 34 (1968) 2728.33 (III/IV AD) and 2729.9 (IV AD) include the word atxpax00ov where it must refer to a container; the near-automatic linking of these names with the term Sabbath thus comes into question.96What sharpens the point is that in P.Princ. 1 (1931) there are a number of people named Sambas who pay a pig tax in these early I AD tax documents from Philadelphia in Egypt. From Attika two inscriptions mention, respectively, Sambateis, daughter of Bromios, a citizen of Ancyra; and an Aurelia Sambatis. Neither of these women is Jewish.97 As a further exam94 See the comments ad loc. in I. Eph.; further, e.g., New Docs1976, 5; New Docs 5.135-36. Note also P. Trebilco, 'Paul and Silas-"servants of the Most High God" (Acts 16:16-18)', JSNT 36 (1989) 51-73. 95 Foss, 32. 96 In CPJ 3 (1964) pp. 43-56, M. Stern provides an excursus on Sambathion and related names, arguing that in the Ptolemaic period they are a more reliable guide to Jewish identity, whereas in the succeeding centuries an automatic connection with Judaism is more problematical. See further New Docs 1979, 116. 97 IG II2 7931, 10590c, both noted in J. and L. Robert Bulletinipigraphique (1969) 206, where the additional comment is made: 'Les noms du type Sambatis sont connus en Asie Mineure en dehors de milieu juif.

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127

pie, a brief epitaph from Elyros on Crete for a certain Hermes is set up by a woman called Sanbathis, about whose ethnic/religious affiliation we must remain agnostic: cav[3a0t() I 'Ep[ 'Iva&ltoaS Xaptv.98 The conclusion to be drawn for Ephesos and elsewhere is that the mere occurrence of a name like Sambathios99 does not necessarilyconstitute evidence for the presence of Jews. Onomaticdata Names and their cultural provenance lead on to our next item from Ephesos; for it is time to give more extended attention to one
specific instance from the c. 3750 texts. Exactly sixty years ago Josef

Keil published'00 a large (nearly 2m. high) inscribed monument found in the harbour area of the city. This stele, I.Eph. Ia.20, survives nearly complete, the text written on a wide and on a narrow side.
side A

To Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus the Imperator, and to Julia 5 Agrippina Augusta his mother, | and to Octavia the wife of the Imperator, and to the demosof the Romans and the demosof the Ephesians, the fishermen and 10 fishmongers, having received the place by a decree from the city (and) I having built the customs house for fishery toll at their own expense, dedicated it. The following provided subventions to the work according to the amount (indicated):
col. 1 col. 2

Publius Hordeonius Lollianus with his wife and children, 4 columns. 15 |Publius Cornelius Alexandros, for paving of the open area with Phokaian stone, 100 cubits. 20 Tib. Claudius Metrodoros with his wife and children, 3 columns;
98

Hesperos, son of Demetrios with his sons, 25 den. Q. LaberiusNiger, [with his son, 25 den. Isas, son of Hermochares, with his sons, 25 den. C. Furius, with his son, 25 den. IM. Valerius Fronto with his daughter, 25 den.

Creticae II, iii.8; CIJ 12, pp. 87-91. Cf. P.W. van der Horst, 'The Inscriptiones Jews of ancient Crete',JJS 39 (1988) 183-200, at 196-97. See also S.V. Spiridakis, Creticae II, iii.8: aJewish inscription?', HTR 89 (1989) 231-32, adduc'Inscriptiones ing numerous examples of pagan and Christian use of this name-type. 99 The most recently-published attestation of the name Sambathios known to me from the Ephesos region is a very fragmentary epitaph for M. Aurelius Sambathios: D. Knibbe/B. iplikcio&lu, 'Neue Inschriften aus Ephesos, IX', JOAI 55 (1984) Hauptblatt 107; cf. SEG 34.1146.
100 'XV.

24); I.Eph. Ia.20 reprints Keil's text of side A with some minor changes, and adds the fragmentary side B (pl. 20 shows side A). The translation given here is based on the I.Eph. text, and is repr. from New Docs 5.97-99.

vorlaufiger Bericht ...',JOAI

26 (1930) Beiblatt col. 5-66, at 48-57 (fig.

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G. H. R. HORSLEY

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

67 70

and for paving the colonnade that Artemisios, son of Lesbios, 25 den. is beside the stele with Phokaian P. Savidius Amethystos, with his stone. sons, 25 den. P. Gerellanus Melleitos, | Hierax, son of Hermokrates, with his 2 columns. wife, 25 den. Didymos, son of Theudas, 25 den. Euporos, son of Artemidoros, 1 column and 12 den. Demetrios, son of Demetrios, (also Philokrates, son of Apellas, called) Kenartas, 25 den. IXanthos, son of Pythion, 2000 bricks. Iwith his children, 1 column and 12 den. Phorbos, watchman, 1000 bricks. L. Octavius Macer with his brothers, 1 column. Secundus, watchman, 1000 P. Anthestius, son of Publius, Ibricks. M. Antonius Bassus, with his daughter, 1 column. Onesimos, son of Apollonios, and (donated) all the rush mats(?) of the stoa. Dionysios, son of Charisios, a Syneros, son of Kleanax, painted column. with his son, 20 den. [P. Cornelius Felix, with Cornelia Ision, 1 column. Vet(u)lenusPrimus,with his son, 20 den. Cn. Cornelius Eunous, with his Septimius Trophimos, with his child, 15 den. children, (1) column. |Attalos, son of Attalos, grandson Herakleides, son of Herakleides, of Kassiades, 15 den. grandson of Herakleides, ( ) den. Epaphras, son of Tryphonas, with his Diogenes, son of Diogenes, with his son, 15 den. son, 300 tiles. P. Naevius Niger, with his children, Vettidius INikandros, with his sons, 15 Gaius Roscilius, 15 den. 50 den. [den. P. Vedius Verus, with his son, 50 den. Zosimos, son of Gaius Furius, 15 den. L. Fabricius Tosides, with his Bacchios, son of Euphrosynos, with his son, 50 den. mother, 15 den. L. Vitellius, with his son, P. Cornelius Philistion, with his 15 den. son, 50 den. L. Octavius Rufus, with his sons, L. Consius Epaphroditos, 15 den. 50 den. Aristeas, son of Aristoboulos, Tryphon, son of Artemodoros, 137 den. Iwith his son, 15 den. Ruficius Faustus, 15 den. Isas, son of Artemidoros, 37 den. P. Livius, 15 den. Attalos, son of Charixenos, (also Antiochos, (also called) Psychas, with called) Hamaxas, with his son, 30 den. his son, 15 den. |Chares, son of Chares, with Epikrates, son of Antiochos, I(also his sons, 15 den. called) Kroukras, with his sons, 30 den. Isas, son of Isidoros, 30 den. L. Fabricius Vitalis was works superintendent and deviser of the construction of the work. He also dedicated at his own expense, with his wife and their threptoi, 2 columns, the ones beside the temple of the Samothracian gods, with the adjacent altars.

side B 5 - - -- - ymenos, son of Hermesianax, with his mother [( ) den.]. Antimedes, 10 son of Metrodoros, with his son, ( ) den. {Philonas, son of Idas, ( ) den. Hordeonius Lainos, with his son, ( ) den. -alius Montanus [( ) den.]. Polybios, 15,20 son of Tryphon, [( ) den.]. - - --aelius Lesbios [( ) den.]. - - -[Dionysios

THE INSCRIPTIONS OF EPHESOS AND THE N.T.

129

- - - -teros, son of Philophilos [( ) den.]. - - - Lollius Arruntius [( ) den.]. 25 --- Licinius Naukleros [( ) den.]. I--- Epaphras [( ) den.]. --- Popilius Hermas [( ) den.]. --kios Koliotheras [( ) den.]. Tyrannos, son of 30 Tryphon, ( ) den. - - - -eros, son of Sekres, ( ) den. IN., son of Thiasos, 5 den. N., son of Philonas, 5 den. N., son of Apollonios, 5 den. -laos, son of Diophantes, 35 ( ) den. L. Staccius Graphikos [( ) den.]. IPomponius - - - Onesimos, son of Hermesianax, [( ) den.]. Valerius Anektos ( ) den. Marcus Honerius [( ) 40 den.]. Herennius Kallinikos [( ) den.]. Clodius Tyrannos [( ) den.]. Antonius
45

Pomponius Epaphro(ditos?) [( ) den.]. Eutychos, son of Phygelos [( ) den.]. Cornelius Pius [( ) den.].

Ruf(us?) - - -Philo, son of Philonides,

[(

) den.]. Onesimos - - -[Paulinus

- - -

Since it was first published this inscription has been alluded to briefly by only one or two ancient historians and, so far as I can discover, entirely ignored by NT researchers. Yet it is just such texts as this, with no immediately-discernible relevance for the historical understanding of incipient Christianity, which can sometimes illuminate strikingly some feature of the early Christian movement when their evidence is juxtaposed with the texts of the early Christians. Deissmann, to whom Keil must have shown the inscription, saw its onomastic significance for the NT at least to some extent; for Keil reports'10 him as noting the overlap of names of the men in this donors' list with those in the NT. The inscription has a great deal to fire the interest of those working on first-century Christianity, whether for socio-historical purposes or for lexical reasons.'02 Being dateable to the first half of Nero's principate (5459 AD) on the basis of the dedication which forms the first few lines of side A, the stele was set up by the association of fishermen and fishmongers of the city to mark their having underwritten the costs of a toll-house built at the harbour specifically for the collection of customs dues relating to the fishing industry. Side A then splits into two columns, listing along with the much more fragmentary side B the names of the donors and their contribution in cash or in kind. It should be noted that the contributors are listed in descending order of the size of their donation. The last few lines of side A indicate the multi-faceted support provided by L. Fabricius Vitalis, who was not only a donor but also supervised the construction of
101Col. 56. In a little over 100 lines more than 60 words occur which are well worth noting as illustrating the language of the NT. Many are commonly attested, of course; but all merit attention in view of the date of the inscription, within a decade of Paul's presence in the city, and virtually contemporaneous with the writing of the Pauline corpus.
102

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G. H. R. HORSLEY

the building. At least three of the donors can be shown to have been men of considerable substance, holding magistracies themselves or members of well-known Ephesian families.103 All sorts of questions are raised by this inscription: the size of trade associations, the reason why this group would take the initiative to erect a customs office that was targeted at their own industry, the generally fundamental nature for the ancient economy of the fishing industry and the subsidiary trades it spawned (dried fish, fish sauces, etc.), and what analogy-if anyis provided by such evidence for the fishermen who joined Jesus' circle. On this last point, it is observable from the Gospels' narratives that the families of Peter and Andrew, James and John were well enough off to employ hired labourers and, indeed, to be able to release their sons for three years' itinerancy in the company of the son of an artisan. These questions, and others, are addressed in the essay devoted to this inscription in the most recent volume of New Docs.'10 Here it must suffice to emphasise the single most important feature of the inscription's potential to help us understand a little more about the social milieu of the early Christians: the names of the donors. For it is observable that the NT onomasticon remains a largely untapped resource for those whose focus of interest is the social level of the first two generations of Christians. In this regard, the work of the ancient historian E.A. Judge has been an outstanding exception;105 and W.A. Meeks has paid some attention recently to the significance of Latin names in the NT, especially as regards Corinth.106 Yet it remains curious what scant attention has been paid by NT social historians to the much greater evidence from Ephesos, whether that evidence concerns names attested in the city's inscriptions or anything else yielded by the archaeologist's spade.'07 A reason for this is not hard
103

diss. University of California, Irvine, 1990) 189-90.

104

S.M. Baugh, Paul and Ephesus. The Apostle among his contemporaries (unpub.

Christchurch, 1982) 12-13; New Docs 1977, 84; 'Cultural conformity and innovation in Paul: some clues from contemporary documents', TynB35 (1985) 3-24, at 16.
106 The First Urban Christians (New Haven, 1983) 47-48. Simultaneously, Judge in New Docs 1977, 84. 107 Cf. Oster, Bib. Eph., xix-xxiv.

New Docs, vol. 5.95-114. E.g., The Social Pattern of.Christian Groups in the First Century(London, 1960); The Conversionof Rome: Ancient Sourcesof Modern Social Tensions (North Ryde, 1980); Rank and Status in the World of the Caesars and St Paul (Broadhead Lecture 4; 105

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to postulate: for the social historian of the NT, the far greater intrinsic interest of the Corinthian correspondence compared to all other letters in the NT has occasioned a focus on the realia of that city to a degree disproportionate to the far richer and more diverse material remains which have come to light elsewhere. The evidence from Corinth ought to be given its due; and as some recent work has demonstrated, its potential to illuminate the NT has certainly not been exhausted.108 Yet the point to be underscored in the present context is that the finds from Hellenistic and Roman Ephesos are scarcely being tapped.109 As has been emphasized recently in another context, NT social historians (like others) cannot but risk
108 One suggestive contribution recently has been B.W. Winter, 'Secular and Christian responses to Corinthian famines', TynB 40 (1989) 86-106. '09 Until recently, R.E. Oster's contributions (noted in various places in this essay) over nearly two decades have been almost a lone voice. Over sixty years ago, something of the kind had been attempted by R. Tonneau, 'Ephese au temps de saint Paul', Rev. Bib. 38 (1929) 5-34, 320-63. He gave attention to the architectural monuments already existing by the time of Paul's sojourn in the city; but his work has been largely neglected in NT circles. The last year or two, however, has seen a promising surge of work which draws on I.Eph. Winter, 'Public honouring of Christian benefactors', draws on material from I. Eph. and elsewhere to illustrate his claim that Rom. 13:3-4 and 1 Pet. 2:14-15 encourage Christians to be involved in society and to reckon on their being accorded civic recognition for their benefactions. Baugh, Paul andEphesus,draws considerably on epigraphic material in a series of studies concerning the social milieu of I AD Ephesos. His article, 'Phraseology and the reliability of Acts', NTS 36 (1990) 290-94, examines usage of i 096;g/i 0&a in half a dozen literary texts and in I.Eph., concluding therefrom that the wording TIv0?6v in Acts 19:37 conforms with the style of simple reference to Artemis widely attested in the inscriptions. Cf. Hemer, Actsin thesetPowerandMagic. The ting of Hellenistic History,122 n. 61. C.E. Arnold, Ephesians, in Ephesians in Lightof its historical Concept of Power Setting (SNTSMS 63; Cambridge, 1989), draws on material from PGM and I.Eph. with the aim of elucidating certain features of the letter to the Ephesians and Acts ch. 19. Whether Ephesos was so distinctively 'a center for magical practices', as he claims (14-20; cf. 168), is open to question. We need not doubt that magic flourished there; but to argue, partly on the basis of the Ephesia that its presence at Ephesos was more marked grammata, than in other places seems to overstate the case; at best, it is unproveable. Arnold's approving citation (14) of a comment in an early essay by B.M. Metzger, 'St Paul and the magicians', Princeton Bulletin 38 (1944) 27-30, should give us pause Seminary before wholeheartedly endorsing his thesis: 'Of all ancient Graeco-Roman cities, Ephesus ... was by far the most hospitable to magicians, sorcerers, and charletans of all sorts' (27; cf. 28). That point aside, Arnold's book should usefully serve to alert others to the potential of non-literary material as an illuminator of the context of a letter like Ephesians. The treatment of Ephesos by W.M. Ramsay, in scattered chapters in several books, is patchy, but undoubtedly still worth attention. Much more recently, Hemer's two books (mentioned earlier) contain detailed material on Ephesos which likewise repays careful sifting.

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making blunders when conclusions are drawn on the basis of (sub)literary texts alone, without regard to questions of geography, topography, climate and, in the case of urban settlements, of architectural monuments.110 What is of extreme interest in this inscription for the NT is the large number of Roman citizens at a time when citizenship, especially in the East, was fairly rare, and therefore not only conferred formal rank but undoubtedly a certain status as well. It did not automatically follow that wealth went with the possession of Roman citizenship: for those not born into it, army service and manumission were the main routes to its acquisition. What gives this text its fascination, then, is not simply that 25-28 of the names of the members and their forebears also occur in the NT, with up to 18 of these names connected in some way with Paul. Rather, it is that nearly 50% of the identifiable members are Roman citizens, a considerable number of whom possess Latin cognomina. Further, those involved in this association of fish traders reflect the whole range in formal rank, from citizen to slave. This provides an last word must be emphasized-for the intriguing analogy-that similar spread attested in the Pauline congregations. We are encountering here a contemporary association with a social mix closely akin to the groups connected with Paul. In these congregations there is a high frequency of Latin names, suggestive of Roman citizenship. The number of citizens may be expected to have been greater, indeed, than the Latin names alone would indicate; for a Greek name was retained by many liberti at their manumission as their cognomen.If this analogy holds good, it leads to a far-reaching consideration, namely that the Pauline churches may have contained a larger number of Roman citizens among their membership than has been suspected hitherto.11 Naturally, this hypothesis requires careful weighing, for it has implications for our view of the Pauline Mission. It may have to be concluded that Paul focussed attention particularly on those who possessed citizenship in order that, when he moved elsewhere, adherents would be

10 J. Murphy-O'Connor, 'John the Baptist and Jesus: history and hypotheses', NTS 36 (1990) 359-74. 111This proposition has already been advanced briefly in several places by Judge: see the last three references in n. 105 above, and add New Docs 1978, 4, pp. 18-19.

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left in those cities who in some cases possessed the means to host gatherings in their own homes, and who also possessed a formal civic rank which may have been strategically useful to shield the Christian cells from certain expressions of hostility. An article published in 1990 by P.R.C. Weaver112 may have its own contribution to make to the testing of this theory, albeit indirectly. Weaver analyses the relevant funerary monuments of Rome in CIL VI and in the last 20 or so volumes of L'Annee to test the question, what proportion of those possessing epigraphique the tria nominamay have been Junian Latins. The lex Iunia of 17 BC or 19 AD provided one route to informal manumission for a slave of a Roman citizen. Those in this class gained freedom and the full tria nomina, but not citizenship; and upon their death their property passed to the manumitting master. Citizenship could be gained by Junian Latins if they could show proof of a one-year-old legitimate child. Weaver's evidence is drawn from epigraphic data from Rome and from a number of references in Pliny's letters. He concludes that the likelihood of a large number ofJunian Latins among those with the full three names should be seriously considered. Whether the same situation may have obtained in the eastern provinces would need similarly detailed investigation; but as far as it concerns our inscription of the Ephesian fishing association, we must allow the possibility that some of those with the tria nomina could have been Latini Iuniani, i.e., free but not in possession of formal citizenship. The very nature of the donors' list, however, is such that it does not yield any information to let us confirm the Latin status of any of the members. Further, even if Weaver's point is valid as applied to this inscription, the status of this group of men matters only at law, not in their day-to-day dealings with others. These individuals paraded their possession of the tria nomina, not the fact that they were/may have been Junian Latins; and the implication of citizenship was allowed to stand by default. Discussion of the toll-house donors' list makes it appropriate to draw attention here to a major new inscription almost contemporary with it, discovered in 1976 in the church of St. John where it had been reused as the threshold stone in a doorway, with its text
I am grateful to Professor Weaver for letting me see and refer to his detailed study in advance of its publication in Chiron 20 (1990) 275-305: 'Where have all the Junian Latins gone? Nomenclature and status in the Early Empire'.
112

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G. H. R. HORSLEY

upside down.13 The so-called 'Monumentum Ephesenum' is one of the most detailed inscriptions yet found at Ephesos, laying out in 155 surviving lines14 regulations for customs duties to be levied on goods imported and exported by land and sea in the province of Asia. While the 'lex portorii Asiae' (v61zoS'crXouS 'AaC(o, 1. 7), itself set out in ?? 1-36 (11. 1-84) of the document, dates to 75 BC, a series of additions to this law is appended (?? 37-63, 11. 84-149). These subjoined addenda are to be variously dated between 72 BC and the post-Augustan period, the latest addition and the text's preamble being attached under Nero in 62 AD.15 To mention three subjects only: the publicani figure large in the regulations; exemptions from duty-liability are specified for certain groups of people (11. 58-66, 96-98, 128-33); and the purple trade receives mention (11.20, 53). This text informs our understanding very considerably on large economic questions concerning trade in Asia, and Roman attempts to regulate it over the period of more than a century. It is as important for elucidating such matters as the somewhat analogous, bilingual tariff regulations from Palmyra."6 In the case of Ephesos specifically, it not only provides a larger, clarificatory context for I.Eph. Ia.20, but offers important general background to the social history of this and other cities in Asia for those researching the establishment of a Christian presence there at just this time. If we ask why this tariff law was updated and reinscribed precisely in 62, I suggest that the reason is not far to seek. In the previous year the proconsul, Barea Soranus, had the harbour dredged (Tac., Ann. 16.23), no doubt in response to local pressure

113

The full edition of this inscription has now been provided by H.

Knibbe, Das Zollgesetzder Provinz Asia. Eine neue Inschriftaus Ephesos,

comprising the whole of EA 14 (1989). Cf. their earlier, summary preview, 'Das Monumentum Ephesenum. Ein Vorbericht', EA 8 (1986) 19-32. Note also Knibbe's discussion in 'Legum dicendarum in locandis vectigalibus omnis potestas', JOAI 58 (1988) Hauptblatt 129-34, and his brief mention of the inscription in ANRW II.7.2 (1980) 769-70. 114 LI. 150-54 have too little to yield sense, and nothing is firmly legible on 1. 155.
116 CIS II.3, 1 (1926) 3913, dated 18.4.137 AD. This fragmentary inscription is in Greek and Palmyrene Aramaic. The best recent discussion isJ.F. Matthews, 'The tax law of Palmyra. Evidence for economic history in a city of the Roman East', JRS 74 (1984) 157-80, which includes a translation of the Greek version.

Engelmann/D.

11 See ed.pr., 162-64.

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from groups like the fishing association,'17 thus making it possible once again for goods to pass in and out of the city freely by ship. Renewed access by sea made it timely to readvertise the current tariffs on imports and exports. In a most specific way, this information illuminates a brief passage in the Acts (20:13-16), where Paul and his associates are en routeto Jerusalem travelling by ship south along the west coast of Asia Minor. The writer claims to have been present with Paul on this voyage, and presents as the reason for bypassing Ephesos Paul's desire to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost (vs. 16). On any reckoning of the Pauline chronology, this voyage must be placed well into the second half of the 50s (April-May 57?),118 by which time Ephesos must have been difficult of sea access, if not actually impossible to land at. What is to be inferred from the Acts account, then, is that the master of the vessel made his own judgement not to risk running his ship aground within the silted-up harbour at Ephesos, a decision over which Paul and his were, after all, simply passengers and not the companions-who charterers of the ship, as vs. 14 implies-had no control. What vs. 16 reports is the entirely natural rationalisation of one whose initial plan is thwarted by circumstance, and who determines to make the best of that situation to the point of accepting that it will actually be for the best and fit in with another goal (viz., to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost). The verse is not at odds with the inference I have drawn about the actual reason for bypassing Ephesos; rather, it proffers an acceptance of the situation from a passenger's perspective, a recognition that failing to make landfall at Ephesos may well accord with his other plans in any case.'19 Magistracies When we turn to consider the organisation of a city like Ephesos, the epigraphical material yields a wealth of details from which it is possible to extrapolate a good deal about the various public offices, and also about corporate groupings such as the gerousia,'20 the
117 Cf. New Docs 5.101.

E.g., Hemer, Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History, 255. 119 The starting point for the argument in this paragraph was a suggestive sentence in Ramsay, Seven Churches, 233. 120 The fullest study is J.H. Oliver, The Sacred Gerusia (Hesperia Suppl. 6; Princeton, 1941; repr. Amsterdam, 1975) 9-27, and texts 1-21 (pp. 53-106).

118

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ekklesia, and the tribal system.121 Examination of the prosopographical data in relation to the official positions in the state makes it possible to tell whether iteration of office was allowed, what posts were available to women, and to trace the pattern of movement from junior to senior positions. Inextricable with all this was the social expectation that the wealthy would exercise patronage towards the city as a whole or to some part of it, thereby raising their profile as a means to secure further public office. Anonymous philanthropy was a contradiction of this entire societal arrangement: it was taken for granted that individuals would advertise their benefactions, and that the beneficiaries would honour these people publicly. Inscriptions were pre-eminently the vehicle by which this 'social contract' was recorded.122 Imperial backing for large-scale architectural projects was one manifestation of this phenomenon, and is well attested at Ephesos.123 When this documentary evidence is placed in conjunction with the literary sources like the material in Acts, each serves to illuminate the other. Chapter 19 of Acts mentions two of the multitude of civic officials at Ephesos, the grammateusof the demos who takes the ekklesia to task124 in the theatre (19:35), and the asiarchs (19:31). The comment of the grammateus, that Ephesos oiuravrTr (itya&Xrg veoxo6pov slOtCOUio, is consonant 'Apitioxtos xoa o06 with both numismatic and epigraphical testimonia.'25 The claim of
121 See D. Knibbe, PW Suppl. 12 (1970) 270-77, for a useful summary survey of all these. 122 See and in particular (in relation to the NT) in general Danker, Benefactor, Winter, 'Public honouring of Christian benefactors', both already noted. Ephesian inscriptions dealt with in Danker's book are: nos. 8 (= I.Eph. V. 1491), 45 ( I.Eph. II.213), and 46 ( = I.Eph. Ia.2); Winter also makes use of inscriptions from the same city. A.H.M. Jones, The GreekCityfrom Alexander toJustinian(Oxford, 1940, repr. 1979) 247-50, emphasises that benefactions were not always given voluntarily: the social pressures to compete and outdo others were especially marked in communities where the wealthy had more money than they could possibly spend on themselves. Christian inscriptions of the early Byzantine period attest anonymous donations, a practice imitated (apparently) by contemporary olotv, velsim. See, e.g., New Docs1976, t6 ovojLa Jews, using the formula, ou 6 BOEb 69; New Docs 1977, 113, p. 202. 123 S. Mitchell, 'Imperial building in the eastern Roman provinces', HSCP 91 (1987) 333-65, at 354. 124 As Jones observed, the detail is historically consistent with the increasingly professional role of the town clerk in cities of the early Roman period: The Greek City, 238-39. 125 S. Karwiese, PW Suppl. 12 (1970) 330 (Neronian date); I.Eph. VI. 2040 (c.200-210 AD), in which the city is spoken of as vEox6po1j |Tt 'Ap-tsutibo (4-5).

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of a temple and its deity was an important a city to be the neokoros feature of its political self-promotion in the context of inter-city rivalry, especially (from the end of the first century) in relation to temples of the Imperial cult. As for the asiarchs, there has been a good deal of research about them recently, which illustrates the gains for understanding the literary sources that documentary investigation can provide. A difference of opinion continues to exist among ancient historians whether the asiarchs are to be identified with the provincial high priests (archiereis)of the Imperial cult. To the extent that NT commentators bite on this problem, the equation is normally accepted, relying on L.R. Taylor's article nearly sixty years ago in The Beginnings of Christianity.'26Now, literary evidence for the asiarchs is sparse; indeed, apart from Strabo'27 in the late first century BC, the Acts passage is the only one which refers to the period before the end of the first century AD. Epigraphical and numismatic evidence provide the vast bulk of our information about the asiarchs and the archiereisAsiae: of over 200 individuals now known, 106 are connected with Ephesos.'28 Only 74 of these 106 were known in a 1974 catalogue,'29 before the publication of I.Eph. R.A. Kearsley has now shown in her doctoral thesis'30 and argued in what is a continuing series of articles on the subject'31 that
126

V (London, 1933), 256-62; followed most recently by R.F. Stoops, of theApostles, 'Riot and assembly: the social context of Acts 19:23-41', JBL 108 (1989) 73-91. 127 14.1.42 (649C), referring to the position at Tralleis. 128 62 asiarchs + 52 archiereis Asiae, less 9 men documented with both titles, plus one man who probably held one or other of the titles (though which one is incerandArchiereis tain). This information is drawn from R.A. Kearsley, Asiarchs ofAsia. TheInscriptions (Diss. Macquarie, 1987). An asiarch already known from of Ephesos I. Eph. III.686 as an archiereus Asiaeappears in a new inscription published by R.M. Harrison, 'Amorium 1987', AS 38 (1988) 181 no. 2 (pl. 23; Amorium in E. Phrygia, II/III init.); cf. New Docs, vol. 5.145. The new Amorium text is reexamined by Kearsley in 'Asiarchs, archiereis and archiereiai of Asia: new evidence from Amorium in Phrygia', forthcoming in EA 16 (1990).
129

F.J. Foakes Jackson/K. Lake (edd.), The Beginnings of Christianity, I: The Acts

M. Rossner,

Magie's lists (2.1601-07) are now superseded.

130
131

'Asiarchen und Archiereis Asiae', StudClas 16 (1974) 101-42.

New Docs1979, 14; 'A leading family of Cibyra and some Asiarchs of the first century', AS 38 (1988) 43-51; 'M. Ulpius Appuleius Eurykles of Aezani: Panhellene, Asiarch and Archiereus of Asia', Antichthon 21 (1987 [1988]) 49-56; 'Asiarchs: titulature and function. A reappraisal', StudClas26 (1988 [1989]) 57-65; and cf.
n. 128 above, ad fin.

See above, n. 128. 'Asiarchs, Archiereis, and the Archiereiai of Asia', GRBS 27 (1986) 183-92;

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were distinct.'32 There is (a) the functions of asiarch and archiereus no evidence that the asiarch was a priest, although some cultic functions were exercised. were archiereis Asiae in their own right as well as men. women (b) That is, we do not merely have an honorific title bestowed on This a woman by virtue of her being the spouse of an archiereus. point needs underscoring for the methodological affinities it has with questions such as whether women exercised functions in the synagogue'33 or in the early Christian church,'34 or whether their titles in those contexts are always to be regarded simply as honorific.135 There is no evidence from Ephesos that any woman was an asiarch, and only one inscription from anywhere in Asia which may suggest it.'36 (c) contrary to what has sometimes been suggested, the epigraphic evidence shows that the usage of the title asiarch was the same in I and II AD, and probably in I BC also. The way in which Strabo and Acts use it is identical.'37 The conclusion to be extrapolated from Kearsley's research is that the mention of asiarchs in Acts is not an anachronistic giveaway that the work is to be dated in the second century AD when epigraphic attestation for the asiarchy abounds. This evidence does not constitute a proof of first-century composition; it simply shows that Acts does not have to be dated to the second. Without the appearance of I.Eph. research like this would be at the least very much harder to accomplish, if not impossible. So the repertorium approach, whatever shortcomings it may have in other ways, undoubtedly puts material at the disposal of others quickly. Since magistrates have come to the rostrum, let us take a sideways glance at another city mentioned in the NT, Thessalonike
132
133

Pace, e.g., Knibbe, ANRWII.7.2 (1980) 773. in theAncient Leaders 36; Synagogue JudaicStudies B.J. Brooten, Women (Brown Chico, 1982). Cf. New Docs 1979, 113, p. 219. 134 Cf. New Docs 1979, 122. 135 Cf. in general, S. Heine, Frauenderfrfihen Christenheit (G6ttingen, 1986) 98 [= ET (London, 1987) 88]. 136 21 (1987) 54 n. 34. This funerary I.Smyrna1.386; cf. Kearsley, Antichthon monument reads: M. Aup. I Zlvcov | x M. KX. [ 'IouXotalpXart , ', Z[w]otxCo ?uvtit|aj Xaptv.That some women in Lykia held the post of Lyciarch 7rpaYLa(UtU. of the Imperial cult has been argued by S. Jameson, and that others were archiereiai 'The Lycian League: some problems of its administration', ANR W 11.7.2 (1980) 832-55, at 847-49.

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in the province of Macedonia, where the chief magistrates were called politarchs. The appearance in 1972 of a fascicule of Inscriptiones Graecae138 devoted to the inscriptions of this city has either coincided fortuitously with an upsurge of interest in the politarchate in Macedonia, or has been an impetus to renew research into it. This office, mentioned in Acts 17:6-8, is now proved to have been a pre-Roman institution,139 although it is not unlikely that changes were effected when Macedonia came under Roman administration in II BC. NT commentaries are badly outdated in their information about the politarchs, relying overmuch on the article published by E.D. Burton late last century.140 Although his contribution remains of interest and, indeed, continues to provide the most accessible, complete (if not correct) transcription of some of the inscriptions, research has advanced our knowledge considerably, and especially in the last fifteen years. New texts have been published and others await publication. 1 Politarchs are mentioned well beyond Macedonia and nearby Thrace, Thessaly, and Illyria. Attestations come from further afield, including Bithynia, Egypt, and the Greek islands. Of the more than three score known to me,142 however, the large bulk emanate from Macedonia; and of these a Thessalonian provenance dominates. But they are attested also at Beroia; and so, when Acts 17:10-14 mentions the trouble stirred up in that city after what had occurred at Thessalonike, although the passage makes no explicit reference to the politarchs the inference which makes historical sense is that at Beroia, too, it was the politarchs who were responsible to resolve the issue and quell the disturbance. Before we come back again to Ephesos a different example of reading between the lines of the NT text brings sense to a particular
137
138

Kearsley, AS 38 (1988) 43-51, especially 50-51.

C. Edson, IG X 2, 1 (Berlin, 1972).

A. Mano/B. Dautaj, Iliria 2 (1984) 109-18 (non vidi); improved text and greater accessibility in F. Papazoglou, 'Politarques en Illyrie', Historia35 (1986) 438-48; cf. SEG 35.697. 140 'The politarchs', AJT 2 (1898) 598-632. 141 Among the most recent, in addition to the inscription mentioned above at n. 139: SEG 33.520, honorary inscription for Marcus Aurelius (area of Gergelia in Macedonia, 181 AD); SEG 35.665, treaty (Ambrakia in Epeiros, 160 BC), and 744, honorific decree (Kalinda in Macedonia, 1 AD). An unpublished letter of Hadrian to the Macedonian koinon(unknown provenance within Macedonia, 136/7 or 137/8) refers to the eponymous politarch and his colleagues. 142 The evidence is tabulated in my entry on the politarchswritten for the forthBible Dictionary. coming Anchor

139

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passage in Acts, thanks to epigraphical discovery and research on Historical Geography. It is all too easy in reading Acts to fail to pause and consider the rationale for the order in which cities were visited by Paul on his missionary journeys. Why, for example, near the beginning of the first journey do Barnabas and Paul head from Cyprus straight for inland Asia Minor, making for Antioch by Pisidia?'43 The presence of a large Jewish community is not a sufficient reason.14 The answer lies, I think, in the point that L. Sergius L.f. Paullus, proconsul of Cyprus at the time (Acts 13:7), came from a family which had links with Antioch probably by virtue of the proximity of the family's estate to the Roman colonia.'45 If this is correct, it explains the otherwise curious itinerary, since Antioch is not the obvious place to make for next after Cyprus. No overheated historical imagination is required to infer what happened: Paullus provided a letter of recommendation (vel sim.) for Barnabas and Paul and their companions, which introduced them to the social network of which Paullus was himself a senior member, though now geographically removed. If this explanation does satisfy, it may suggest that the 'strategy' on this first journey involved no fully predetermined list of places to visit. 46It may have been rather more ad hoc than an over-tidy, hindsight perspective would like to allow.'47 Indeed, this way of viewing the first missionary journey, at least, is confirmed when we recall that Barnabas was a native of Cyprus and, as a one-time landowner there (Acts 4:36-37), apparently able to have had access through his family ties to a network sufficiently high up the scale socially that he could have contact with a provincial governor. It is for Barnabas that the doors open on this first journey: he is the leader and Paul his
143 Acts 13:3-14. The city is popularly regarded as in Pisidia; actually, it was in S. Galatia, on the border of Pisidia. Hemer, Acts and theSettingof Early Christianity,thinks it may have been within the borders of Phrygia in I AD (109, 228). 144 ContraK. Lake in 5.224, who mentions other Beginningsof Christianity, reasons as well, none of which is compelling. 145 So S. Mitchell, ANRWII.7.2 (1980) 1074 n. 134; cf. Lane Fox, Pagansand Christians,293-94. Of earlier stages in Paullus' cursuslittle is known, but one of the intriguing element may be mentioned: an L. Sergius Paullus was curator banks of the Tiber under Claudius (CIL VI.31545), and it is likely that we should identify him with the proconsul on Cyprus. Cf. briefly, New Docs, vol. 5.146. On this Sergius Paullus see E. Groag, PW II, A.2 (1923) 1715-18. See further n. 173, below.
146

147

Cf. New Docs 1979, 36.

PaceA. Harnack, TheActs of theApostles (London, 1909) 93.

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AND THE

N.T.

141

deputy. Although the focus of the writer of Acts is upon the latter, we must allow historically that what determined the ad hoc itinerary of this first journey was Barnabas' social position.148 Paul observed this and was able to apply it in a modified way on the subsequent journeys after he and Barnabas had gone their separate ways, once he was now leader of an entourage in his own right. The refining of the idea lay in two ways, I suggest. First, that certain types of cities were recognised to be crucial in which to establish the movement, namely Roman coloniaelike Philippi and provincial metropoleis like Corinth and Ephesos-these latter, by virtue of their very size, possessing a cosmopolitan character. To achieve this goal he settled in some of these places for a longish period. Locations like these were pivotal, though other places were not ignored as opportunities presented themselves. And second, while recognising the usefulness of 'tapping-in' to the whole network of patronage, he nevertheless did so rather sparingly since he was conscious that this basic feature of Roman society represented a means to make one's way which was fundamentally at odds with the new values which were starting to crystallise in his thinking.'49 Artemis Returning to Ephesos and its inscriptions, there are three further points to be made. The last of these deals with the lexical fruits of research on Ephesian material; the second advances two desiderata for the study of Ephesos as it may interest NT research; and the first, to which we turn now, concerns Artemis. For discussion of Ephesos without mention of her would indeed be an emasculation.150 Although there does not exist for I.Eph. a Subject Index in which the goddess' name would be expected to be listed, perusal of the Word Index (vol. VIII, 1) s. v. Oe6 throws up a very large number of instances, a clear majority of which refers to Artemis. Another notable feature is the considerable number of theophoric names

I hope to give further attention to Barnabas elsewhere. See, e.g., E.A. Judge, 'St Paul and Classical society',JbAC 15 (1972) 19-36, especially 34-36. 150 On her centrality to the entire fabric of Ephesian civic life see Oster, ANR W II.18.3 (1990) 1699-1728.
149

148

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which reflect the focal role of Artemis in the city. Index vol. VIII, 2 includes such names as Artemas, Artemeis (phonologically identical with Artemis, of course), Artemidora, Artemidoros-a particularly frequent name, with about 100 people attested- Artemisia, Artemon, Artemoneikes, Artemonis, etc. Some of these names are attested very frequently, others only once. Now, it is true that the etymological significance of names in antiquity is not always to be pressed;15' it may sometimes reflect simply a particular fashion. But this range of theophorics at Ephesos cannot be merely coincidental, given that etymology was indubitably more significant in antiquity152 than is usual today in European societies. This preoccupation with Artem- names may indicate something about the devotion to Artemis of parents who chose such names for their children.153 When complete, the project to produce a Lexiconof Greek PersonalNames, the first volume of which has now appeared,'54 will be a most useful tool for addressing this and other onomastic questions. In the Acts' vignettes of Paul's time at Ephesos one of the incidents concerns a perceived threat to the livelihood of city craftsmen who produced devotional items relating to the city's patron deity. The I.Eph. repertorium has yielded seven mentions of the silversmiths' association, and another epigraphical attestation from the city has been published subsequently, apyupox6xoSbeing a word for which MM could adduce only one epigraphical attestation, and

151 Note, e.g., BGU 12 (1974) 2156.2, a lease document (Hermopolis, 27/8/483 AD) with standard Byzantine Christian marks, which mentions the siblings Aurelius Sarapodoros and Aurelia Eucharistia. 152 Note, 29 (1984), the 'Vision of Dorotheus'-virtually re-ed. e.g., P. Bodmer by A.H.M. Kessels/P.W. van der Horst, 'The Vision of Dorotheus (Pap. Bodmer 29)', VC 41 (1987) 313-59-where the cowardly Christian Dorotheus chooses Andreas as a new name (11.226-27, 241, 267). 153 On the phenomenon of name-change as sometimes reflecting a shift in religious adherence see G.H.R. Horsley, 'Name change as an indication of religious conversion in antiquity', Numen34 (1987) 1-17. Not mentioned there is an intriguing possible instance which is especially germane to the present context. In a fragmentary epitaph erected for a man by his daughter (Tyriaion in NE ij xal Lykia, II/III), the text begins: HIpst ?i A1itcovoLo|9Ota0ta AprEtLuEL uort NA I (uncertain lettering follows, containing the name of the peravoaypatcota son who registered her change of name) ... For the full text see C. Naour, Tyriaion en Cabalide: etgeographic (Stud.Amst. 20; Zutphen, 1980) no. 25. epigraphie historique 154 Edd. P.M. Fraser/E. Matthews (Oxford, 1987).

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that from Smyrna.'55 It was at Ephesos that Artemis had her cult centre of great antiquity; and the goddess owned land and water estates in the city's extensive territorium,'56 revenues from which were mostly applied to the upkeep of the building and its cult, and the payment of officials. Occasionally, however, money was diverted to other acceptable purposes, such as street paving, undertaken c. 23/22 BC with Augustus' authorisation, as a bilingual
inscription shows.'57 There was a board of management'58 respon-

sible to oversee the maintenance of the temple and its sacrifices and festivals. In origin, these neopoioiwere sacred officials who appear also to have exercised a role in the recommending of citizenship, at least in the earlier Hellenistic period.'59 Yet, as is testified to by a number of dedications by these men to Artemis, some at least of those who held this position advertised their benefactor status by calling themselves 'voluntary' (authairetoz)neopoioi. An example is I.Eph. III.961, an Imperial-period, sequential pair of texts on the same stone in which two men and their families offer public thanks
to Artemis.160
155 Cf. New Docs 1979, 1, where the eight texts from Ephesos are noted. Six of these eight employ the term &pyupox60co; the other two use the synonymous A further instance of apTupox6oroq, from Prusias ad Hypium, is noted apyupox6oo.

at New Docs, vol. 5.145.

Ephesos' territory extended mainly eastwards, along the Kaystros valley, but it also stretched some 15km. NW to Metropolis, and south to the border of the territory of Magnesia on the Maiandros and of Priene (Knibbe, PW Suppl. 12.27071). The city's ownership of a large area of land was one legacy of the synoikismos effected by Lysimachos in early III BC (Rostovtzeff, SEHHW, 1.155, 156; 3.1349 n. 28). The possession of such an amount of land under its control may well have ensured self-sufficiency in food for the city (ibid., 2.1273). 157 rov Ecpatao[u] | I.Eph. II.459, whose Greek portion runs: [Tri]j Ktaioapo; aur'6 T Oe[f] Ix rCJv tipc v i:poa6[&ov,] 6S6; iaopcOe97 I[&]q Ex' [xpCaio] XopaXT[a o,] a i ZiEou 'AA7roX,liou &v9uTnac[ou] (11.7-11).Cf. Mitchell, 'Imperial building', 348. 158 Called a synhedrionin the inscriptions (e.g. I.Eph. Ia.28; III.945, 951, 966), and once a synagoge (II.419a). (1986) 877-83, at 879-80.
160

and Economic History of the Roman Empire (2 vols; Oxford,

at Pisidian Antioch are noted at New Docs 1978, 6, p. 30. For further examples of estates held by gods and temples of other cities see M.I. Rostovtzeff, TheSocial
19572) 2.656 n. 6.

Cf. New Docs 1979, 28, pp. 128-29; and New Docs, vol. 5.104-05. Estates of Men

156 The evidence from boundary stones is useful here: I.Eph. VII, 2.3501-12, from which the map at ibid., p. 296 extrapolatesthe area reserved for the goddess.

159 I.Eph. IX'.1408, 1449 (both IV BC fin.), discussed by G.M. Rogers, 'Demetrios of Ephesos: silversmith and neopoios?', Belleten Turk Tarih Kurumu 50

published subsequently to I.Eph. is SEG 34.1125 (early Imperial). On suXaptor)S in such texts see L. Robert, Hellenica10 (1955) 55-62.

See further, New Docs 1979, 28. A further example of these thanksgivings

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G. H. R. HORSLEY

I give thanks to you, lady Artemis, (I) Sextus Pompeius Eutyches, loyal to the emperor, voluntary neopoios, together with Auge my daughter and Ulpia Artemidora and my colleague Heliodoros, son of Philippos and grandson of Philippos. I give thanks to you, lady Artemis, (I) Heliodoros son of Philippos and grandson of Philippos, [voluntary neopoios together with] Heliodoros [my son and - - -] son
of Apollonios - - -.

Behind the conventional features which these documents undoubtedly exhibit, it is also possible to detect occasionally a genuine devotion to the divine patron. For example, when people are described as suP ts . . X. Tp6 Tr Oe6v,'61 or as tlXaptF.LS, the

formerphrasehas a long pedigreeextendingright back to Greek drama, but it also resonateswith the 'godfearers'in a contemporary Jewish milieu. The latter word,
t)apt,piLtS, is used too

Achilles Tatius and Xenophon from the early Imperial period endorsethis notionof a sympathetic bondbetweenthe goddessand
her devotees.63

sparingly'62to be regarded as a cliche.The novelistic romances of

The positionof neopoios was sometimesused as a stepping-stone in a civiccareer,as is instanced ofT. FlaviusPythio by the progress who held the postsof grammateus of the demos, of asiarch(in 104/5, and againat somepointwithinthe next five years),and of archiereus of the Imperialcult in 115/6. At some undateabletime beforeall these much more high-profile positionsPythio was also a neopoios This (I.Eph.V.1578a.11-12). particular inscription (perhapsto be datedc.50-100AD) has lately been reconsidered in relationto the
old question, whether the neopoiosDemetrios referred to in this text is to be identified with the silversmithmentioned in Acts 19.164This

remainsentirelyspeculative.More generally, proposalnecessarily the writer'sintentionin the Acts 19 riot is not uncommonlyseen as essentially apologetic, and considerablecomplexity in the has been posited, most recentlyby R.F. passage'sinterpretation
I.Eph. III.960, an honorific text of Trajanic date, not for a neopoios. IEph. Ia.27.89, 451 (104 AD); III.695 (80/1 AD). Neither text concerns neopoioi. 163 See Oster, ANRW II.18.3 (1990) 1723-24. 164 Rogers, 'Demetrios of Ephesos'; cf. SEG 36.1028. The question was noted at New Docs 1979, 1, p. 8 without knowledge of Rogers' discussion. In fact, there are two men called Demetrios in the inscription (11. 4, 6), the former not certainly a neopoios at all. Rogers does not go so far as to suggest that the man in 1.6 may be identical with the Demetrios of Acts 19, but he does claim that the silversmith of Acts could have been a neopoios.
162

161

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145

Stoops.165 Whatever the general merits of this case,'66 a matter which goes beyond the scope of the present subject, it may be suggested that Stoops' article is not alone in failing to capitalise on the already-published archaeological and epigraphical realia from Ephesos and other places which are constantly informing our understanding of Judaism and Christianity within their GraecoRoman milieu. An illustration of this last statement is not far to seek. A decade ago D. Knibbe published a volume containing the epigraphical at Ephesos, and various other texts texts which concern the kouretes of a prayer/dedicatory nature which were found in the Prytaneion of the city.167 The building was erected under Augustus when of Asia, displacing Pergamon; Ephesos was designated the metropolis of the kouretes. and it was the location for meetings of the synhedrion At first sight, researchers into Christian beginnings may think there is little here that is germane to their interest, and pass this material by. Yet some matters of considerable analogical significance emerge from Knibbe's detailed presentation and discussion of the material about the city's (and especially Artemis') cultic functionaries. For example, it is conventional to say that the growth of an identifiable set of official positions in the Christian groups-at least from late in the first century onwards-reflects the institutionalisation process through which the Church was passing. While there is something to this point of view, it may not be the whole story. Knibbe's work shows that there was an observable growth during the Imperial period in the numbers of cult officials and a minor explosion of new titles, reflecting increasing specialisation of
165 JBL 108 (1989) 73-91. Another recent contribution on apologetic as a device in Acts is R.L. Brawley, Luke-Acts and theJews. Conflict,Apology and Conciliation (SBLMS 33; Atlanta, 1987), especially chs. 4 and 5 (51-83). 166 Some specific weaknesses: (i) the role of the asiarchs (Stoops, 85) is overly dependent on L.R. Taylor's old article, noted above at n. 126; the recent researches of R.A. Kearsley, mentioned earlier, need to be given full consideration; (ii) too much is based on the unlikely possibility that Demetrios may have been a neopoios (88), as has just been observed; (iii) a good deal more up-to-date information on Artemis (82) could have been gleaned from knowledge of Oster, Bib. Eph., and cf. id., in New Docs 1979, 19; (iv) the claim advanced about the writer's use of xxxX1tiaL in ch. 19 is very odd (it is 'not purely secular but draws a contrast to the Christian assemblies', 86 n. 68). 167 Der Staatsmarkt... Earlier, noteJ. Keil, 'Kulte im Prytaneion von Ephesos', in W.M. Calder/J. Keil (edd.), Anatolian Studies to W.H. Buckler presented (Manchester, 1939), 119-28.

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function.168 There is no reason to think that something unique was at happening Ephesos in this regard. Once we reckon with the everpresent problem of the haphazard survival of ancient evidence, I think it reasonable to infer that the process visible at Ephesos typified what was occurring (in differing degrees, and at varying paces) throughout the Empire. Furthermore, those who served as kouretes came in some cases from the city's elite families, and held high civic office at the same time; yet there are also examples of who lacked such a high-profile background.'69These obserkouretes vations pertaining to religious functionariesin Imperial Ephesos do not amount to anything that even approaches a direct influence upon Christianity. They may represent, however, much harder-todetect undercurrents in the tide of the times which, by their mere occurrence, contributed to the subtle (because unconscious) moulding of the distinctive phenomenon of primitive Christianity within less than 300 years into something which was more visibly akin in its externals to Greek and Roman forms of religious
expression.

The stimulus of Knibbe's study may be instanced, further, by mention of his text B.24 ( = I.Eph. IV. 1024), in which we hear that the prytanisDionysodoros established an oracle of Apollo in the Prytaneion (1. 6-7), and a civic resolution was passed that this oracular site should be maintained in perpetuity (11.9-10). The suggestion made subsequently is compelling,170 that in this action Ephesos is attempting to avoid having to consult the famous oracle at Klaros in Caria; to which the city of Kolophon responded by minting coins showing the Ephesian-style Artemis but calling her 'Artemis Claria Colophonia'.71 Competition between cities extended beyond political ambitions and cultural pretensions to embrace religious aspirations as well, for religion was inextricably connected with politics and culture. There were important implica168E.g., iepoax6oc;,&ayvepXra;, 9I&TpO, xocq6poc, (iFpc; ) Ouat&ppou, tvrX&plto;: see Knibbe's detailed analysis, 78-92. 169 This emerges from Knibbe's comprehensive name index (110-45). 170 J. and L. Robert, Bulletinipigraphique (1982) 298, p. 371; followed by Lane 201-02. Fox, Pagansand Christians, 171 On the oracle of Apollo at Klaros see the illuminating discussion by Lane Fox, 168-261, making more widely known the important research by J. and L. Robert on this site. Note also H.W. Parke, TheOracles ofApolloin Asia Minor(London, 1985) 112-70.

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tions for Christianity in this indivisibility of the religious from other aspects of daily life. It was stated above that income from the goddess' estates were used to maintain the temple and its cult. There were other expenses, too, for the patron deity of the city, such as underwriting the cost of a city gymnasium when public benefactors were not forthcoming. It is not surprising that calls on the treasury of the Artemision were large; and where large amounts of money were involved it is little wonder that the financial management of the Artemision and the city attracted criticism. This concern is voiced most noticeably in a much-studied proconsular edict of 44 AD. This long document survives in four lacunose versions found in different locations in the city, two in Greek (I.Eph. Ia. 17, 18, the latter in four fragments) and two in Latin (I.Eph. Ia. 19a, 19b), of which no. 18 preserves the fullest amount of text.172 After the opening diplomatic comments Paullus Fabius Persicus173 gets into his stride, and doesn't mince words, as the following extract reveals:
. . . Although I am constantly possessed of this opinion, that the leading magistrates of the provinces above all ought to give attention with all uprightness and faithfulness to the magistracy entrusted to them, so as to take clear and constant thought throughout their life for what is useful both in the entire province and in their city, but not simply during their own year (of office), nevertheless I acknowledge that in regard to this my opinion is rather happily endorsed by the example of the finest and in truth most just princeps [i.e., Claudius], who has rendered the whole human race into his care by the finest and indeed the sweetest acts of philanthropy; and he has bestowed this gracious favour, the restoration to each person of own property. On this very account I have received irksome knowledge, but it is indispensable for the most eminent city of the Ephesians (18a.5-19) . . . [lacuna] . . . and the temple of Artemis, which is the ornament of the whole province because of the size of its construction, its antiquity, and the
172 The fundamental discussion remains F.K. D6rner, Der Erlass des Statthalters von Asia Paullus Fabius Persicus (Diss. Greifswald, 1935). Building upon R. Heberdey's work in FiE 2 (Vienna, 1912) 112-16, no. 21, and Keil's inJOAI 23 (1926) Beiblatt 281-82, this rare pamphlet discusses the different versions previously known (9-16), publishing new fragments (16-18) and a restoration of the Greek version from the theatre (19-25; cf. 37-40), the Latin portions (26-32), and a commentary on the whole (41-50) with particular attention devoted to Persicus' relationship with Claudius (51-58). For some of the considerable bibliography since then see references ad I.Eph. Ia. 17-19. Note also Jones, The GreekCity, 228-29 (emphasizing the point that the situation reflected in this edict was not unique), 242; further references at Rostovtzeff, SEHHW, 3.1374-75 n. 71; id., SEHRE2, 2.570 n. 2; and cf. Knibbe, ANRW II.7.2 (1980) 765-66. 173 Consul in 34 AD. He must have known L. Sergius Paullus, the proconsul of Cyprus (Acts 13:7), since both men are named with others in a list of curatores of the banks of the Tiber: CIL VI.31545. See above, n. 145.

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abundance of its revenues which were restored by Augustus to the goddess, is being deprived of its own money which could suffice for the care and decoration of its dedications. For it [i.e., the temple's assets] is being drawn away to the unjust desire of those who so set themselves over the koinonthat they think of it as a benefit for themselves. For whenever rather joyful news comes from Rome, they misuse it for their own gain, and making the appearance of the divine building a cloak (for what they do) they sell priesthoods as though at an auction; and they summon people from every family for the purchase of them. Then they do not choose the most suitable people on whose heads the appropriate crown will be placed. With the priests in office they share the proceeds, whatever the recipients (of the new priesthoods) are willing (to pay), in order that they may misappropriate as much as possible themselves. (18b.1-20) . . . [lacuna]

The sale of priesthoods was not unprecedented;'74 what concerns Persicus is that they are being sold without regard to blood-stock: the highest bidder will be successful even if he is not from the right sort of family. Other practices condemned in this edict include the employment of free labour for tasks normally undertaken by public slaves, burdening further the Artemision's treasury; rearing slave infants at the goddess' expense by consecrating them to her; and the borrowing of sacred funds by priests on behalf of others. The proconsul's concern to ensure that magistrates and members of the gerousia did not abuse their position by diverting the goddess' revenues to non-sacral purposes'75 resonates with a different type of inscription from late in the same century, in which were set out sanctions against any magistrate who fails to ensure that money left in trust with the city is made available to a funerary association.176 Though very fragmentary, this inscription-I.Eph. VII, 1.3214, of which it has recently been demonstrated that VII, 1.3334 is a further portion'77-was recognized by its original editors to be a foundation document, setting out details of an endowment. In these newly-conjoined pieces we have the remains of a decree of a
174 For de l'Asie example, 13 of the 88 inscriptions in F. Sokolowski, Lois sacrees Mineure (Paris, 1955), concern the sale of priesthoods. As his Appendix I shows (193-94), the asking price varied considerably, even allowing for differences of date between the texts. Of these inscriptions, no. 25 is particularly informative, vonErythrai repr. with discussion in H. Engelmann/R. Merkelbach, Die Inschriften undKlazomenai (2 vols, IK 1-2; Bonn, 1973) 2.201, pp. 288-327. This long document from Erythrai, to be dated 300-260 BC, lists over 60 priesthoods for sale. What is the purpose of these offers? To raise revenue for the city. 75 On the mechanism by which this was achieved see Lane Fox, Pagansand 77: concise and clear. Christians, 176 Family members were not always the best choice to ensure preservation of a person's memory: for the reason see Lane Fox, Pagansand Christians, 83-84. '77 C.P. Jones, 'A deed of foundation from the territory of Ephesos', JRS 73 (1983) 116-25; for further discussion of the text see J./L. Robert, Bulletin ipigraphique (1984) 402; and other references at SEG 33.946; 34.1131; 36.1035.

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funerary cult set up by a certain Peplos, warning that if the money left in trust with the city to continue the maintenance of the family heroon and its cult is misappropriated by any civic magistrate of Ephesos, he is to be fined 20,000 denarii, the money being handed over to the Artemision, to the Augusteum, and to the gerousia. The detail which the Peplos document may have contained can be gauged by looking at the largest single text from Ephesos, the Salutaris foundation inscription (I.Eph. Ia.27, dated 104 AD), an endowment designed to benefit the citizens of the city and the personnel of the temple by gifts of money.178 This was not a one-off handout: C. Vibius Salutaris made specific provision for continuing financial support. Further, funds were set aside under the terms of his bequest for the manufacture of over thirty gold and silver statues of Artemis, Trajan, his wife, and others. A number of the statue bases survive, inscribed in both Latin and Greek (I.Eph. Ia.28-37). Naturally, Artemis was not the sole deity in the city.179 As an autochthonous Anatolian Mother-goddess identified by the Greeks with Artemis,'80 she may have dominated Ephesos with her cult and the fame of her temple; but as at any large, comopolitan city in antiquity a vast array of other gods and goddesses received a welcome here,181 representative among them being Attis and Men,'82 Roma,'83 Isis and Sarapis,'84 and Dionysos Phleos:'85
Greek text, English translation and commentary in Oliver, SacredGerusia, 55-85, no. 3. See also n. 66 above. 179 See D. Knibbe, 'Ephesos-nicht nur die Stadt der Artemis. Die "anderen" zur ReligionundKultur Kleinaephesischen Gotter', in S. ;ahin et al. (edd.), Studien siens (Festschrift F.K. D6rner; EPRO 66; Leiden, 1978) 2.489-503. More 34-35, 82. generally, Lane Fox, Pagansand Christians, 180 This is not to ignore the evidence for a separate cult of Kybele at Ephesos on Panaglr Dati. Rather, the point needs to be emphasized that the Ephesian Artemis is not identical iconographically with the Greek Artemis. On this see R. vonEphesos ausAnatolien undverwandte Kultstatuen undSyrien Fleischer, Artemis (EPRO 35; Leiden, 1973), especially 1-137; id., 'Artemis von Ephesos und verwandte Kultstatuen aus Anatolien und Syrien. Supplement', in ;ahin et al. (edd.), Studien zur ReligionundKulturKleinasiens,1.324-58. 181 See most recently Oster's useful survey in ANRW II.18.3 (1990) 1667-98. 182 The evidence for these two is rather tenuous: terracottalamps; cf. Foss, 11. 183 I.Eph. Ia.9; III.702. See in general R. Mellor, 9EA PDMH. Theworship of theGoddess Romain theGreek World 42; G6ttingen, 1975); on Ephesos, (Hypomnemata 56-59, 217-18. 184 I.Eph. IV. 1213. On the presence of Egyptian gods at Ephesos see G. Holbl, Zeugnissedgyptischer Religionsvorstellungen fir Ephesos(EPRO 73; Leiden, 1978); Oster, ANRW II.18.3 (1990) 1677-81.
185
178

I.Eph. IV.1270; V.1595.

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Greek, Egyptian, Roman, and other Anatolian (though this last group is noticeably less frequently attested).186 That is, foreign deities were introduced here; and to that extent, the arrival of Christianity was no different. Acts' description of the situation at Athens is illustrative of this process. For when a hearing is given by the Areiopagos council (at the behest of some of the philosophical schools) to a visitor who appears to be an announcer of foreign divinities (EIvcov8at4iovtcov . . . xaTrtreXtiu, 17:18), the writer glosses the comment with the observation that they were referring to Paul's discussion about Jesus and anastasis; it is as if the latter word was being misunderstood as the name of a goddess. Yet the Pauline expression of Christianity did not manifest a complete affinity with contemporary religions, by any means. In important ways it was more like an intellectual movement: that the invitation to speak emanates from the Stoics and Epicureans secures this inference. The extrapolation is not uncommonly made from the Acts section-especially on the basis of the writer's comments at 17:18 (aorppoX6yos), 21, and 32-that the auditors of Paul's speech were intellectual dilettanti, the idly curious.'87 This is too facile a reading of the passage, and depends on the writer's testimony being discounted, that Paul spoke before the Areiopagos.'88 There is good reason to give the statement some credence, however; for, as has

186
187

E.g., G. Liidemann, Das friihe Christentumnach den Traditionender Ein Kommentar Apostelgeschichte. (G6ttingen, 1987) 198 (- ET [London, 1989] 190), ad 17:21. 188 So H. Conzelmann, Die Apostelgeschichte (Tilbingen, 1963) 97 (- ET series;Philadelphia, 1987] 139), ad 17:19: 'Uberhaupt ist die ganze [Hermeneia Szene-als redaktionnelles Gebilde-nicht vom vermuteten historischen Vorgang, sondern von der lukanischen Absicht her zu interpretieren'; cf., too, his comments on 17:18 ad init. (p. 96; - ET, 138), 'Das Szenenbild mit Lokalkolorit; eben darum ist es als schriftstellerischesGebilde anzusehen', and on 17:20 (p. 97 = ET, 140), 'Der Platz auf dem Areopag ist einfach als beruihmteOrtlichkeit gewiihlt, im Anschluss an der iiberkommene Nachricht vom Areopagiten Dionysios'. Another widely-used commentary adopts a similar position: E. Haenchen, Die Apostelgeschichte (G6ttingen, 197716) 506-10, especially 508, ad 17:34, 'Was wir hier sehen, ist eine "ideale Szene", die jeder Verwandlung ins Realistische spottet' (- ET [of 14th German edn: Oxford, 1971], 527-31, esp. 202 528). Liidemann also discounts the historical basis of the passage: Kommentar, [ - ET, 194]. Lane Fox proffers another example of inadequate treatment by NT commentators, endorsing firmly the historical credibility of the Lystra episode in Acts 14:5-20: Pagansand Christians, 99-101, contraHaenchen, Apostelgeschichtel6, 413-18, especially 414-17 [- ET, 429-34, esp. 431-34].

Oster, ANRW II.18.3 (1990) 1727.

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been

observed

by one who has studied

the Roman-period

Areiopagos

in detail,

'. . . the account of Paul's speech before the

Areopagus illustrates its surveillance over the introduction of foreign divinities'.189 Furthermore, cities in the early Imperial period sought actively to attract highly educated people-doctors, teachers, and rhetors-to take up permanent residence. By their public speaking and writings the last group could be expected to bring renown to the host city; and, more than that, some-like T. Flavius Damianus in 112 AD-participated actively in the both like life a of by holding civic Ephesos, metropolis municipal office and providing benefactions.190 I.Eph. VII, 2.4101 is an incomplete inscription reinterpreted'19 recently as a series of senatus consulta in which customs levies are to be waived for resident members of these three professions. The inscription comprises a number of earlier texts brought together in the time of Trajan, probably by members of the Mouseion'92 at a time when such privileges were under review. Indeed, the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian marked the high point of civic competitiveness to attract intellectuals from elsewhere.193 Antoninus Pius subsequently tried
D.J. Geagan, The Athenian Constitution after Sulla (Hesperia Suppl. 12; Princeton, 1967) 50. Cf. briefly New Docs 1976, 31, which includes mention of a more recent article by Geagan on the Areiopagos. The latest discussion known to me of aspects of the speech is C.J. Hemer's posthumous 'The speeches of Acts, II. The Areopagus address', TynB 40 (1989) 239-50-not very satisfactory. 190 Cf. New Docs 1979, 18, p. 73. Damianus was, in fact, a native of the city. Philostratos, VS605-06, gives us more idea about his vast philanthropythan about of the demos in 166/67 AD: I.Eph. III.811; his skills as a rhetor. He was grammateus VII, 1.3080. 191K. Bringmann, 'Edikt der Triumvirn oder Senatsbeschluss?Zu einem Neufund aus Ephesos', EA 2 (1983) 47-76; cf. SEG 31.952. 192 We still know too little about this institution and its location, which hosted the city's associations of doctors (I.Eph. VI.2304, ot Mv toU Mouesou 'Eiaot &dro Ltxpol; cf. IV.1162; VII, 1.3239) and professors (I.Eph. VI.2065, otl xtpi r | wrtOLuot). On the annual medical competition hosted by the Mouseion MouaTov IV see Jones, Greek City, 219. 193 Some honorific inscriptions for philosophersat Ephesos and elsewhere have been discussed briefly at New Docs1979, 18, especially pp. 70-71 (note, too, some further items mentioned at New Docs, vol. 5.146). Of these D. Runia, 'Philosophical heresiography: evidence in two Ephesian inscriptions', ZPE 72 (1988) 241-42, has restored I.Eph. III.789 to identify the 'eclectic' philosopher from Alexandria as Potamon. As for the particularly interesting pair of texts in praise of Ofellius Laetus, I.Eph. VII, 2.3901 and IC 112 3816 (this latter from Athens), G.W. Bowersock had already shown that they should be understood differently in certain respects from what I reported, and that Laetus was a contemporary of Plutarch; GRBS 23 (1982) 275-79. See further, Runia, 242-43. These two intriguing, short inscriptions are reprinted in the New Docs entry just men189

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to prevent this getting out of hand by imposing a quota on the number of tax-immune positions that cities of different sizes could offer.194 This brings us back to the Athenian Areiopagos. As the governing body of the city in the Roman period, it should be no surprise that one of the functions it embraced was the 'vetting' of possible candidates before incentive-based invitations to take up residence were issued. Its judicial role was not its only one, and there is no need to assume that merely by virtue of speaking before the Areiopagos Paul was on trial.'95 It is quite consonant with what we know of the Areiopagos in other contexts that Acts 17 illustrates its supervisory role both concerning the introduction of new gods and also as the body to test the credentials of a lately-arrived Sophist from the East. In connection with this, brief notice may be given of a portion of a philosophical statement inscribed at Ephesos in II AD which has recently come to light. What survives of this text is very fragmentary, only parts of six lines; but the wording is sufficiently distinctive to suggest to the first editors'96 that it may have been part of a Stoic or an Epicurean diatribe.197 [ - -] xoal PO2E.A 6OPLX6vTxmv liv
[o'a xo 7ap]X?tv

xOa

TIUpTVTr]V Tou 4rjv a4LE?p4tLv(av

TOU .etyCtaTou xT v [ - -] Oavarou 7r1a6OTrrTlTO Tc6 '6O xact det Xov [ -] xarTa OCxpVrltv p.tl
tioned; but although they deserve the wider acquintance of NT researchersthey have not been given prominence in the present essay since E.A. Judge is to discuss them in the context of a forthcoming article, entitled 'St Paul and the inscriptions of Ephesos'. His essay considers ethical language in the Ephesian inscriptions, the extent of overlap with the vocabulary of the Pauline letters, and the significant non-overlap of much of the terminology. Of related interest is another forthcoming essay by him, 'The reception of Matthew's ethical teaching in a Hellenistic audience', which focuses primarily (though not solely) on the inscriptions of Syria. 194See New Docs1977, 2, and the medical p. 12, following V. Nutton, 'Archiatri profession in antiquity', PBSR 45 (1977) 191-226, at 200-01. 195 There is no discussion of the Athens episode by H.W. Tajra, The Trial of St Paul. Ajuridicalexegesis halfof theActsof theApostles ( WUNT 2. Reihe, of thesecond 35; Tfibingen, 1989). This was a deliberate omission from the book for, as he tells me (perlitt. 21.9.90), he holds-rightly, in my view-that there was 'no formal, judicial action taken against Paul in Athens'. 196 D. Knibbe/B. Iplikqioglu, 'Neue Inschriften aus Ephesos, VIII', JOAI 53 (1981/2) Beiblatt col.149-50 no. 169; cf. SEG 33.960. 197 On the problematical use of this term in NT research see briefly New Docs 1979, 13, p. 43; earlier, Judge, JbAC 15 (1972) 33.

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[- -]vou %otvtwlc E Tv oor'lp(o0 Xocp[- K. .TA [..]H[ - -] c9LpavOpOtca [ - T]TIv oL6Xtv

Precisely because it is so fragmentary, this text must not be overinterpreted. Nevertheless, 'we' are provided with release during life from concern [about?] death, mention is made of the most important virtue, something in the present and in the future affects 'us', salvation has been given to 'us', and there is an allusion to philanthropy. If this piece does indeed come from a wall, possibly in a building used by a philosophical group (as is suggested in the ed. pr.), we may have here a portion of the main tenets (kyriai doxaz) of the members, set forth, perhaps, by their leader. There was precedent for this: the new Ephesian fragment is of a piece with the large and famous composite of Epicurean texts inscribed by Diogenes at Oinoanda in Lykia, many more portions of which have come to light in the last decade or two.198 As for Paul, he uses some of this sort of terminology which occurs in the new fragment, an implicit confirmation, perhaps, that he came across to others identifiably as a travelling philosopher.199 But he used the terminology differently, did not argue in altogether expected ways, wrote for a different audience, and so failed to make any lasting impression on the intelligentsia of his day. To return to Ephesos' divine patron: if Artemis was content to share her city with others, she undoubtedly looked beyond it, too. It was in the interests of the city, politically and in other ways, to promote its goddess as having world-wide significance and appeal, embracing and aligning herself with local cults in other places. Divine epiphanies were therefore advertised, especially where they led to the foundation of a new branch of the cult in some other location.200 The claim of Demetrios that Artemis was worshipped throughout the world (Acts 19:27) may have been a useful
198See M.F. Smith, 'Diogenes of Oenoanda, new fragments 122-124', AS 34 (1984) 43-57, containing a long list of his previous publications of new fragments since 1970. Although it appeared before Smith had published more than four of the new fragments, there is still much useful information in C.W. Chilton's Occasionally, Diogenes' inscription includes anti-Stoic polemic. 199Still fundamental in this is E.A. Judge, 'The early Christians as a scholastic community', JRH 1 (1961) 4-15, 125-37 (especially the latter section), though others have followed in his wake with more detailed studies. 200 E.g., Strabo 4.1.4 (179C), Massilia; cf. New Docs 1979, 19, p. 81.
extended commentary, Diogenes of Oenoanda. The Fragments(London, 1971). Note also A. Casanova, I frammenti di Diogene d'Enoanda (Florence, 1984)-non vidi.

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rhetorical point to make on the particular occasion; but it was not mere hyperbole, as I.Eph. Ia.24 shows.201
A The proconsul Gaius Popillius Caro states: 'I learned from the decree which was sent to me by the most illustrious council of the Ephesians that the honourable proconsuls before me regarded the days of the festival of the Artemisia as holy and have made this clear by edict. That is why I considered it necessary, since I also have regard for the reverence of the goddess and for the honour of the most illustrious city of the Ephesians, to make it known by decree that these days shall be holy and the festal holidays will be observed on those days'. (This edict was promulgated) while Titus Aelius Marcianus Priscus, son of Aelius Priscus, a man very well thought of and worthy of all honour and acceptance, was leader of the festival and president of the athletic games. It was decreed by the council and people of the patriotic city of the Ephesians, first and greatest metropolis of Asia, temple-warden of the Augusti two times, concerning the things about which the patriotic [N.] Laberius Amoenus, of the city secretary of the people, made the motion. The patriotic strategoi voted upon it. 'Since the goddess Artemis, leader of our city, is honoured not only in her own homeland, which she has made the most illustrious of all cities through her own divine nature, but also among Greeks and also barbarians, the result is that everywhere her shrines and sanctuaries have been established, and temples have been founded for her and altars dedicated to her because of the visible manifestations effected by her. And this is the greatest proof of the reverence surrounding her, the month named after her, called Artemision among us, and Artemisios among the Macedonians and among the other Greek nations, and among the cities within their borders. During this month festivals and sacrifices are performed, particularlyin our city, the nurturer of its own Ephesian goddess. The Ephesian people regard it as appropriatethat the entire month named after the divine name be sacred and dedicated to the goddess, and through this decree approved that the religious ritual for her be stipulated. Therefore, it is decreed that the entire month Artemision be sacred for all its days, and that on the same (days) of the month, and throughout the year, feasts and the festival and the sacrifices of the Artemisia are to be conducted, inasmuch as the entire month is dedicated to the goddess. For in this way, with the improvement of the honouring of the goddess, our city will remain more illustrious and more blessed for all time'. His own city honours Titus Aelius Marcianus Priscus, son of Titus, of the Claudian tribe, the president of the athletic games and leader of the festival of the great Artemisia, (because) he was the first to conduct the festival in its entirety and obtained festal holidays for the entire month named after the goddess and established the Artemisiac contest and increased the prizes for the contestants and erected statues of the ones who won. L. Faenius Faustus, his relative, erected this in his honour.

In this inscription (dated 162/3 or 163/4 AD) it is stated that Artemis Ephesia is worshipped everywhere by Greeks and non201 Treated by R.E. Oster in New Docs 1979, 19 (his translation is reproduced here); cf. SEG 35.1106, which lists further bibliography on this inscription.

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Greeks alike. Archaeological evidence, haphazard though it be, bears this out: her cult is attested in many places in Asia Minor,202 the Greek mainland and its islands, Italy, France and across to Spain, the northern coast of the Black Sea, Phoenicia, and Palestine.203 One particular way in which this widespread influence was manifested is observable in the adoption of Artemis' name as a month name in a number of local calendars.204 These observations about the spread of Artemis' influence do not, it must be emphasized, allow us to claim that this was a 'missionary' religion,205 if by that rather unsatisfactory phrase early Christianity (and to some extent contemporary Judaism) is taken to be the yardstick for definition. The differences were manifold, and some quite fundamental. The question has its own interest but is too large to
be dealt with here.206

Ecumenical (in the original sense of that word) the cult may have been, but opposition was not tolerated by the city. We find the Ephesian legislature defending Artemis in an inscription well before the time of the NT (I.Eph. Ia.2; c.350-300 BC), in which several dozen men from Sardeis were accorded a capital sentence for their disruption of a festival in the goddess' honour.207 Here we
202 For Artemis in Lydia specifically see J. Keil, 'Die Kulte Lydiens', in W.H. Buckler/W.M. Calder, Anatolian in Honour Studies of Sir W.M. Ramsay (Manchester, 1923), 239-66, at 252. An unpublished inscription with a relief carved above it from Pisidia, on which I am working currently, shows a man making an offering at an altar, with a bull standing nearby, and the enthroned Artemis watching the proceedings. This monument is a family dedication concerning a local cult of Artemis Ephesia, the latter word being specified in order to indicate that the family looks westward from Pisidia towards the goddess' cult centre. 203 The evidence is conveniently summarised by Oster in New Docs 1979, 19, pp. 79-80. 204 Ibid., 81. 205 PaceOster, ANRW II. 18.3 (1990) 1703, 1704, 1705. 206 In summary form, two observations may be noted. (i) The spread of Christianity was not connected inextricably to any one city; at least in its first several generations there was no hidden, political agenda behind the promotion of Christianity by its adherents. Not that this was always true of Artemis' supporters, either; but a political factor is perceptible at times, and their patron goddess was one way by which the Ephesians cemented good relations with other cities, or imposed her on them as a step towards economic ties. (ii) Artemis' supporters were not required to be exclusivist in the way that monotheistic Judaism and Christianity were. On the lack of 'missionary drive' generally among eastern 36. gods: Lane Fox, Pagansand Christians, 207 SEG 36 (1986 [1989]) 1011 lists considerable extra bibliography (new 289-90, readings and interpretations). Translation included in Danker, Benefactor, no. 46.

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have a link, at a fairly general level, with the riot depicted in Acts 19, though the latter incident is represented in part by the writer as a politicising of the cult for economic motives. Not only was there a month called Artemision (March/April) in which the games (the Artemisia), a festival208 and special sacrifices were held in her honour; I.Eph. Ia.24 indicates that proconsular backing was needed in mid-II AD to reinforce the point that on certain days designated as holy to the goddess no legal business could be transacted. The implication is that the boule sought this statement in view of its perception that there was a waning of interest in the way the festival was being observed. It goes beyond our evidence to say that this was due to Christianity,209 even though Pliny may appear to offer a tempting analogy half a century earlier.210 That would be to overrate the influence of Christianity at this period on a specific matter for which we have no firm data. From Rome's point of view, the prestige of Artemis meant that it was useful for political and social reasons that her cult be brought into association with the Imperial cult. Keil mentions epigraphical evidence for a temple of Artemis and the Sebastoi at Tire, within the territory of Ephesos.211 At Ephesos itself it was accepted until a decade ago that the Augusteum was erected inside the peribolosof the temple of Artemis, i.e., outside the walls of the Roman-period city. In 1980, however, it was argued that the actual location of the Augusteum was the middle of the civic Agora, the so-called 'Staatsmarkt';212 though this view has not gone unchallenged.213 Yet Roman attitudes varied at certain periods: boundary stones to mark the borders of Artemis' estates were erected with imperial

The other important festival to honour Artemis fell on 6 Thargelion (later May): Oster, ANRW II. 18.3 (1990) 1707, 1709-11. 209 So R.E. Oster, 'Note on Acts 19:23-41 and an Ephesian inscription', HTR 77 (1984 [1986]) 233-37. Pace L.R. Taylor in Jackson/Lake, Beginnings of Christianity, V. 255-56. 210 Certe satis constat et sacrasollemnia diu celebrari, propeiam desolata templa coepisse intermissa venire<carnem> victimarum, cuius adhucrarissimus emptor repeti passimque inveniebatur (ep. 10.96.10). 211 Anatolian Studies... Ramsay,252. 212 W. Jobst, 'Zur Lokalisierung des Sebasteion-Augusteum in Ephesos', Ist. Mitt. 30 (1980) 241-60. For an earlier proposal that the temple in the Staatsmarkt may have been dedicated to Isis, see Oster, ANR W II18.3 (1990) 1681. 213 S.R.F. Price, RitualsandPower.TheRoman Cultin Asia Minor(CamImperial bridge, 1984) 254.
208

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authority,214 but in contrast the long-standing right of asylia at the goddess' temple was threatened by Tiberius because of the 'safe anchorage' given to those hostile to Roman interests.215 There was a significant precedent for this, of course, going back to the Mithridatic wars,216 and Sulla's sacking of part of the city in reprisal. A fragmentary, late-I BC/I AD init. inscription217 provides us with an asylia text written on the external wall of the Artemision itself:
The temenos of Artemis is inviolate, the whole area inside the perimeter. Whoever transgresses (this provision) will have himself to blame.

At Sardeis, where there was an Artemision with close links with the Ephesian cult (as is shown by I.Eph. Ia.2, mentioned above), an important new asylia inscription has recently been published, dating to the time of Julius Caesar, 44 BC.218 This long but lacunose document (7611.) was found c.575m. north of the Artemision, and I SapsLavfI, ov 7CpoacptLarv |I begins: opos [epO6aauXoo 'ApT.4Lt5oS xrX (1-4). With their Kataap auoxp&iTx)pxat apXtLEpEU, 'PWI'tjI rFaiog somewhat similar language, asylia texts provide a kind of mirrorreverse image of the famous inscription219 from Jerusalem warning non-Jews to keep out of the designated area around the Temple. The cultural milieu of Ephesos must be put aside now with mention, finally, of a first desideratum.There is a need for a specific history of Ephesos in the Hellenistic and early Imperial centuries. Oster's Bibliography ofAncient Ephesusmakes the secondary literature C. Foss' short but informative EphesusafterAntiquity220 controllable; shows what can be done. Useful encyclopaedic articles have been

214 I.Eph. VII, 2.3501-12, ranging in date from Augustus to Trajan (no. 3511 is repr. in New Docs 1979, 28, p. 129). 215 Tac., Ann. 3.60-61; cf. Magie, 1.503-04, with n. 30 at 2.1361. Strabo recognised that the perimeter changed from time to time, 14.1.23 (641C). 216 SIG3 741, IV (Nysa in Caria, after 88 BC); cf. I.Eph. Ia.8 (86/5 BC). 217 I. Eph. V.1420. Also repr. earlier in Sokolowski, LSAM, 189 no. 85; cf. New Docs1979, 78, p. 168. The original provision may extend back to c.II BC, the date given in I.Eph., ad loc. A Domitianic date (preferred by Hemer, SevenChurches, 49) seems too late. 218 P. Herrmann, 'Rom und die Asylie griechischer Heiligtumer: Eine Urkunde des Dictators Caesar aus Sardeis', Chiron19 (1989) 126-64. Herrmann mentions some other examples of asyliatexts. On asyliaat Ephesos Oster, ANR W II.18.3 (1990) 1714-16, provides numerous references. 219

220

OGIS 2.598. Cambridge, 1979.

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G. H. R. HORSLEY

published221 which survey current research; and there is more than one informative popular book.222 But a detailed yet accessible work which synthesises the whole will enflesh the bones of this major Roman city for a much wider readership. It may be hoped that someone will take up the gauntlet for early Imperial Ephesos. In particular, a systematic treatment of the city in the first two Christian centuries should aid reconsideration of the question, whether it was a Gentile expression of Christianity or a Jewish one which predominated, whether in the longer term Pauline or Johannine perspectives had the greater impact. The potential of I. Eph. for linguistic study Even a brief perusal of the I.Eph. volumes brings home what a rich quarry is afforded by this material for those concerned with koine in general and with the language of the NT in particular. In very approximate terms the NT (including its variants) comprises some 6170 lexemes, of which proper nouns constitute c. 670. Based on analysis of the index volumes of I. Eph., the number of different Greek words in the prose inscriptions from this city and its extensive territory totals c. 3250, with those non-overlapping words found only in verse texts yielding a further 450. There are some 2600 proper nouns. The total overall, then is c.6300, in very rounded figures. The total for the NT and I.Eph. will thus be seen to be very the very different prosimilar-purely coincidentally-although of nouns in latter be noted. What overlap the should portion proper is there between NT vocabulary and I.Eph? Remembering that it is an approximate calculation, a rounded figure, there are some
221 E. Biirchner's old article in PW 5.2 (1905) 2773-2822 still has useful material assembled in it. It has now been supplemented and updated, but not altogether superseded, by the excellent contributions in PW Suppl. 12 (1970) 24897 (D. Knibbe, on the history and epigraphy), 297-364 (S. Karwiese, the coins), and 1588-1704 (W. Alzinger, the archaeological finds-primarily dealing with buildings). Since then Knibbe and Alzinger respectively have also produced 'Ephesos vom Beginn der r6mischen Herrschaft in Kleinasien bis zum Ende der Principatszeit', ANRW 11.7.2 (1980) 748-810 (history), 811-30 (archaeology). Most recently, we now have the first part of Oster's discussion of pagan religion in pre-Constantinian Imperial Ephesos, in ANRW II.18.3 (1990) 1661-1728. 222 F. StadtderArtemis Miltner, Ephesos, unddesJohannes (Vienna, 1958); E. Lessder Antike(Vienna, 1978); A. Bammer, ing/W. Oberleitner, Ephesos, Weltstadt Ephesos.Stadtan Fluss undMeer(Graz, 1988), which has a particular focus on the Late Bronze age site.

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1350 prose words, to which may be added a further 85 words which occur only in the verse inscriptions, and 190 proper nouns. That is, c. 1625 words occurring in NT vocabulary are also found in the I.Eph. volumes. This figure (1625/6170) is slightly more than 25% of the total NT vocabulary represented in the inscriptions of this one city. As for the proper nouns in the NT which are also present in the Ephesian inscriptions, the percentage is a little less than onethird (190/670). These percentages must be recognised for what they are. Numerous Christian texts appear in I.Eph.,223 which means that our tally needs to be lowered somewhat. For attestations of NT words in Christian inscriptions may offer no independent witness to koineuse. Yet against this must be balanced the observation that few prepositions, particles, or pronouns are included in the I.Eph. indexes. Furthermore, it will readily be appreciated that the time zone of I.Eph. is very broad (VI BC-VI AD), though there are few texts in fact at either chronological extreme; the major numerical concentration of the inscriptions is I-IV AD, a period entirely appropriate as a range for assessing NT usage. These percentages are based on the c.3600 Greek inscriptions in I.Eph. (ignoring many vacant numbers and allowing for a good few A/B texts). The point to be made is that in these volumes we have a major lexical resource for comparative study with the NT, localised to one area even if not exactly specific to the city itself in every case.224 And it must not be forgotten that new discoveries since the publication of as those incorporated into the recent volumes of I.Eph.-such SEG-are certain to edge up the percentage gradually. But this is not all. In addition to the lexical harvest the I.Eph. repertorium, for all the inevitably lacunose texts it contains, offers a marvellous chance to study the grammar of the inscriptions of this city: its orthography, morphology, and syntax. No other city except Athens and Rome (and possibly Delphi) has such a large data bank

Especially in vols. II and VII, 2, totalling several hundred items. Of approximately 900 texts in I.Eph. VII, 1 and 2, over 550 come from the Kaystros valley and other cities in the region. Yet some of these texts, at least, were erected by residents of Ephesos itself, wealthy people from families which owned estates in the territorium. The Peplos foundation inscription (mentioned above) provides an example. Cf. the comment of Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians, 42 (q.v. 41), that 'the country was not remote from the richer townsman's life'.
224

223

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G. H. R. HORSLEY

of Greek inscriptions.225 Grammars of some other cities' epigraphic material have been produced;226 but by its very bulk of texts I.Eph. now holds out an excellent opportunity to assess how Greek was being employed in certain linguistic registers and epigraphic genres. Apart from its potential per se, such research merits the attention of those in the NT field in case there should surface features distinctive of local Ephesian usage which turn up in the Pauline letters, or in any other works in the NT and in ECL which have an association with that city. Given the length of Paul's stay there (Autumn 52-Summer 55?),227 this may not be an entirely hopeless possibility to envisage. Here, then, is a second desideratum: a grammar of the Greek inscriptions of Ephesos. By way of illustration of this potential, a very small number of examples may be mentioned, taken from a few sample texts in I.Eph. Ia.228
1. ''va c [il] + indicative (LteTaypa&ouatv) in a purpose clause

(43.24-25; the parallel Latin has ne + subjunctive, 9-10); with the same syntactic possibly also i'va + indic. (tecyTpa(&qt) function at 43.29-30 for which the Latin version has ut + subj., although this may simply be an allograph for the homophonous In the NT cf. 1 Cor. 4:6, and Gal. 4:17. In no. 21, lx0cyp&acpj. block 1.37-41 one purpose clause (txcoS . .. '.) is followed by a second which, however, represents the final sense by /ot + indicative (8tLcTXou,tev). A grammatical 'slide' has occurred (cf. English 'that'), the syntactic assimilation or convergence being one expression of the linguistic process called 'grammaticalisation'.229
225 L. Threatte has produced the first volume of his Grammar of AtticInscriptions (Berlin, 1980), which is devoted to phonology. When complete, this work will der attischen Inschriften replace K. Meisterhans, Grammatik (Berlin, 19003; repr. Hildesheim, 1971). Nothing similar exists for Greek inscriptions from Rome. 226 Several are listed at New Docs 1979, 138; more at New Docs, vol. 5.150. 227 This date has been argued most recently by Hemer, Acts in the Setting of

228 15 + 16, two copies of an imperial letter (II, probably time of Antoninus Pius); 21, a decree of 138 AD concerning the birthday of Antoninus Pius; 23, proconsular edict (c.146/7); and 43, a well-preserved, bilingual Imperial rescript to the proconsul of Asia, Festus, dated sometime between 372-78 AD, in which quite a jumble of stylistic and syntactic features are present. 229 The term 'grammaticisation' is also used. Although the linguistic phenomenon of lexical items becoming morphological and syntactic markers had been identified early this century-note particularly A. Meillet's 1912 article, 'L'evolution des formes grammaticales', repr. in his Linguistique et historique

Hellenistic History, 188, 256-58, 261.

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161
is

very S 6p0o xat aOiroh {E}ux [[o]Iv, E1anpaL0voF I $j7r=Ep I| Et xaOCXCO, 0[v] this 'And let decree stand enacted vevoAo0:e9laOo- xTX, properly and well, just as it would have been if I myself had introduced it'. In the NT cf. passages like Lk. 13:9 and 19:42 where the apodosis is completely suppressed, or 2 Pet. 2:4-7 where the period has become so long that the apodosis may simply have been forgotten by the writer, occasioning an anacolouthon.230 3. Atticism: Very little thorough exploration has ever been made of Atticistic features in non-literary texts, though many publications offer passing comments. W. Schmid's fundamental study of Atticism a century ago gave some attention to the inscriptions of Pergamon;231 but his work appeared before many papyri had been published.232 From the selection of

2. conditional

sentence

with

an

tv 6t-Av apocopated: 21, block II. 12-15, xaxl I aUrtca

apodosis

which

linguistique (Paris, 1948) 130-48-only in the 1970s and especially in the geinrale 1980s has there been considerable attention given to it, in the broader context of the reappreciation of the contribution of Historical Linguistics. The epigraphical example mentioned here illustrates another aspect of grammaticalisation:a grammatical marker takes on another syntactic function. Naturally, rather more examples would need to be adduced to show that this instance was not simply anomalous. For some discussions of grammaticalisation see, e.g., T. Giv6n, On Grammar Understanding (New York, 1979), especially 207-33; B. Heine/M. Rey,
Grammaticalizationand Reanalysis in African Languages (Hamburg,

15-93; A. Saxena, 'On syntactic convergence: the case of the verb "say" in

1984), especially

grammaticalization), 375-88; E.C. Traugott, 'Pragmatic strengthening and grammaticalization', in ibid., 406-16 (cf. briefly New Docs, vol. 5.80); J. L. Bybee, 'Cross-linguistic comparison and the development of grammatical meaning', inJ. 83; Bybee/W. Pagliuca, 'The evolution of future meaning', in A.G. Ramat et al.
Fisiak (ed.), Historical Semantics, Historical Word Formation (The Hague, 1985), 59(edd.),

Annual Meeting Tibeto-Burman', in S. Axmaker et al. (edd.), Proc. of the Fourteenth of the BerkeleyLinguistics Society (Berkeley, 1988; the whole volume is devoted to

Studiesin LinguisticTheory 48; Amsterdam, 1987), 109-22. The same question is dealt with in much more detail in Bybee/Pagliuca/R.D. Perkins, 'Back to the to GramFuture', forthcoming in E.C. Traugott/B. Heine (edd.), Approaches maticalization (2 vols; Amsterdam, 1991?).
230

Papers from the 7th International Conferenceon Historical Linguistics (Current

See further A.T.

Robertson,

HistoricalResearchNew York, 19234) 1023-26 (on elliptical conditions); BDF ?454(4).

231

A Grammar of the Greek NT in the Light of

Hildesheim, 1964) 2.19-33. 232 Note the useful papyri of soundings by A.L. Connolly, Atticism in non-literary
the first seven centuries AD. A study in severalfeatures of their orthographyand syntax

Der Atticismus in seiner Hauptvertretern(5 vols; Stuttgart,

1887-97;

repr.

(unpub. BA [hons] thesis, Univ. of Sydney, 1983). On the implications of this sort of work for NT text-critical study, and the potential help afforded by sociolinguistics see New Docs, vol. 5.41-48.

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inscriptions being noted here, -Tr- occurs at 16.2, 23.25, 27, and 43.16; and the first of these inscriptions has OiTrov (1.16)
for T&XLov.233 The Attic contraction xuSoT0 (for txutou) is to be found in 16.13.234 4. optatives: 15.10 = 16.12; 16.13; 15.7-8 has ol&a [o&t] + opt.

for which the parallel passage at 16.8-10 uses oTox+ accusative and participle. 5. itacism in abundance;235 6. grammatically anacolouthic sliding between singular and plural verb forms as occasionally occurs in papyrus and NT letters (43.29-30);236

xatl0X-lS rvT tInapXaqioq TO 7. chiasmus (43.15), vriv t&lTiv 'Aaia<o vr-q a iEoPa, x 2X.237 8. asyndeton: 21, block II. 1-2, OtevouXi'io 'Apoovtoavo 'EeTf&ov PouXfj, &pXouat, 8~lu X(pe[tv']. That this &av9O6Tro[s] feature was formulaic here is confirmed by its appearance at the beginning of a letter of Octavian to the Ephesians.238 9. anacolouthon, a striking instance at 43.20-21: xaoCot tSioe; iv rilt ittxplTS tLxtp 7t|X9vrac npoTx/pttEea, (= intxExp) To?US
TOv Ftatvov TOv ix (uXOiC t6XEs,av,7ta&v87rlortxoT'rpaO S yTaVFevot xrX.239 avGT&covt, aOuTcoTZ T0o | 7tapeEOaoat, SoUitaCv &o#jLOU

10. numerous particles in no. 23: ydp, Bi, Fiyv,ouv.240

233 234

See BAGD, s.v. tarXiWo.

See BAGD, s.v. taurou, with its references to BDF ?64(1) and Robertson, Grammar4 226.
235 236

For the NT see BDF ?22-24.

Writer andtheSecond to Timothy M. Prior, PaultheLetterLetter (JSNT Suppl.23; Sheffield, 1989), deals with a different question (37-45), identifying the possibility of joint authorship of several of the letters in the Pauline corpus as a markedly unusual (but not actually unique) feature in ancient epistolography. Prior argues that this accounts for the shifts between singular and plural forms ('I/We') in certain letters. 237 For the NT note BDF III. Syn?477(1); N. Turner, A Grammar of NT Greek, tax(Edinburgh, 1963) 345-47; id., Grammar...,IV. Style(Edinburgh, 1976) 97-99. None of these is very satisfactory, nor is the earlier work by N.W. Lund, Chiasmus in theNT (Chapel Hill, 1942), an altogether balanced treatment. 238 Reynolds, Aphrodisias and Rome, no. 12; cf. SEG 32.1128. This letter, not actually preserved at Ephesos but inscribed at Aphrodisias, is to be dated very late 39 or early 38 BC. Asyndeton in the NT: Turner, Grammar, III. 340-41. 239 See the ed. n., ad loc.; for the NT, BDF ?466-70; Turner, Grammar, III. 342-43. 240 For the NT see M.E. Thrall, Greek in theNT. Linguistic Particles andExegetical Studies(NT Toolsand Studies Particles in 3; Leiden, 1962); also J. Blomqvist, Greek Hellenistic Prose(Lund, 1969). Cf. New Docs, vol. 5.59.

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11. Latinisms: tO Ixavov 7OLOUVTOac (43.28; the parallel Latin has Mk cf. 15:15;241 Ttpov (43.30). satisfacientes, 12), be that this is It must emphasised merely a scatter of examples noted in passing. Systematic analysis of the I.Eph. volumes is certain to yield much of interest in its own right about the use of Greek there; and there is a good probability also that certain linguistic features of the NT which have seemed odd to some NT specialists hitherto242 will find exemplification in the inscriptions of Ephesos. By virtue of the geographical location of the city on which we have been focussing, inscriptions have claimed all our attention. Just as important for NT research are the papyri, which receive considerably more notice in NT circles than inscriptions do. Moulton and Milligan's great work, The Vocabulary of the GreekTestament, has tacitly had the effect, I submit, of persuading its users that the papyri have far more to offer than epigraphical material. Furthermore, since the appearance of their dictionary in 1930-a dictionary which was already nearly a generation out of date by the time it was complete due to the procedure adopted of publishing in fascicules-the point seems to have become very largely accepted that the documentary evidence has yielded as much as it is likely to for NT work. There is more to it than this, however; for the 1930s witnessed a reaction against the approach to the Greek of the NT of which Deissmann was the foremost representative.243 The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the following decade implicitly
Cf. BDF ?5(3b); Turner, Grammar, IV.29-30. In an important new article focussing on the Apocalypse, S.B. Porter, 'The language of the Apocalypse in recent discussion', NTS 35 (1989) 582-603, complements what I have to say in various places in New Docs, vol. 5. 243 J. Vergote, 'Het probleem van de koine in het licht van de moderne Studien 6 (1934/5) 81-107, at 89; J. Ros, De studievan linguistiek, II', Philologische
241 242

het Bijbelgrieksch van Hugo Grotius tot Adolf Deissmann (Nimwegen,

1940) 34-44,

especially 44. See also New Docs, vol. 5.37-40, which ventures to suggest briefly (39) why their position vis-a-visDeissmann is wanting. There has been rathermore basis for the rejection of some other aspects of Deissmann's views, including the unsatisfactory distinction he set up between epistles and letters in the Pauline East [ET: London, 19274; repr. Grand Rapids, 1980] from theAncient corpus (Light 227-51, especially 239-40), and the social level of the first Christians (ibid., 7, 290, et passim). These two points have been discussed in, e.g. A.J. Malherbe, Social Aspects of EarlyChristianity (Philadelphia, 19832) 31-59, especially 31-41; and noted briefly in various places, including G.H.R. Horsley, 'Divergent views on the nature of the Greek of the Bible', Biblica65 (1984) 395; the latter point also in, Christians e.g., W.A. Meeks, TheFirst Urban (New Haven, 1983) 51-53, the former
most recently in Prior, Paul the Letter-Writer, 51-53.

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appeared to confirm the correctness of this reaction against 'Deissmannism'; for they have encouraged researchers to give much greater weight to the Jewish background of the NT writings, especially the Gospels. There are thus several contributory factors which have led to that neglect of the Graeco-Roman milieu which ensued over the next generation, a neglect most visible in certain general books on the NT background.244 That is not to deny that this aspect in the social matrix of early Christianity was being entirely ignored; and, indeed, the last fifteen years have seen a considerable effort to reappraise the Hellenic contribution, involving a variety of approaches.245 The legacy of the History of Religions School earlier this century has been one contributory factor in this; another has been the attempt-with mixed success-to apply and anthropological models to the NT assemblies, and sociological to find affinities and contrasts in the Graeco-Roman environment. The latter approach is not to be denigrated, though it is sometimes embraced uncritically.246 Nevertheless, it is patent that the linguistic skills which provide a control over the ancient texts have been tacitly downgraded in value in NT research over the last couple of decades. Yet these linguistic skills are an essential undergirding to ensure that the texts are not being misread or misapprehended historically when theoretical models are being tested out on them. Towards a new 'Moulton and Milligan' When in late 1980 the decision was taken at Macquarie University in Sydney to determine whether Moulton and Milligan's dictionary needed some kind of updating, it was decided that instead of embarking straight into collection of data for a dictionary itself,
244 A strikingly imbalanced example is E. Lohse, TheNew Testament Environment (1974; ET: London, 1976). 245 To instance simply some diverse examples of especially productive work from three continents, we may note the work of A.J. Malherbe and some of his colleagues and students at Yale, of B.J. Malina and some of his work with such collaborators as J. Neyrey and J.H. Elliott; of G. Theissen and M. Hengel (the very different approaches taken by these two men must not be allowed to blur recognition of the considerable stimulus which the work of each has afforded to others); and of E.A. Judge and certain colleagues and students at Macquarie. 246 See the useful survey article by E.A. Judge, 'The social identity of the first Christians: a question of method in religious history', JRH 11 (1980) 201-17.

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we should produce a bulletin which evaluated the amount of new, non-literary material appearing each year, and particularly to weigh its significance for NT grammatical (especially lexical) and historical research. That 'bulletin' became the series New Documents IllustratingEarly Christianity.Five volumes have appeared to date,247 of which the fourth (1987) focusses particularly upon Ephesos. The fifth volume has a rather different character from its predecessors, attempting to pull together some diverse strands in the earlier volumes via a series of linguistic essays.248 One of these concerns onomastics,249 a field of study not yet being fully exploited by NT social historians; and the vehicle by which this subject is canvassed is I.Eph. Ia.20, the lengthy inscription translated above which concerns the fishing association of the city. Another chapter250 in this fifth volume takes some soundings in NT lexicographical work, and draws attention to ways in which MM is now considerably dated.251 The intention of the series was to 'test the water' in relation to the need for a new MM. Yet because the New Docs volumes addressed questions of social history as much as philological matters, the series has in fact come to have a life of its own.252 As a result of the reception accorded these books, of considerable correspondence with colleagues in several countries, and of two meetings held in North America in late 1985, the Australian editorial committee decided to commit itself to rewriting-not To say that the old dictionary needs commerely revising-MM; is slur on the innovative and distinguished no plete replacement contribution of James Moulton and George Milligan. Rather, it is a taking-up of the invitation they themselves expressed in the preface to the first fascicule, quoted above. This new enterprise is a long-term one, for which much preliminary work has already been done; but the dogged years of collecting data lie ahead: there are
247 248

North Ryde, 1981-89.

S.P. Swinn. 249 New Docs, vol. 5.95-114.

250 251

It also contains cumulative indexes to the whole series, composed de novoby

Ibid., 67-93. In the latter regard the aim was to present some observations which supplemented the useful discussion by C.J. Hemer, 'Towards a new Moulton and Milligan', NovT 24 (1982) 97-123. 252 My own responsibility for the series has now ceased; but it should be noted that S. Llewellyn and R.A. Kearsley are well under way at Macquarie with preparation of the sixth volume.

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some 1400 volumes of inscriptions and papyri to be read de novo. From the reading of these texts slips must be generated;253 and from them entries must be drafted for the new dictionary. The two designated Chief Investigators for this project are J.A.L. Lee (University of Sydney), and myself (La Trobe University).254 We are anxious to involve colleagues on an international collaborative basis in this undertaking, and so are always on the lookout for volunteers who would be interested to read a volume of inscriptions or papyri and to make slips for the project. Currently there are some three dozen volunteers in eight countries. Although this project has been from its inception an Australian initiative, we do not believe that it should be Australians alone who are involved in it. We are keen to secure the goodwill of colleagues everywhere in what we are doing and, more than that, their active support in collaboration so that the dictionary really can be brought to a new birth.255 Conclusion The aim of this paper has been one of consciousness-raising, to provide some examples of the way that inscriptions-specifically, add to our understanding of the here, those of Ephesos-may language of the NT and of the multi-faceted social environment with which the Christian movement256 began to interact within its
By way of illustration, I. Eph. Ia contains most of the large inscriptions from the city. Disregarding those in Latin alone and ones which are too late for our purposes, the 39 Greek or Greek/Latin bilingual texts have yielded well in excess of 1000 slips. Not all epigraphical and papyrological volumes offer such a harvest; some prove to contain next to nothing useful for our work. Yet all must still be read. 254 Macquarie University still retains an interest in the project through the presence of E.A. Judge on the editorial committee; but since there is no longer any Chief Investigator at Macquarie, the administrative home of the enterprise has now become the University of Sydney. The New Documents series remains based at Macquarie; and though there continues to be close liaison between them, that series and the planned new dictionary may be expected to tread increasingly independent paths, in recognition of their different goals. 255 Those interested to know more about the project or wishing to help as a volunteer reader of texts should write to Dr J.A.L. Lee, Department of Greek, University of Sydney, N.S.W. 2006, Australia. 256 The very phrase, 'the Christian movement',is of course misleading historically in that it implies some kind of monolithic unanimity from the outset. At one level, it is the very articulateness of Paul and the writer of the Fourth Gospel (them pre-eminently in the NT, but not them alone) which can lead us
253

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first few generations. That there are significant new tools needed for the study of Ephesos has been suggested. In view of the quantity of inscriptions and papyri being newly published each year, nonliterary texts now form (with archaeological finds of other kinds) a defacto cutting edge of Classical Studies,257 even though they have usually been treated as somewhat marginal in comparison with the dominant position accorded to the honoured legacy of literary works. It would be a great misfortune if the continuing flow of rich, new documentary evidence about the Graeco-Roman world passes NT researchers by without their making a concerted effort to draw that material into their own ambit and to assess its worth for the discipline.258 Naturally, not too much should be claimed for the non-literary material: what it can do to illuminate the NT is limited in certain important respects. But the danger really lies, I suggest, in another quarter: the tacit acceptance by so many in the NT field that the contribution which these texts may make is so minute that they do not really warrant much attention.

astray on this question. But the phrase has been used throughout this essay as a kind of shorthand; and the reader's indulgence is begged. Whether it is possible to say anything much about the early Christians as theindividuals theyweremust be largely doubted, allowing for the obvious exceptions like Peter and Paul. But the question raises an important issue of method, which must be reserved for another occasion. 257 Another area which has attracted increasing attention over the last two decades is Late Antiquity. On developments in general see the schematic observations of Z. Stewart, 'Changing patterns of scholarship as seen from the Center for Hellenic Studies', AJP 111 (1990) 257-63; and especially his wry comment, that 'the "cutting edge" of scholarshipcould be defined, I suppose, as the place where every scholar has wished to be ever since the term was invented' (257; cf. more generally the saluatory remarks at 257-58). 258 A very recent instance of this occurs in S. Hafemann, '"Selfcommendation" and apostolic legitimacy in 2 Cor.: a Pauline dialectic?', NTS 36 (1990) 66-88, an article on Paul's attempt to legitimate his position in 2 Corinthians. On pp. 76-80 the meaning of the word xavcbv at 2 Cor. 10:13 is considered, the conclusion being that it is a 'standard ofjudgement' or 'norm' by which Paul's apostolic authority in Corinth is evaluated (79). Hafemann accepts far too readily the claim of H.W. Beyer in TDNT3 (1965) 596-609 that xavdv never has the sense of an assigned geographical sphere. While Hafemann is aware of J.F. Strange, '2 Cor. 10:13-16 illuminated by a recently published inscription', BA 46 (1983) 16768, he has apparently not followed up the article which occasioned Strange's note on this important bilingual inscription from Sagalassos in Pisidia. For it was in the republication of this text in New Docs 1976, 9 that E.A. Judge drew attention to the significance of the use of xcav,v with just this sense in a text contemporaneous with the beginning of Christianity.

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G. H. R. HORSLEY

Ephesos is indeed special; but in the diverse typicality of its finds this marvellous site may also be discerned to be a representative reflection of other, contemporary Graeco-Roman cities. Material of major importance continues to be discovered. Year by year Ephesos-to say nothing of so many other places-continues to yield up tangible evidences of its Imperial-period past. Here are realiawhich offer the opportunity to arrive at a solid appreciation of the social and political context in which the first two or three generations of Christians coexisted with their friends and neighbours, and in which they tried to come to terms with the implications for their lives of their new adherence. This opportunity is only for those who will take the time to work through the material systematically. There are no short cuts. The latter do not get us beyond the level of generalisation: 'the inscriptions and papyri are useful to illustrate the NT' is the type of platitude to be avoided. Only by coming to close quarters with these texts individually will their potential be realised. This can be exciting work precisely because new texts are being addressed, which in turn so often allow us to view old questions in a new light. And it is at this point that the historical imagination can legitimately come into play. But to reach that stage requires a great deal of hard grind, what a colleague from Columbia once described to me as 'chalkentericity'. Therein lies the challenge.