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Maximinus and the Christians in A.D. 312: a New Latin Inscription*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

Stephen Mitchell
Stephen Mitchell
Affiliation:
University College of Swansea
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Extract

Two historical events occupy central positions in the conversion of the Roman empire to Christianity. To study them makes for a radical and intriguing contrast in historical method. One, the conversion of Constantine, can surely only be approached by examining private and personally held beliefs as they were made public by a single individual, Constantine himself. A biographical approach will be the only way to approach the truth about an individual conversion. The other, the persecution of Christians at the beginning of the fourth century, initiated by an edict of Diocletian of 24 February 303, and concluded by the so-called ‘edict of Milan’, issued by Licinius on 13 June 313, cannot be understood except by examining the public documents which made known the various imperial decisions which implemented persecution, or toleration, of the Christian community at large.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 78 , November 1988 , pp. 105 - 124
Copyright
Copyright ©Stephen Mitchell 1988. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

1 Barnes, CE; Fox, R. Lane, Pagans and Christians (1986), 609–62Google Scholar.

2 CIG 288 3d; Grégoire, H., Recueil des inscriptions grecques chrétiennes d'Asie Mineure (1922, repr. 1980), 70–1 no. 224Google Scholar; Rehm, A., Die Inschriften von Didyma (1958), no. 306Google Scholar.

3 CIL III. 12132; OGIS 569; Grégoire, Recueil, no. 282; TAM II. 3. 785; see below.

4 MAMA I. 170. Millar, ERW, 576 n. 58 sees in the expression κελεύσεως φοιτησάσης ἐπὶ Μαξιμείνου τοὺς Χρειστιανοὺς θύειν καὶ μὴἀπαλλάσεσθαι τῆς στρατίας a reference to Maximinus' edict of 305–6 (see F below), but that had no clause forbidding Christians to leave military service, and at that date Maximinus would have had no authority in Pisidia. Barnes, NE, 156 n. 45 suggests the possibility that Maximinus could have been inscribed in error for Maximianus, a name used by Galerius, which makes it possible to retain the date of 305/6. However, since Maximinus was by far the most active persecutor of these emperors, it seems preferable to refer the order to him (cf. S. Mitchell, Anat. Stud. 32 (1982), 110). The epigraphic evidence for Valerius Diogenes' governorship of Pisidia is consistent with a tenure that covered the years 311–13. Most of the relevant inscriptions are from Pisidian Antioch and have been collected and re-edited in Appendix I of S. Mitchell and M. Waelkens, Pisidian Antioch. The Site and its Monuments (forthcoming). Calder, W. M., Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 8 (1924), 345–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar, cites two other epitaphs which probably relate to victims of this period. One is a tombstone for Παῦλον τὸν μάρτυραν from the Isauro-Lycaonian borderland (MAMA VIII. 200), the other is the verse epitaph of Gennadius from the central Anatolian plateau, ὁ ἱρογ[ρ]αφείην γὰρ ἀνέτλη | οἴκτιστον θνήσκων, καὶ δυσμενέων ἀνοσείων | ἤπιος ὤν ἐταίων μινυνθάδειος δ᾿ ἐτελεύτα (MAMA I. 157). In this text I take the term ἱρογραφείη to be a reference not to Holy Scripture, but to an imperial letter authorizing persecution, for which ἱερὰ γράμματα would be the vox propria.

5 P. Oxy. 2601, 2673.

6 Most of these are conveniently collected and translated in Coleman-Norton's, P. R. indispensable Roman State and Christian Church. A collection of Legal Documents to AD. 535 I (1966)Google Scholar.

7 Barnes, NE, 128; C. Habicht and P. Kussmaul, ‘Ein neues Fragment des Edictum de Accusationibus’, Mus. Helv. 43 (1986), 135–44.

8 Anat. Stud. 10 (1960), 44 ff. I should like to thank Lütfi bey for his invaluable help on this and other occasions.

9 von Aulock, H., Jahrb. f. Numismatik und Geldgeschichte 19 (1969), 80–3Google Scholar; Münzen und Städte Pisidiens I (Istanbuler Mitteilungen Beihefte 19, 1977), 34, 101Google Scholar. Twenty-six specimens of the mint are known.

10 Ramsay, W. M., Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia I. I (1895), 327Google Scholar; G. Radet, Rev. arch. 23 (1893), 197; cf. W. Ruge, RE XI (1922), 1070.

11 G. E. Bean, Anat. Stud. 10 (1950), 44 ff. I hope to publish elsewhere a full account of the site with other new inscriptions.

12 Cf. Bardy, G., Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica III. Sources chrétiennes 55 (1967), 55–6Google Scholar.

13 Eusebius, HE IX. 7. 2: ἀντίγραφον ἑρμηνείας τῆς Μαξιμίνου πρὸς τὰ καθ᾿ ἡμῶν ψηφίσματα ἀντιγραφῆς ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν Τύρῷ στήλης μεταληφθείσης.

14 In the notes to CIL III. 12132 (cf. n. 3). Millar, ERW, 446 overlooks the effective identity of the Tyre rescript and the Arycanda text. The point was well taken by Coleman-Norton, op. cit. (n. 6), 24, although he is excessively severe in condemning the various attempts to restore the Latin of the Arycanda text (27 n. 12). The text of the petition is translated by Stevenson, G., A New Eusebius (1957), 297 no. 257Google Scholar, and by Lewis, and Reinhold, , Roman Civilisation II, 600–1Google Scholar.

15 Millar, ERW, 573–84.

16 Lactantius, de mort. pers. 13; Eusebius, HE VIII. 2. 4. The provisions effectively reduced high-ranking Christians to the status of humiliores. The measures concerning Christians and the courts were presumably made effective by requiring plaintiffs and defendants alike to offer sacrifice before cases were heard. This appears to be illustrated by P. Oxy. 2601.

17 N. Baynes, CAH XII, 665–6; Millar, ERW, 574.

18 Millar, ERW, 254, noting the conflict between HE VIII. 2. 4 and Mart. Pal. I. 1.

19 Barnes, NE, 65–6.

20 Eusebius, Mart. Pal. IV. 8: γραμμάτων τε τοῦ τυράννου τοῦτο πρῶτον διαπεφοιτηκότων, ὡς ἂν πανδημεἰ πάντες ἄπαξ ἁπλῶς μετ᾿ ἐπιμελείας καὶ σπουδῆς τῶν κατὰ πόλεις ἀρχόντων θύοιεν, κηρύκων τε καθ᾿ ὁλῆς τῆς Καισαρέων πόλεως ἄνδρας ἄμα γυναιξὶν καὶ τέκνοις ἐπὶ τοὺς εἰδώλων οἴκους ἐξ ἡγεμονικοῦ κελεύσματος ἀναβοωμένων, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ὀνομαστὶ χιλιάρχων <ἀπ᾿> ἀπογραφῆς ἕκαστον ἀνακαλουμένων. The phrasing recalls the edict of 304/5: γραμμάτων τοῦτο πρῶτον βασιλικῶν πεφοιτηκότων, ἐν οἶς καθολικῷ προστάγματι πάντας πανδημεὶ τοὺς κατὰ πόλιν θύειν τε καὶ σπένδειν τοῖς εἰδώλοις ἐκελεύετο. For the census see Barnes, NE, 227–8 and below.

21 Barnes, NE, 22–3. All the manuscripts give the names and titles of Galerius and Constantine; some omit Licinius; none includes Maximinus. It is commonly assumed that mention of the last two names was partially or completely suppressed because both were later seen as implacable persecutors.

22 More than simply village head-men, they were perhaps the overseers of imperial estates. The one inscription of Asia Minor that mentions a pagarches occurs at Laodicea Catacecaumene, the centre of the largest imperial holdings in central Anatolia (W. M. Ramsay, Ath. Mitt. 13 (1888), 238 no. 11; S. Mitchell, ANRW II. 7. 2 (1980), 1078–9 for the estates).

23 Lactantius, de mort. pers. 34. 2, ‘siquidem quadam ratione tanta eosdem Christianos voluntas’ (Greek πλεονεξία, N. H. Baynes, CAH XII, 672 proposes that <mala> voluntas should be read) ‘invasisset et tanta stultitia occupasset…’ See the comment of J. L. Creed in his commentary (1984). Several Eusebian manuscripts omitted this clause in the Greek translation, doubtless because of its pronounced anti-Christian tone.

24 For the exaggeration see Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians, 591–2, citing Grant, R. M. in Neusner, J. (ed.), Studies for Morton Smith 4 (1975), 161 n. 86Google Scholar.

25 Barnes, NE, 68 and Millar, ERW, 582.

26 Eusebius, HE x. 4. 5; Lactantius, de mort. pers. 48. 2–3. For the date, see Barnes, NE, 71, 81.

27 Millar, ERW, 583–4.

28 Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians, 592, 596 ff.; de Ste Croix, G. E. M., Harvard Theological Review 1954. 75 ff.Google Scholar; cf. Eusebius, Mart. Pal. XIII. 12 on the limited extent of persecution in the western provinces.

29 Barnes, NE, 6–7; 65–7.

30 Cf. Barnes, CE, 158.

31 See Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians, 599–601.

32 HE IX. 2. I: (Theotecnus) τοὺς Ἀντιοχέων παρορμήσας ἐπὶ τὸ μηδαμῶς τινα Χριστιανῶν τὴν αὐτῶν οἰκεῖν ἐπιτρέπεσθαι πατρίδα ὡς ἐν μεγίστῃ δωρέᾳ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ τυχεῖν ἀξιῶσαι. Eusebius' summary may echo some of the phrasing of the original petition.

33 TAM II. 3. 785: εἰ ὑμετερῷ θείῳ καὶ αἰωνίῳ | [νεύματι παντάπ]ασιν κατασταίη ἀπειρῆσθαι μὲν καὶ κεκωλῦσθαι | [τὴν κακουργία]ν τῆς τῶν ἀθέων ἀπεχθοῦς ἐπιτηδεύσεως.

34 Millar, ERW, 446.

35 Cf. S. Mitchell, ‘The Life of Saint Theodotus of Ancyra’, Anat. Stud. 32 (1982), 109–10. Note especially vita S. Theodoti 26, where Theodotus is promised that if he becomes high priest, διά σου δὲ προστασίαι ἔσονται πρὸς τούς ἄρχοντας ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος καὶ πρεσβείαι πρὸς βασιλέας ὑπὲρ τῶν ὅλων πραγμάτων.

High priests occur in SIG3 900 (discussed below), and on the inscription for Epitynchanos from the Upper Tembris Valley (see the references at Anat. Stud. 32 (1982), 110 n. 93 and, for the provenance, Waelkens, M., in Donceel, R. and Lebrun, R. (edd.), Archéologie et religions de l'Anatolie ancienne. Mélanges en l'honneur du professeur Paul Naster (1984), 285)Google Scholar.

36 Anat. Stud. 32 (1982), 107–8.

37 MAMA I. 170, with Calder, W. M., Gnomon 10 (1934), 503Google Scholar ff.; cf. Barnes, NE, 156, and n. 4 above.

38 Barnes, NE, 66, 68 with Eusebius, HE IX. 6. 3 and VII. 32. 31.

39 SIG3 900; IK XXI. Stratonikaia I, no. 310; Barnes, NE, 68.

40 Barnes, CE, 193; JThS 30 (1979), 48–55. It is disputed whether Methodius was bishop of Olympus or Patara. Perhaps, as Barnes suggests, he was promoted from the former to the latter. There is, however, a difficulty here. If it is correct that Maximinus granted exemption from the urban poll tax to Lycia on 1 June 312, after exemption had already been given to the diocese of Oriens, and that this decision was made in Syrian Antioch, as the priority of Oriens over Lycia and Pamphylia suggests (see below), then Maximinus must have reached Syria well before the reported date of Methodius' martyrdom. Perhaps, then, the trial of Methodius was conducted by the provincial governor, known from the poll tax decision to have been Eusebius.

41 Foss, C., Byzantine and Turkish Sardis (1976), 13–17CrossRefGoogle Scholar on the school of the fourth century founded by Chrysanthius, who was made high priest of Lydia by Julian in his pagan revival. For the persistance of paganism at Sardis see Foss, 28–9.

42 Note MacMullen's, R. remark in his Paganism in the Roman Empire (1981), 48Google Scholar on the sanctuary of Hecate at Lagina: ‘Were we to choose one point in space and time that brought to a focus the beliefs and practices [of Graeco-Roman paganism under the empire], surely it would be this columned portico on some morning around the year 200’.

43 Bardy, op. cit. (n. 12), Eusebius. Historia Ecclesiastica III, 54; Barnes, CE, 160.

44 Millar, ERW, 446.

45 HE IX. 3: (Theotecnus) τὸν δαίμονα καὶ τὸν θεὸν δὴ κελεῦσαι φησὶν ὑπερορίου τῆς πόλεως καὶ τῶν ἀμφὶ τὴν πόλιν ἀγρῶν ὡς ἀν̀ ἐχθροὺς αὐτῷ Χριστιανοὺς ἀπελάσαι. For oracular statues, see Jones, C. P., ‘Neryllinus’, Classical Philology 80 (1985), 40–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

46 Fox, Lane, Pagans and Christians, 168–261Google Scholar.

47 Praep. Ev. IV. 2. 10–11: ὁποῖοι δὲ ἦσαν οὗτοι; μὴ δὴ νόμιζε τῶν ἀπερριμένων καὶ ἀφανῶν τινάς· οἱ μέν γε αὐτοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς θαυμαστῆς ταύτης καὶ γενναίας φιλοσοφίας ὡρμῶντο, τῶν ἀμφὶ τὸν τρίβωνα καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ὀφρὺν ἀνεσπακότων, οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν τέλει τῆς Ἀντιοχέων ἡλίσκοντο πόλεως, οἱ δὴ μάλιστα καὶ ἐπὶ ταῖς καθ᾿ ἡμῶν ὕβρεσιν ἐν τῷ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς διωγμῷ λαμπρυνάμενοι. ἴσμεν δὲ καὶ τὸν φιλόσοφον ὁμοῦ καὶ προφήτην τὰ ὅμοια τοῖς εἰρημένοις κατὰ τὴν Μίλητον ὑπομείντα. For the oracle in the fourth century see T. D. Barnes, HSCP 80 (1976), 252.

48 See G above. The point was made to me by Jeremy Patterson.

49 For Gregory Thaumaturgus, see Gregory of Nyssa, PG 45, 945D; Basil's grandparents, Gregory Nazianzenus, PG 36, 500B ff.; Theodotus, Anat. Stud. 32 (1982), 108–9.

50 Nutton, V., in Garnsey, P. D. and Whittaker, C. R. (ed.), Imperialism in the Ancient World (1978), 209Google Scholar; Millar, Fergus, JRS 73 (1983), 77Google Scholar.

51 Lactantius, de mort. pers. 23. 1; 26. 1–2; for this and for what follows, cf. Barnes, NE, 227–32.

52 Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians, 632 suggests the idea, without arguing the case.

53 Barnes, NE, 232, following Seeck.

54 Lactantius, de mart. pers. 37.

55 Grégoire, H., Byzantion 13 (1938), 551 ffGoogle Scholar.

56 JRS 63 (1973), 3511. 60.

57 Barnes, NE, 66.

58 Demandt, A., Gnomon 43 (1971), 693Google Scholar. He suggests either 1 June or 1 January 312, the latter involving a second emendation from Kal. lun. to Kal. Ian. The minimal alteration of the consular date alone seems preferable.

59 There is no evidence that Latin was current among the population of Arycanda at any date. Roman settlement in Pisidia may have brought a few Latin speakers to the region of Colbasa in the early empire (see Mitchell, S., JRS 66 (1976), 116–17Google Scholar), but the language had surely been entirely superseded by Greek in the early fourth century. Tyre became a Roman colony in the third century (Ulpian, Dig. L. 15. 1) but there is no evidence that this led to Latin becoming current among the inhabitants, although the fact might provide an explanation for the use of Latin on an official inscription of the community.

60 See M. Beard, PBSR 53 (1985), 114–62 for an interesting study on this topic.