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. scription; (see Fig. 299). This inscription in the judgment of several impartial epigraphists should be restored as follows:1 To unknown gods, This is not only a confirmation of the statement of Acts 17:23, but of Pausanias2 (second century A. D.) and Philostratus3 (third century A. D.) that altars to unknown gods existed. 3. The Date of Paul's Contact with Gallio. The chronology of the life of Paul cannot be fully determined from the Bible itself. Such chronological data as the New Testament affords help us only to a relative chronology. Could the year of one of the dates given by the New Testament be determined by a date of the Roman empire, it would enable scholars to fix with approximate certainty the other dates. Hitherto the endeavor to do this has centered about the recall of Felix from Palestine and the coming of Festus (Acts 24 : 27), but there has been so much uncertainty about the date of this recall, that systems of chronology, differing from one another by from four to five years, have been constructed. A fragmentary inscription has come to light from Delphi, which seems to give us the desired aid for our Pauline chronology in that it fixes the date of the coming of Gallio to Corinth (Acts 18: 12). This inscription, as its lacunæ are supplied by Deissmann, is as follows: Tiberius Claudius Cæsar Augustus Germanicus, Pontifex Maximus, of tribunican authority for the 12th time, imperator the 26th time, father of the country, consul for the 5th time, honorable, greets the city of the Delphians. Having long been well disposed to the city of the Delphians.. I have had success. I have observed the religious ceremonies of the Pythian Apollo ...now it is said also of the citizens.. Lucius Junius Gallio, my friend, and the proconsul of Achaia, wrote. on this account I accede to you still to have the first'. .as At this point the inscription is too broken for translation, although the beginnings of several lines can be made out. The importance of the inscription lies (1) in the fact that it mentions Gallio as proconsul of Achaia, and (2) in the reference to the 12th tribunican year and the 26th imperatorship of Claudius. It can 1 Taken from Deissmann's St. Paul, p. 261, f. 2 Pausanias, i, 1 : 4, and v, 14: 8. Philostratus, Vita Apollonii, vi, 3. Translated from Deissmann's St. Paul, pp. 246, 247. be deduced from these, in comparison with other inscriptions of his, that this letter was written between January and August of the year 52 A. D. If Gallio was then in office, and had been in office long enough to give information to Claudius of material importance to the purpose of the emperor's letter to the Delphians, Gallio must have arrived in Corinth not later than the year 51. According to Dio Cassius, Claudius had decreed that new officials should start for their provinces not later than the new moon of the month of June.2 Gallio must, therefore, have arrived in Corinth not later than July. Paul's stay in Corinth extended over eighteen months (Acts 18: 11), and the narrative in Acts implies that a large part of it had passed before Gallio went there. Paul must, then, have arrived in Corinth not later than the end of the summer of the year 50. As the journey described in Acts 16 must have occupied some months, the council at Jerusalem, described in Acts 15, cannot have taken place later than the year 49 A. D. In Gal. 2:1 Paul says that this visit occurred fourteen years after the visit which followed his return from Damascus. As the Jews in counting time usually reckoned the two extremes as a part of the number, even if a part of them only should really have been included, the visit of Paul to Jerusalem, mentioned in Gal. 1: 18 must have occurred not later than 36 A. D., nor earlier than 35 A. D. As this visit occurred "three" years after his conversion, we find, if we make similar allowance for the possibilities of Jewish reckoning, that his conversion occurred not later than 34 A. D., and possibly as early as 31 a. D.3 4. The Epistles. The Epistles of the New Testament, especially those of Paul, are cast in the form of ancient letter-writing. This form in its more stately aspects has long been known through the letters of Aristotle, Epicurus, Cicero, Seneca, Pliny, etc., but the papyri discovered in Egypt afford us many examples of the more familiar and affectionate style of informal letter-writing, and frequently, at the beginning, afford parallels to expressions which are found in the introductions of Paul's Epistles. The following examples will illustrate this: Isias to her brother, greeting: If you are well and other things happen as you wish, it would be in accordance with my constant prayer to the gods. I too am in good health, and so is the boy; and all at home make constant remembrance of you. When I got the letter through Horus, in which you explain that you are in 1 See Deissmann's St. Paul, p. 248, ff. Dio Cassius, lvii, 14, 5. The most reliable chronologies of the life of Christ now place his crucifixion not later than 30 A. D. sanctuary at the Serapeum in Memphis, I straightway gave thanks to the gods for your being in good health, but as for your not coming to us when the evils that threatened you there have passed away, I am disconsolate because such a long time I have been keeping myself and the child, and am come to the lowest point on account of the price of bread, and I did think that now you were coming I should find a little relief, but you seem to have no idea of coming to us, nor to have an eye to our circumstances, as you would if you were still here. We are in need of everything, not only because such a long time and so many seasons have passed since you were here, but because you have not sent us anything. And besides that, Horus, who brought your letter, tells me further that you are released from sanctuary, and I am perfectly miserable. No, indeed! and your mother, too, takes it very hard, and you will do well to come for her sake as well as ours to the city, unless some more pressing need draws you elsewhere. Farewell, then, and have a care for your body so as to be in health. Good-bye. Epephi 30th, of the 9th year.1 This letter was written in the year 172 B. C. "Brother" in it probably means husband. The husband had gone on a religious mission and has left the wife without support. He at last sent her a letter, and this is her reply. She wishes to persuade him to return, and writes with great tact. What she says about remembering her husband in her prayers, and her thanks to the gods for his health, reminds one of the language of Paul in 1 Thess. 1:2; 3:9; 2 Thess. 13, 11; 2: 13; 1 Cor. 1:4; 2 Cor. 1:4-6; Phil. 1: 3,9; Col. 1:3; Philemon 4. Another letter which illustrates the same points is this: Ammonios to his sister Tachnumi, much greeting: Before all things I pray that you may be in health, and each day I make the act of worship for you. I salute heartily my goodest little boy Leo. I am jolly and so is the horse and Melas. Don't neglect my son. I salute Senchris, and I salute your mother. I likewise salute Pachnumi and Pachnumi junior. I salute......and Amenothis. Hurry up about the boy until we go to my place. If I come to the place and see the place, I will send for you and you shall come to Pelusium, and I will come to you at Pelusium. I salute Steches, the son of Pancrates. I salute Psemmouthis and Plato. If your brothers dispute with you, come to my house and stay there until we see what to do. Don't neglect it. Write me of your own welfare and of my boy's. Hurry up over the matter of the farm. I wrote this letter in Themuis on the fifth of the month Phamenoth. We have two days more, and then we will arrive at Pelusium. Melas greets you all by name. I salute Psenchnumi, the son of Psentermout. I pray that you may be well and strong.2 The sentence of this letter which follows the greeting is couched in almost the same language as 3 John 2, and the number of people saluted in it and the manner of their salutation reminds one strongly of Rom. 16: 3–16. 1 The original is in Berlin and the publication is not accessible to the writer. The above translation is taken from that of J. Rendel Harris in the Expositor, 5th series, Vol. VIII,p. 164. Translated by J. Rendel Harris, ibid., p. 166. |