The date of this document, which is only a copy, is not given, but as it refers to two transactions in real estate, which were dated respectively in the 5th and 6th years of Nero, and as that monarch's reign began in October of the year 54 A. D., it is probable that this is a copy of an enrolment made in connection with the census of 6263 A. D. This proves that the system of taking the census once in fourteen years was in operation as early as the reign of Nero. 3. Fragment from the Reign of Tiberius.1 To Eutychides and Theon, local census-takers and village census-takers, from Horion and Petosiris, priest of Isis, the most great goddess, of the temple called the Two Brothers in the city of Oxyrhynchus on the street Myrobalanos, near the Serapeum. Those who live in the house which belongs to me and my wife Tasis and to Taurius, son of Harbichis, and to Papontos, son of Nechthesorios, and to Thæchemere, in the house which is near the aforesaid temple of the Two Brothers are as follows: The papyrus at this point becomes too mutilated for further translation. The importance of this document is revealed by an examination of the names of the officers, Eutychides and Theon. Another papyrus from the same place, which contains a notice of a removal, is dated in the 6th year of the Emperor Tiberius. As these officers were still in office when this census was taken, this must be the census of the year 20-21 A. D. 4. Enrolments Probably Inaugurated by Augustus. Another papyrus contains a list of people who were exempt from poll-tax in the 41st year of the reign of Augustus.3 As the poll-tax was intimately connected with the census, it is altogether probable that the census was inaugurated by Augustus. As he became emperor in 27 B. C. and at once proceeded to organize his empire, the census may have begun early in his reign. If there was one in 20 A. D. there would be one in 6 A. D., 9-8 B. C., and possibly in 23-22 B. C. If there was not one in 23-22, that in 9-8 B. C. would be the first. This is the one to which reference is made in Luke 2:2. If the birth of Jesus occurred at the time of this census, it must have been earlier than we usually suppose. Ramsay thinks that the 1 Translated from Grenfell and Hunt's Oxyrhynchus Papyri, II, 1898, p. 214. Kenyon, Greek Papyri in the British Museum, II, 19, thinks that this cannot refer to a census because the term by which it is described is different, but, as Grenfell and Hunt remark, the simpler term in the papyri earlier than the year 61 A. D., indicates that we are nearer the beginning of the institution of the census. Ibid., p. 205; cf. p. 206. taking of the census in Judah may have been delayed till 7 or 6 B. C., on account of Jewish prejudices. 5. Document Showing that People Went to Their Own Towns for Enrolment. In connection with the census of Quirinius it is stated in Luke 2:3: "All went to enroll themselves, every one to his own city." This has been felt by many scholars to be an improbable statement, and has been cited as an evidence of the unhistorical character of the whole story of the census in Luke. In this connection part of a papyrus discovered in Egypt, which is dated in the 7th year of the Emperor Trajan, 103-104 A. D., is of great interest. This document contains three letters. The third of the letters is the one which relates to our subject. It is as follows:1 Gaius Vibius, chief prefect of Egypt. Because of the approaching census it is necessary that all those residing for any cause away from their own nomes, should at once prepare to return to their own governments, in order that they may complete the family administration of the enrolment, and that the tilled lands may retain those belonging to them. Knowing that your city has need of provisions from the country, I wish... . (At this point the papyrus be comes too fragmentary for connected translation.) It is perfectly clear that in Egypt the enrolment was done on the basis of kinship. The word rendered "family" above [av] means "kindred" in the larger sense. The phrase rendered "belonging to" [them, i. e., the tilled lands] also means "kindred." It appears, then, that in Egypt the enrolment of each district was intended to include all the kinsmen belonging to that district, and that, lest those residing elsewhere should forget to return home for the census, proclamations were issued directing them to do so. It is well known that in many respects the customs of administration in Syria and Egypt were similar. Luke's statement, that Joseph went up from Nazareth to Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to enroll himself with Mary (Luke 2: 4, 5), turns out to be in exact accord with the governmental regulations as we now know them from the papyri. 6. Inscription Supposed to Refer to Quirinius. A fragmentary inscription found at Rome in 1828 is thought by Mommsen and others to prove that Quirinius was governor of Syria twice, and that the governorship to which Josephus refers (Antiquities, XVII, i, 1), which was coincident with the deposition of 1 Translated from Kenyon and Bell's Greek Papyri in the British Museum, Vol. III, 1907, p. 125 Archelaus in 6 A. D., was his second appointment. The inscription as filled out by Mommsen and others reads:1 [P. Sulpicius Quirinius, consul..... .; as proconsul obtained Crete and Cyrene as a province... ; as legate of the divine Augustus, obtaining Syria and Phoenicia he waged war with the tribe of Homonadenses who had killed Amyntas the kling; when he returned into the domi[nion of the Emperor Cæsar] Augustus and the Roman people, the senate [decreed] thanksgivings [to the immortal gods] on account of the two success [ful accomplishments] and triumphal ornaments to him; as proconsul he ob[tained] Asia as a province; as the legate of the divine Augustus he [obtained] again Syria and Phoenicia. If this inscription were intact its evidence would be decisive, but unfortunately it is only a fragment, and the name of Quirinius is just that which has to be supplied from other inscriptions. That so eminent a scholar as Mommsen thought that this name was the one which once began the inscription is of weight, but it does not compensate for the loss of the name. 7. Inscription from Asia Minor Referring to Quirinius.2 The following inscription, discovered by Prof. Ramsay and Mr. J. G. C. Anderson, of Oxford, is believed by Ramsay to prove that Quirinius was governor of Syria between 10 and 7 B. C. This inscription was found at Antioch, a fortified colony in southeastern Phrygia or southern Galatia, in the year 1912. The name Caristanius connects its erection with the time of the Hamonadian war, 10–7 B. c. That Quirinius received the honor of an election to the office of honorary duumvir of the colony at this time, is held by Ramsay to prove that he had been sent to Syria as governor, and had been military commander in the war against the Hamonades. It was the benefits which accrued to the little colony of Antioch from his victories in this war, which led to the election 1 Translated from the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, XIV, No. 3613. Translated after Ramsay, Expositor, series 8, Vol. IV, 1912, p. 401. For Ramsay's opinions, see the article of which the inscription forms a part. and the erection of this statue. Ramsay, accordingly, holds that this inscription proves Quirinius to have been governor of Syria about 11-7 B. C., and this confirms the statement of Luke 2:2, that the census at the time when Jesus was born was the first enrolment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. One objection to this theory is that from other sources (Josephus, Antiquities, XVI, x, 8; xi, 3), it appears that Sentius Saturninus was governor of Syria at this time, i. e., from 9–7 B. C., just at the time when, according to the papyri, the census should occur. This is supported by a statement of Tertullian, that Jesus was born when Saturninus was governor of Syria. To meet this objection, Ramsay supposes either that the authority of Quirinius and of Saturninus overlapped, the former being military commander and the latter civil governor, or that Quirinius ruled until about July 1st of the year 8, the census year, and Saturninus then took office. These are, however, mere possibilities. We have not yet clear information concerning these points. Later, in 6 A. D., Quirinius was sent out to Syria again (see Tacitus, Annales, III, 48), and took over as governor of Syria the kingdom of Judah on the deposition of Archelaus, and conducted the census there of 6-7 A. D. (See Josephus, Antiquities, XVIII, i.) Many scholars have held that Luke confused this governorship with earlier events and was accordingly in error as to his chronology by at least ten years, but the archæological facts here collected tend to corroborate Luke's accuracy on this point. It should be added that Luke knew that Quirinius had charge of the census in Palestine in 6 A. D., as Josephus states, for he says: "This was the first enrolment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria." 8. Conclusions. It should in all candor be noted just what archæology has proved concerning this matter, and what points are still, from the archæological side, outstanding. It has proved that the census was a periodic occurrence once in fourteen years, that this system was in operation as early as 20 A. D., and that it was customary for people to go to their ancestral abodes for enrolment. It has made it probable that the census system was established by Augustus, and that Quirinius was governor of Syria twice, though these last two points are not yet fully established by archæological evidence. So far as the new material goes, however, it confirms the narrative of Luke. CHAPTER XXVII ARCHEOLOGICAL LIGHT ON THE ACTS AND EPISTLES THE POLITARCHS OF THESSALONICA. AN ALTAR TO UNKNOWN GODS. TION FROM DELPHI AND THE DATE OF PAUL'S CONTACT WITH GALLIO. FROM EGYPT. INSCRIPTIONS MENTIONING Aretas, King of ARABIA. 1. The Politarchs of Thessalonica. AN INSCRIPSOME EPISTLES In Acts 17:6 the rulers of Thessalonica are called in the Greek "politarchs." It is a unique term, and its accuracy had been called in question by some scholars. Within the past hundred years no less than nineteen inscriptions have come to light which prove its accuracy, by referring to the rulers of Thessalonica as "politarchs." One of the most important of these is from an arch in Thessalonica. It runs in part as follows, the beginning being illegible:1 In the time of the Politarchs, Sosipatros, son of Cleopatra, and Lucius Pontius Secundus Publius Flavius Sabinus, Demetrius, son of Faustus, Demetrius of Nicopolis, Zoilos, son of Parmenio, and Meniscus Gaius Agilleius Poteitus...... Another fragmentary inscription shows that the rulers of the city bore this title as early as the time of Augustus. It is in part:2 Bosa, proconsul, made a stone-quarry for the temple of Cæsar, in the time of the priest and judge, the Emperor Cæsar, the divine son Augustus. the politarchs remaining faithful, viz.:-Diogenes, the son of Kleon, the...., etc. It is not clear from the inscriptions whether the number of politarchs was five or six. 2. An Altar to Unknown Gods. In Acts 17: 23 it is stated that Paul saw in Athens an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. In the year 1909 an altar was discovered in the sacred precinct and temple of Demeter at Pergamos in Asia Minor, the home of one of the seven churches of the book of Revelation (Rev. 2: 12, f.), which bore a mutilated in 1 Translated from Burton's publication in the American Journal of Theology, II, 600. |