Greco-Roman World

Over the past fifty years, archaeological excavations in Israel have unearthed about half a dozen ancient synagogues that were in use at different points in time between the first century BCE through the outbreak of the Bar-Kochba rebellion early in the second century of the Common Era.  In close proximity to each of these synagogues, a mikveh (ritual bath) has been discovered.  In contrast, no mikvaot have been discovered adjacent to any of the dozens of later synagogues that have been excavated and studied, with only one or two possible exceptions. 
At this point it is impossible to determine exactly when mikvaot ceased to be built in connection with synagogues, as the archaeological record reports very little about synagogues of the late second - early third century CE.  From an archaeological perspective, it is clear that at least from the second half of the third century, synagogues began to be built without regard for proximity to mikvaot.
Talmudic sources make no mention of a requirement to build mikvaot adjacent to synagogues. To date, no satisfactory explanation has been given for the evident connection between the synagogue and the mikveh in the early period, and the disappearance of such a connection in later periods of synagogue history. The objective of this paper is to present and explore a possible interpretation of this puzzling phenomenon.
  During the Second Temple and Mishnaic Periods, a rabbinical enactment was in effect requiring mikveh ablutions prior to engagement in Torah study and prayer for individuals who had experienced seminal emission. Careful study of the Talmudic sources reveals that this enactment was nullified early in the Amoraic Period, sometime during the second quarter of the third century CE.
It would appear that the mikvaot built adjacent to the earlier synagogues were intended for this precise function, serving visitors to the synagogue who required ritual ablutions prior to Torah study and prayer.  Once the rabbinical enactment regarding these ablutions was nullified, there was no longer need for such mikvaot, and hence the absence of mikvaot in proximity to the later synagogues.

In the book we argue that 2 Cor 10, although presenting strong characteristics of polemical discourse, actually sets in motion a self-praise speech with a pedagogical, not defensive purpose. The chapter in question serves as a programmatic introduction to the Pauline boasting developed in chapters 11–13. Applying rhetorical analysis, we show that 2 Cor 10 contains an exordium (10,1-6) and a propositio for the entire speech (10,7-8); we further identify by this analysis the criteria crucial for legitimate apostolic boasting (10,12-18). The main problem of 2 Cor 10–13 expressed in the propositio (10,7-8) regards Paul’s claim to be a true servant of Christ and to have the right to boast about it. This problem is strictly connected with the accusations of the opponents which point at his weakness and ineffectiveness in dealing with the community’s problems.

Thus, 2 Cor 10 sets the stage for all of 2 Cor 10–13. This chapter is the key to a proper understanding of the rhetorical stasis of the entire speech elucidated from the Pauline inventio and dispositio. Paul’s use of the periautologia, metaphor, and irony reveals the strong position of the Apostle in Corinth but also points out the fatal infatuation the Corinthians have with newcomers. The causa of Paul ultimately revolves around the status qualitatis: he proves he is strong enough to be the leader in Corinth and paradoxically demonstrates that weakness should belong to the identity of apostle.  Such a reading of the rhetorical stasis introduces two problematic issues begun in 2 Cor 10 and continued in Cor 11–13: the relationship between power and weakness and the legitimacy of Pauline boasting. Paul’s approach to weakness in 2 Cor 10–13 challenges the standards on which the evaluation of true apostleship is made. Contemporaneously, he also recognizes infirmity as an integral part of his apostolic identity. Christ himself is the only model that enables Paul to subvert worldly standards of judgment and claim weakness as an integral part of his apostolic mission (13,3-4). Subsequently, 2 Cor 10 is crucial to understanding the legitimacy of Paul’s boast developed throughout all of 2 Cor 10 – 13. The thesis (10,7-8) and its argumentation (10,12-18) elaborate the exterior criteria of such boast including a divine call (status qualitatis) and apostolic praxis (performance), as well as the supreme rule saying that all credit for apostolic achievements should be given to the Lord (i.e. boasting en kyriô 10,17). Paul successfully responds to the first two imperatives of boasting. Problems, however, arise when he comes to the last criterion, namely, boasting in the Lord (en kyriô). The ego-centric boast based additionally on the comparison mentioned for the first time in 10,12 is the one that Paul fears and abhors and calls foolish, but he is forced, nevertheless, to undertake it for the sake of his spiritual children. The tool that ultimately enables him to transform self-aggrandizing speech into speech that is focused on Christ is his paradoxical boasting of weakness. It is being prepared in the pivotal section 11,30-33 (the entirety of 11,1-29 should be read as boasting of the apostolic achievements) and reaches its climax in 12,9-10. The careful crafting of the discourse based on Christological principles and meant for the edification of the community (10,8; 12,19; 13,10) ultimately speaks against qualifying it as a parody of the opponents’ boasting.

This work critically examines every one of the spells and rites translated in Hans Dieter Betz's "Greek Magical Papyri in Translation" and Daniel & Maltomini's "Supplementum Magicum" (plus texts drawn from a number of other lamellae, amulets, etc) with a view to identifying the precise magical technique used in each case. This categorisation is done on the basis of the original Greek or Demotic headwords or key words rather than upon the translation or later imprecise descriptions. The result is an identification of 40+ magical techniques such as autoptos, systasis, agoge, niketikon, oneiropompos, etc, rather than a simple but unhelpful identification each passage as a 'spell' or 'charm'. This is fully tabulated with line count for every single rite, presenting the full panorama of Graeco-Egyptian magic in the form, and with the structure, that the original scribes or magicians would have used. This enables ready access to all of the passages relevant to any one technique. It also removes the difficulties presented by varying translations of a specific Greek technical term by a range of different English approximations (such as 'love spell' for more than 7 different processes). Each of these techniques is then expanded upon showing where they influenced later systems of magic or remained unique in the Graeco-Egyptian world.

This dissertation investigates homo- and bisexuality in the Roman world, by focusing primarily on Pompeii’s graffiti. Scratched on walls, street facades, public buildings, within the domus and often inserted in paintings or frescoes, Pompeian graffiti differ in topic, structure and kind: they vary from insults to dedications, from political notices to salutations, from jokes to love poems. The quantity of homoerotic graffiti is, in particular, worthy of note, since they offer an important contribution to the study of homo- and bisexual attitudes in the Roman world. If today sexuality is divided into distinct categories and homo- and bisexuality are seen as “unnatural” and “against nature” in some countries, Pompeii’s homoerotic graffiti help us overturn this view: not only do they show that homo- and bisexual behaviours were widespread among the Romans but also that our modern conception of sexuality can be applied only in part to the Roman world, since it was not present in the same form. The graffiti from Pompeii demonstrate that sexuality is a transient concept, which varies according to time, society and culture, and they also invite us to think afresh about our modern way of considering of homo- and bisexual attitudes.

While describing the Greco-roman world or what is called classical antiquity (from 8th-5th cent BC), one will never miss out on the deep-rooted institution of slavery. The dominant mode of production in classical Greece, which governed the complex articulation of each local economy and gave its imprint to the whole civilization of the city-state, was that of slavery. This was to be true of Rome as well. The Ancient World as a whole was never continuously or ubiquitously marked by the predominance of slave labour. But its great classical epochs, when the civilization of Antiquity flowered-Greece in the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. and Rome from the 2nd century B.C. to the 2nd century A.D.-were those in which slavery was massive and general, amidst other labour systems.

The pillar tombs, dated back from 2nd century BC to 1st century, are the most characteristic monuments of the city from the Hellenistic Roman
period excavated on the site of modern Marina El-Alamein in Egypt. Despite relatively small sizes, they achieved exceptionally strong expression thanks to the particular architectural concept. It is based on presentation of a complete architectural order in the form of a single pillar or column. Its analogues are rare. Forms of the tombs decoration are Hellenistic; they are of Alexandrian origin and should be associated to the initial period of the development of the ancient city. Their particular simplification and geometric stylization enhance the architectural expression. Among few discovered in the years 1987–1994 by the Polish Archaeological Mission of the University of Warsaw and unearthed as completely collapsed, five have been reconstructed by the anastylosis by successive Polish-Egyptian conservation missions. Thanks to their monumentality they are considered today to be the main monuments of the archaeological site. The article presents the history of the discovery of monuments, the idea of their architectural form, and attempts to find its origin. Questions of anastylosis of the monuments were discussed.

Like the other books in the Week in the Life series, Beers is a New Testament scholar who attempts to bring to life the world of the first century. Beers is associate professor of religious studies at Westmont College. She has previously contributed monograph The Followers of Jesus as the ‘Servant’: Luke’s Model from Isaiah for the Disciples in Luke-Acts (LNTS 535; London: T&T Clark, 2015), reviewed here. Unlike other books in the series, Beers brings a female perspective by focusing not only on a very poor woman in Roman Ephesus, but a poor woman who is pregnant. Many of the cultural and historical background featured in this book have not been covered in one of the other books.

Turning to a region of South Italy associated with the heritage of Greater Greece and the geographies of Homer's Odyssey, Marco Benoît Carbone delivers a historical and ethnographic treatment of how places defined in public imagination and media by force of their associated historical events become sites of memory and identity, as their landscape, heritage, and mythologies turn into insignia of a romanticised antiquity.

For the ancient Greeks, Homer had set the marine monsters of the Odyssey in the Strait between Calabria and Sicily. Since then, this Mediterranean passage has been glowing with the literary aura of its mythological landmarks. Travellers and tourists have played Odysseus by re-enacting his journey. Scholars and explorers have explained the myths as metaphors of whirlpools and marine fauna. The iconic Strait and village of Scilla have turned into chrono-topic place-myths and playgrounds, defined by their literary aura and the region's ancient heritage inspiring representations in media, travels and tourism.

Carbone observes the enduring impact of Hellas on the real Strait today. The fascinations of artists and travellers, and their continuous rekindling of cultural and visual traditions of place have intersected with philhellenic Western historiographies, shaping local policies, public histories, views of development and tourism, and forms of Hellenicist identitarianism. Elements of society have celebrated the landscape of the Odyssey, appropriated Homer as their imagined heirs and fellow citizen, and even purported themselves as the original Europeans, thus pandering to outdated ideological appropriations of 'classical' antiquity and exclusionary, West-centric views of the Mediterranean.

Myth and Mysteries of contractual coins and gems in the Greco-Kushan South Asia prefigure enduring religious beliefs in India. The unique bilingual square tokens inscribed in Prakrit Brahmi Patalvasa (Gk. Πανταλέων/Pantaleon) is pivotal. Patal Vasa means the one who lives in the underworld. The Lord of the underworld is Bhuvaneshwar. Bhuvan is earth, world, or home. Ishvara denotes the Supreme Being, God, Ishta-Deva, or a personal divinity equal to the Roman genius or a guardian angel that could be one’s ancestor. Ishvara is also the superior Self. In Vaishnavism, Ishvara is Vishnu, whereas, in Saivism, Shiva is Parameshvara, the supreme Ishvara. The inscribed Buddhist relics and exclusive stupa casket from Gandhara are the first to mention Shivarakshita, Shiva the Protector. Shiva, Vishnu, Lakshmi, and other deities in the Hindu pantheon first manifest in the Buddhist funerary cult long before they are shaped during the Gupta period. The early historic period assimilates divinities from the Roman world. The fusion develop distinct cults and uniqueness in Indian philosophy and religion. The synthesis changed the history of religions and the world civilizations. Here we see how Patal Vasa, Shivarakshita, and Baselios Agathocles (BAΣIΛEΩΣ AΓAΘOKΛEOYΣ) meaning the Lord of Good Glory and  Dikaios the Just  pan out in the visual media and culture.

Although Fourth Ezra and Second Baruch roughly date to the same era (late 1st to mid-2nd century) and respond to the same catastrophe (destruction of the Second Temple), use the same narrative device of pseudepigraphy and narrative foil (destruction of the First Temple), it has been noted that their theologies and theodicies are markedly different. In addition, the narrative point of view also differs, informed as it is by the chosen narrator personae. Baruch is actually located in Jerusalem and near the Temple Mount in the wake of its destruction, whereas Ezra – by his own account – is removed in time (30 years after the destruction) and space (located in Babylonia). He is thus looking back and looking in.

This paper asks to what degree these different perspectives influence their portrayal of the city of Jerusalem.

It has now been published in: Interpreting 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch. Jason Zurawski, ed. (proceedings volume of the 6th Enoch Seminar, held in Milan (Italy), 26-30 June 2011). London/New York: T&T Clark, 2014: 138-152

Introduction to Messianic Judaism provides a description of what the Messianic Jewish community looks like today at its center and on its margins. The first section of the book traces the ecclesial contours of the community, providing a socio-historical and theological snapshot of the community's origins, where it is presently and where it is heading. Alongside these chapters, the book also includes a number of essays on biblical and theological issues central to the identity of Messianic Judaism. The twelve contributors to the first part of the book are recognized leaders in the Messianic Jewish community. They work with various organizations, including the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, the International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues, the Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council, Tikkun International, Chosen People Ministries, Messianic Jewish Theological Institute, Israel College of the Bible and the New School for Jewish Studies. Fourteen scholars from a wide spectrum of Christian backgrounds have written essays for the second part of the book. Their participation signals a growing academic and ecclesial interest in Messianic Judaism. Since the 1970s, a sea change has taken place in New Testament studies that has far-reaching implications for how the church evaluates Messianic Judaism. A broad reassessment of the New Testament writers’ view of Judaism has occurred since the publication of E. P. Sanders’s seminal work Paul and Palestinian Judaism (1977), and this reevaluation continues unabated. The contributors to the second part of Introduction to Messianic Judaism draw from this recent scholarship and demonstrate how post-supersessionist interpretation of the New Testament results in readings of the biblical text that are consistent with Messianic Judaism. The final section of the book is written by Joel Willitts who provides a summary and synthesis of the essays, explaining how they shed light on the ecclesial context and biblical foundations of Messianic Judaism.

Naples in the first century BC was a city in recovery, yet was recovering to prosperity. The city had seen many times of prosperity and strife in its long history, but by the end of the first century BC, it had settled into a more predictable pattern of prosperity, though different from anything it had seen before. Its interactions with Rome had forever changed the city dynamic, which had been moulded in three very specific events in the past: the second Samnite War, Hannibal’s invasion of Italy, and the contemporary sack of the city by Sulla in 82 BC. Each of these events shapes the relationship between Rome and Naples to bring the two cities into the dynamic seen at the beginning of the empire and sustained for its duration. However, to understand fully the interactions between the two cities, this paper will look into the more remote past of this essentially Greek city on the Italian peninsula by tacking its history from its founding up until the contemporary time period of the first century BC.

The Roman marriage ceremony of the early Roman Empire was heavy with symbolism. The ceremony was focused on the bride, and each aspect was an attempt to impart onto her the ideals of a Roman aristocratic woman. These symbols, such as the sex crines and the flammeum, were taken from various Roman priestesses, who were used as symbols of Roman marriage and represented the ideals of aristocratic Roman women. “Aristocratic girls, at least, were expected to bring to their husbands enough education to lend sparkle and desirability as a spouse, maidenly chastity and finally the dual charms of wifely fidelity and fertility.” This essay discusses the standard Roman aristocratic marriage and how the diverse symbolism within the ritual depicted the ideal Roman aristocratic married woman. Because several of these symbols are directly taken from different orders of Roman priestesses, this essay looks at case studies of three orders in the time of the early Empire. Each priestess represented an aspect of what the ideal Roman aristocratic married woman should be. The Vestal Virgins represented chastity, the Flaminicae represented the importance of modesty and fidelity, and the priestesses of Ceres represented the ideal of motherhood and fertility. The ideal aristocratic woman would be a combination of all of three orders of priestesses.

In this paper classical Athenian discourses about the end of tyranny and the beginning of democracy are analyzed. In particular, taking as a starting point the perspective of some modern specialist about Athenian democracy as a political regime that lacked a theory or systematic thinking as sustenance, aristocratic elements present in democratic discourse are taken into account. Lastly, the discourses about the end of tyranny are situated in the broader context of ideological disputes about the political capability of the masses.

Keywords: Athens – Discourse – Democracy – Aristocracy – Democratic Theory


En el presente artículo se analizan los discursos existentes en la Atenas clásica acerca del fin de la tiranía y el comienzo de la democracia. En particular, partiendo de la perspectiva de diversos autores modernos según la cual la democracia ateniense careció de una teoría o un pensamiento sistemático que le hayan brindado sustento, se estudian las características aristocráticas presentes en el discurso democrático. Por último, se relacionan los discursos sobre el fin de la tiranía con las disputas ideológicas en torno a la capacidad política de las masas.

Palabras Clave: Atenas – Discurso – Democracia – Aristocracia – Teoría Democrática

With the present volume alongside his previous Early Narrative Christology: The Lord in the Gospel of Luke (Baker Academic, 2009), C. Kavin Rowe has emerged as an important and self-consciously interdisciplinary contributor to ongoing conversations in Luke-Acts. Where Early Narrative Christology employed narrative criticism to track the meaning and usage of kyrios in Luke’s Gospel, in World Upside Down, Rowe blends traditional biblical exegesis, narrative criticism, political theory, and constructive theology to marshal an argument about the theo-political logic of Acts (7)

The present study explores the dynamic of persuasion and force in Acts within the context of Greco- Roman and Jewish political thought, with special reference to 4 Maccabees. It also constitutes a response to C. Kavin Rowe’s argument for two closely related points, namely, that Acts rejects statecraft and and that it leaves no room for coercion, which conflicts with the nature of Jesus as Lord. After first clarifying what is at stake for Rowe theologically (§1), I survey the themes of persuasion and force in Acts, arguing that the early Christian community is portrayed in terms of the ideal polity. A fundamental element of this portrayal is the fact that Acts shows the early Christian leaders to be extremely persuasive, divinely inspired, while Jewish, Greek and Roman leaders resort to force in an effort to stop the expansion of the gospel (§2.1). This is supplemented by a brief discussion of 4 Maccabees (§2.2). Finally, I demonstrate that Acts preserves a place for force within the context of the Christian community in the elements of divinely initiated force evident in the death of Ananias and Sapphira, among other events (§3). I conclude that the dynamic of persuasion and force, along with other civic themes, belies Rowe’s argument that Acts rejects “statecraft” and coercion, showing that both points are problematized rather than proven by the narrative Acts in its ancient context of Greco-Roman political thought.

Recent studies have cast doubt on the existence of the modern concept of interpersonal forgiveness in the Greco-Roman world, finding instead greater attention to vengeance, power dynamics, and executing justice for offenders. This article examines forgiveness in Augustine in comparison to the Greco-Roman world. Both Augustine and his non-Christian interlocutors understood the Church as advocating a novel, difficult practice: unconditional forgiveness. But Augustine defends unconditional forgiveness while sharing the Greco-Roman concern for justice by using the example of Christ’s forgiveness to distinguish between the act of forgiving—which is unconditional—and being forgiven—which is conditioned on reform and reparation.

Hellenistic astrology is a tradition of horoscopic astrology that was practiced in the Mediterranean region from approximately the first century BCE until the seventh century CE. It is the source of many of the modern traditions of astrology that still flourish around the world today, although it is only recently that many of the surviving texts of this tradition have become available again to study.

Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune is the first comprehensive survey of this tradition in modern times. The book covers the history, philosophy, and techniques of ancient astrology, with a special focus on demonstrating how many of the fundamental concepts underlying the practice of western astrology originated during the Hellenistic period.

For more information about the book visit:

http://www.hellenisticastrology.com/book/