Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 September 2012
What we call the ‘Eastern frontier’ of the Roman Empire was a thing of shadows, which reflected the diplomatic convenience of a given moment, and dictated the positioning of some soldiers and customs officials, but hardly affected the attitudes or the movements of the people on either side. Nothing more than the raids of desert nomads, for instance, hindered the endless movement of persons and ideas between Judaea and the Babylonian Jewish community. Similarly, as Lucian testifies, offerings came to the temple of Atargatis at Hierapolis-Bambyce from a wide area of the Near and Middle East, including Babylonia. The actual movement to and fro of individuals was reflected, as we have recently been reminded, in a close interrelation of artistic and architectural styles. Moreover, whatever qualifications have to be made in regard to specific places, it is incontestable that Semitic languages, primarily Aramaic in its various dialects, remained in active use, in a varying relationship to Greek, from the Tigris through the Fertile Crescent to the Phoenician coast. This region remained, we must now realize, a cultural unity, substantially unaffected by the empires of Rome or of Parthia or Sassanid Persia.
1 See Philostratus, , vit. Ap. Ty. I, 20Google Scholar for Apollonius' famous confrontation with the customs official at Zeugma. The only evidence known to me of the frontier actually preventing movement comes in Jerome, Vita Malchi 3 (PL XXIII, 54) where Malchus, from Nisibis, relates that (sometime in the first half of the fourth century) ‘quia ad Orientem ire non poteram, propter vicinam Persidem, et Romanorum militum custodiam, ad Occidentem verti pedes …’
2 Note Herod's establishment of a colony of Babylonian Jews in Batanea for the protection of caravans of pilgrims coming from Babylonia to Jerusalem. Jos., , Ant. XVII, 2, 1–3Google Scholar (23–31); Vita 54–61.
3 For visitors from Mesopotamia see Jeremias, J., Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus (1969), 66–7Google Scholar, and for the cultural and personal relations of the two communities the successive volumes by Neusner, J., A History of the Jews in Babylonia: I, The Parthian Period 2 (1969)Google Scholar; II, The Early Sasanian Period (1966); III, From Shapur I to Shapur II (1968); IV, The Age of Shapur II (1969); V, Later Sasanian Times (1970).
4 Lucian, , de dea Syra 13, 32Google Scholar. See below (p. 5).
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6 See the remarks by Brown, P., ‘The Diffusion of Manichaeism in the Roman Empire’, JRS LIX (1969), 92Google Scholar.
7 Eusebius, , HE VII, 27–30Google Scholar.
8 G. Bardy, Paul de Samosate: étude historique 2, Spicilegium Sacrum Lovaniense IV (1929); note, however, the more cautious view of Paul in Bardy, La question des langues dans l'église ancienne (1948), 19.
9 G. Downey, A History of Antioch in Syria from Seleucus to the Arab Conquest (1961), 263–4, 310–15.
10 Loofs, F., Paulus von Samosata; eine Untersuchung zur altchristlichen Literatur und Dogmengeschichte, Texte und Untersuchungen XLIV, 5 (1924)Google Scholar, esp. 34.
11 CAH XII, 178, n. 1. ‘The political connections of Zenobia with Bishop Paul of Antioch seem to the present writer even less real than to Fr. Loofs.’ For the relevance of Alföldi's classic studies of the coinage in this period, see below (pp. 8–9).
12 See for example, Caspar, E., Geschichte des Papsttums, I (1930), 94Google Scholar; Lebreton, J., Zeiller, J., Histoire de l'Église II (1935), 345Google Scholar; H. Grégoire, Les persécutions dans l'Empire romain 2 (1964), 57; J. Daniélou, H. Marrou, Nouvelle histoire de l'Église I; des origines à Saint Grégoire le Grand (1963), 247; W. H. C. Frend, Martyrdom and Persecution (1965), 443–4; B. Altaner, A. Stuiber, Patrologie 7 (1966), 214; H. Chadwick, The Early Church (1967), 114–5.
13 For the parallel case of North Africa, see the contrasted treatments by Millar, F., ‘Local Cultures in the Roman Empire: Libyan, Punic and Latin in Roman Africa’, JRS LVIII (1968), 126Google Scholar, and P. Brown, ‘Christianity and Local Culture in Late Roman Africa’, ibid. 85.
14 For a cautious and useful survey of this question in another region see MacMullen, R., ‘Nationalism in Roman Egypt’, Aegyptus XLIV (1964), 179Google Scholar.
15 See the brilliant survey by E. Bickerman, ‘The Seleucids and the Achaemenids’, Persia e il mondo greco-romano (see n. 5), 87; see now Bernard, P., ‘Aï Khanum on the Oxus: A Hellenistic City in Central Asia,’ Proc. Brit. Acad., LIII (1967), 71Google Scholar; L. Robert, ‘De Delphes à l'Oxus. Inscriptions grecques nouvelles de la Bactriane’, CRAI 1968, 416; and in general D. Schlumberger, L'Orient hellénisé (1970).
16 See now Hengel, M., Judentum und Hellenismus: Studien zu ihrer Begegnung unter besonderer Berücksichtigung Palästinas bis zur Mitte des 2. Jh. v. Chr. (1969)Google Scholar.
17 The evidence, from a variety of periods, is collected by Sevenster, J. N., Do You Know Greek? How Much Greek Could the First Jewish Christians Have Known? (1968)Google Scholar.
18 Mishnah, , Abodah Zarah, 3, 4Google Scholar (ed. Danby, p. 440). On the more permissive attitude to representational art which developed in the second and third centuries see, e.g., Kraeling, C. H., The Excavations at Dura-Europos, Final Report, VIII, I: The Synagogue (1956), 340–6Google Scholar; Urbach, E. E., ‘The Rabbinical Laws of Idolatry in the Second and Third Centuries in the Light of Archaeological and Historical Facts’, IEJ IX (1959), 149, 229Google Scholar.
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20 See the excellent survey of Starcky, J., ‘Pétra et la Nabatène,’ Dict. de la Bible, Supp. VII (1966), 886–1017Google Scholar, esp. 921.
21 For what has been made known of these documents so far see Yadin, Y. in Israel Exploration Journal XII (1962), 235–48Google Scholar, and idem, ‘The Nabataean Kingdom, Provincia Arabia, Petra and En-Geddi in the Documents from Nahal Hever,’ Jaarb. Ex Oriente Lux XVII (1963), 227.
22 For the Greek colonies and cities of Mesopotamia see, e.g., A. H. M. Jones, Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces 2 (1971), ch. IX; N. Pigulevskaja, Les villes de l'état iranien aux époques parthe et sassanide (1963), esp. ch. I–IV; M. A. R. Colledge, The Parthians (1967), 96–7.
23 For the date of Isidorus of Charax see Nodelman, S. A., ‘A Preliminary History of Characene’, Berytus XIII (1960), 88Google Scholar, on pp. 107–8.
24 For the text, Maricq, A., ‘Res Gestae Divi Shaporis’, Syria XXXV (1958), 295Google Scholar.
25 Maricq, A., ‘La plus ancienne inscription syriaque; celle de Birecik’, Syria XXXIX (1962), 88Google Scholar; cf. Pirenne, J., ‘Aux origines de la graphie syriaque’, Syria XL (1963), 101Google Scholar, and Jenni, E., ‘Die altsyrischen Inschriften, 1–3. Jahrhunder n. Chr.’, Theol. Zeitschr. XXI (1965), 371Google Scholar.
26 P. Dura 28, now re-edited by Goldstein, J. A., ‘The Syriac Bill of Sale from Dura-Europos’, JNES XXV (1966), 1Google Scholar.
27 Ed. Hallier, L., Texte und Untersuchungen IX, 1 (1892)Google Scholar, see pp. 86–7.
28 See Drijvers, H. J. W., Bardaisan of Edessa (1966)Google Scholar.
29 See now Segal, J. B., Edessa, ‘The Blessed City’ (1970)Google Scholar; see pp. 30–1 for traces of Greek culture there in this period.
30 Epiphanius, Panarion 56, 1, 2; cf. Theodoret, Haereticarum fabularum compendium I, 22 (PG LXXXIII, 372), mentioning Syriac only.
31 Sozomenus, , Hist. Eccles. III, 16Google Scholar, 5–7; Theodoret, loc cit. (n. 30).
32 Euseb., , HE IV, 30Google Scholar, 1; Jerome, de vir. ill. 33.
33 See Emerton, J. A., ‘Some Problems of Text and Language in the Odes of Solomon’, J. Theol. St. XVIII (1967), 372Google Scholar.
34 For surveys see C. B. Welles, ‘The Population of Roman Dura’, Studies in Roman Economic and Social History in Honor of A. C. Johnson (1951), 251; Kilpatrick, G. D., ‘Dura-Europos: the Parchments and the Papyri’, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies V (1964), 215Google Scholar.
35 See Kilpatrick, o.c. (n. 34), 222–4.
36 Compare Festugière, A. J., La révélation d'Hermès Trismégiste I (1944)Google Scholar, ch. II, ‘Les prophètes de l'Orient’.
37 Λόγος πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας 42. Ed. Schwartz, E.Texte und Untersuchungen IV, 1 (1888)Google Scholar.
38 e.g. A. Vööbus, Early Versions of the New Testament: Manuscript Studies (1954), I; P. Kahle, The Cairo Geniza 2 (1959), 283–4.
39 See Maricq, A., ‘La province d'Assyrie créée par Trajan’, Syria XXXVI (1959), 254Google Scholar; cf. P. Brown, op. cit. (n. 6), 93.
40 Philos, , Vit. Ap. Ty. I, 16Google Scholar ἐπεφοίτησε καὶ Άντιοχείᾳ τῇ μεγάλῃ…καὶ παρῆλθεν ἐς τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Δαφναίου Ἀπόλλωνος, ᾧ περιάπτουσιν Άσσύριοι τὸν Άρκάδα.
41 Ibid. I, 19.
42 Strom. III, 12/81, 1; see also Theodoret, , Haer. fab. comp. I, 20Google Scholar (PG LXXXIII, 369).
43 Panarion 46, 1.
44 Hippolytus, , Elenchus VII, 31Google Scholar, 1–2.
45 Porphyry, , de abstinentia IV, 17Google Scholar.
46 See F. K. Dörner and R. Neumann Forschungen in Kommagene (1939); F. K. Dörner, and T. Goell, Arsameia am Nymphaios: die Ausgrabungen im Hierothesion des Mithridates Kallinikos von 1955–1956 (1963). Cf. F. K. Dörner, Kommagene, ein wiederentdecktes Königreich 2 (1967).
47 De dea Syra I γράφω δὲ Ἀσσύριος ἐών. Scyth. 9 τοὺς Σύρους ἡμᾶς.
48 Text and English translation (p. 70–6) by W. Cureton, Spicilegium Syriacum (1855). Cf. Schulthess, F., ‘Der Brief des Mara bar Sarapion’, ZDMG LI (1897), 365Google Scholar; R. Duval, La littérature syriaque 2 (1900), 248–50; A. Baumstark, Geschichte der syrischen Literatur (1922), 10.
49 See Duval, op. cit. (n. 48), 129.
50 Compare the remarks of Syme, R., ‘Hadrian and Italica,’ JRS LIV (1964), 142Google Scholar.
51 See Schall, A., Studien über griechische Fremdwörter im Syrischen (1960), 27–128Google Scholar.
52 The writer uses, in the course of providing exempla, the names of Polycrates, Achilles, Agamemnon, Priam, Archimedes, Socrates, Pythagoras, Palamedes and Plato.
53 For a survey, see Starcky, J., Palmyre (1952)Google Scholar; cf. also le Comte du Mesnil du Buisson, Les Tessères et les monnaies de Palmyre: un art, une culture et une philosophie grecs dans les moules d'une cité et d'une religion sémitiques (1962)Google Scholar.
54 See Caquot, A., ‘Sur l'onomastique religieuse de Palmyre,’ Syria XXXIX (1962), 231Google Scholar; cf. Seyrig, H. in Syria XLVII (1970), 87–92Google Scholar.
55 HA Aurel. 30, 3, ‘grave inter eos qui caesi sunt de Longino philosopho fuisse perhibetur, quo illa magistro usa esse ad Graecas litteras dicitur, quem quidem Aurelianus idcirco dicitur occidisse, quod superbior ilia epistula ipsius diceretur dictata consilio, quamvis Syro esset sermone contexta.’
56 HA ibid.; Zosimus I, 56, 2–3; Photius, Bib. 265, p. 492 Bekker (see below, p. 13); Syncellus I, p. 721 Bonn. For the text of a letter from Longinus written to Porphyry in Sicily (so between c. 267, Porph., vit. Plot. 6, and 272) inviting him to join him in ‘Phoenicia’, see Porph., vit. Plot. 19. Libanius, Ep. 1078 Förster (998 Wolf) mentions a λόγος ‘Ὀδαίναθος’ of Longinus, presumably a funeral address. Cf. RE s.v. ‘Longinus’.
57 See Stein, A., ‘Kallinikos von Petrai’, Hermes LVIII (1923), 448Google Scholar; Schwartz, J., ‘Les Palmyréniens en Égypte’, Bull. Soc. Ant. Alex. XL (1953), 63Google Scholar; Cameron, A. D. E. in CQ N.S. XVII (1967), 382–3Google Scholar.
58 See Dupont-Sommer, A. and Robert, L., La déesse de Hiérapolis-Castabala, Cilicie (1964), relating a fourth-century B.C. Aramaic inscription to documents of the classical period.Google Scholar
59 See Stocks, H., ‘Studien zu Lukians ‘de Syria dea’,’ Berytus IV (1937), 1Google Scholar; G. Goossens, Hiérapolis de Syrie: essai de monographic historique (1943).
60 For the essential see RAC s.v. ‘Elagabal’.
61 For the Phoenicica of Philon of Byblos see Jacoby FGrH 790 F. 1–7; on Sanchuniathon see RE s.v. ‘Sanchuniathon’ and M. L. West, Hesiod, Theogony (1966), 24–8; cf. e.g. Eissfeldt, O., ‘Art und Aufbau der phönizischen Geschichte des Philo von Byblos’, Syria XXXIII (1956), 88Google Scholar = Kleine Schriften III (1966), 398. Note now especially, on both the survival of Phoenician gods and the work of Philo, le Comte du Mesnil du Buisson, Études sur les dieux phéniciens hérités par l'Empire romain (1970).
62 M. Dunand, R. Duru, Oumm El-'Amed, une ville de l'époque hellénistique aux échelles de Tyre (1962), 181, no. 1 = H. Dormer, Röllig, W., Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften2 I–III (1966–1969)Google Scholar, no. 18.
63 Donner and Röllig, op. cit. no. 12. Compare, however, J. Brian Peckham, The Development of the Late Phoenician Scripts (1968), 54.
64 See Peckham, op. cit. 78.
65 Anth. Pal. VII, 419, ll. 5–8; Gow, A. S. F., Page, D. L., The Greek Anthology: Hellenistic Epigrams I (1965), 217, ὃν θεόπαις ἤνδρωσε Τύρος Γαδάρων θ' ἱερὰ χθών, /Κῶς δ' ἐρατὴ Μερόπων πρέσβυν ἐγηροτρόφει. /ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν Σὐρος ἐσσί, σαλἀμ· εἰ δ' οὖ σύ γε Φοῖ νιξ, /ναίδιος· εἰ δ' Έλλην, χαῖρε· τὸ δ' αὐτὸ φράσον.Google Scholar
66 Suda 735.
67 Eunapius, Vit. Soph. p. 456.
68 Porph. Vit. Plot. 17 Βασιλεὺς δὲ τοὔνομα τῷ Πορφυρίῳ ἐμοὶ προσῆν, κατὰ μὲν πάτριον διάλεκτον Μάλκῳ κεκλημένῳ, ὄπερ μοι καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ὄνομα κέκλητο, τοῦ δὲ Μάλκου ἑρμηνείαν ἔχοντος βασιλεύς, εἴ τις εἰς Έλλήνιδα διάλεκτον μεταβάλλειν ἐθέλοι. cf. ibid. 20, 21.
69 Cf. J. Bidez, Vie de Porphyre (1913), 9–10. I have not, however, found any serious discussion of this question.
70 Seyrig, H., ‘Monnaies hellénistiques’, Rev. Num. VI (1964), 7, esp. 19–20, 46–7.Google Scholar
71 Masson, O., ‘Recherches sur les Phéniciens dans le monde héllenistique,’ BCH XLIII (1969), p. 698Google Scholar.
72 Socrates, , Hist. Eccles. VI, 11Google Scholar, 3, δοκῶν πεπαιδεῦσθαι, οὐ πάνυ τῇ φωνῇ τὴν Έλληνικὴν ἐξετράνου γλῶσσαν· ἀλλὰ καὶ Έλληνιστὶ φθεγγόμνος Σύρος ἧν τὴν φωνήν.
73 Photius, Bib. 94, (75b), ed. Henry vol. II, p. 40, οὗτος ὁ Ἰάμβλιχος Σύρος ἦν γένος πατρόθεν καὶ μητρόθεν, Σὐρος δὲ οὐχὶ τῶν ἐπῳκηκότων τὴν Συρίαν Έλλήνων, ἀλλὰ τῶν αὐτοχθόνων, γλῶσσαν δὲ Σύραν εἰδὼς καὶ τοἵς ἐκείνων ἔθεσι ζῶν…
74 For collections of relevant passages in Christian writers see Charon, C., ‘L'origine ethnographique des Melkites’, Echos d'Orient XI (1908), 35, 82Google Scholar; G. Bardy, La question des langues dans l'église ancienne (1948), 19–31; A. H. M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire (1964), 994.
75 See e.g. Jerome, Vita Pauli 6 (PL XXIII, 21); In Esaiam 9, 29, 1–8 (CCL LXXIII, 370); Theodoret, , Hist. Eccles. I, 7Google Scholar, 4; III, 24, 1; IV, 10, 1; Hist. Relig. 13 (PG LXXXII, 1400, 1404).
76 For the text see Violet, B., Texte und Untersuchungen XIV, 4 (1896), pp. 4 and 7Google Scholar; cf. H. Delehaye, Les légendes hagiographiques (1905), 142 f.
77 Pereg. Egeriae 47, 3– 4 (CCL CLXXV, 89); ed. Pétré, H., Éthérie, Journal de Voyage, Sources Chrétiennes 21 (1948), 260–1Google Scholar.
78 Jerome, , Ep. 108, 29Google Scholar (PL XXII, 905 = CSEL LV, 348).
79 Jerome, , Vit. Hil. 2, 22Google Scholar, 23, 25 (PL XXIII 29, 39–41).
80 Marc. Diac., Vit. Porph. 66–8, ed. H. Grégoire, M.-A. Kugener (1930).
81 Jerome, Vita Malchi 2–3 (PL XXIII, 54).
82 That he was a native Aramaic speaker would be an improper deduction from the modesty of his own claim to Greek culture in Graec. affect. curatio 5 (PG LXXXIII, 952). But that he understood spoken Aramaic is clear from the incident in Hist. Relig. 21 (PG LXXII, 1441); cf. n. 75 (above).
83 John Chrys., Hom. 19 ad pop. Ant. I (PG XLIX, 188); cf. Serm. de mart. I (PG L, 646) πόλις μὲν γὰρ καὶ χώρα ἐν τοῖς βιωτικοῖς πράγμασιν ἀλλήλων διεστήκασι, κατὰ δὲ τὸν τῆς εὐσεβείας λόγον κοινωνοῦσι καὶ ἤνωνται. Μὴ γάρ μοι τὴν βάρβαρον αὐτῶν φωνὴν ἴδῃς, ἀλλὰ τὴν φιλοσοφοῦσαν αὐτῶν διανοίαν. On the other hand Hom. Matt. 7, 2 (PG LVII, 74), καὶ ὄσοι τὴν Σύρων ἴσασι γλῶτταν, ἴσασι τὸ λεγόμενον, seems to imply the presence of some Aramaic speakers in his audience.
84 Theod., Hist. Relig., 17 (PG LXXXII, 1420, 1424
85 Note, however, Theodoret's account of a fourth-century monastic foundation near Zeugma where the original group of Greek-speaking monks was soon followed by one of Aramaic-speakers, which was kept separate but had complete parity with the first, Hist. Relig. 5 (PG LXXXII, 1352–7).
86 See Duval, op. cit. (n. 45), 5; Baumstark, op. cit. (n. 45), 58 f.; di Urbina, I.Ortiz, Patrologia Syriaca (1958), ch. V.Google Scholar
87 The date 259 rather than 260 is argued by Lopuszanski, S., La date de la capture de Valérien et la chronologie des empereurs gaulois (1951)Google Scholar; cf. Pekary, Th., ‘Bemerkungen zur Chronologie des Jahrzehnts 250–60 n. Chr.’, Historia XI (1963), 123Google Scholar, and PIR 2 L 258.
88 The evidence is late—Festus, Brev. 23; Jerome, Chron. ed. Helm, p. 221; HA, Trig. Tyr. 15, 1–4; Vit. Val. 4, 2–4; Malalas, Chron. p. 297, 4 Dindorf; Syncellus, p. 716 (Bonn); Zonaras XII, 23; J. Février, Essai sur l'histoire politique et économique de Palmyre (1931), 81–4; J. Starcky, Palmyre (1952), 53 f. The essential modern treatment of the chronology of Odenathus and Vabalathus and their successive titulatures is Schlumberger, D., ‘L'inscription d'Hérodien: remarques sur l'histoire des princes de Palmyre’, Bull. d'ét. orient. IX (1942–1943), 35Google Scholar.
89 For the best account see Alföldi, A., ‘Die römische Münzprägung und die historischen Ereignisse im Osten zwischen 260 und 270 n. Chr.’ Berytus V (1938), 47Google Scholar = Studien zur Geschichte der Weltkrise des 3. Jahrhunderts nach Christus (1967), 155.
90 P. Oxy. 2710.
91 Zon. XII, 24; cf. HA, Vit. Gall. 3, 4, and Petricius, Petrus, FHG IV, p. 195Google Scholar = Dio, ed. Boissevain III, P. 744.
92 Contra Schlumberger, op. cit. (n. 88), 48, and J. Starcky, op. cit. (n. 88), 54. The title appears in IGR III, 1031 = Cantineau, J., Inventaire des inscriptions de Palmyre III (1930)Google Scholar, no. 17. Cf. Magie, Roman Rule in Asia Minor (1950), ch. XXIX, n. 32.
93 See Février, op. cit. (n. 88), 85 f; Alföldi, op. cit. (n. 89), 76 f. (188 f.).
94 Zosimus I, 39, 2. Note, however, the variant tradition of Syncellus O, p. 716–7 (Bonn), according to which he was killed in Cappadocia on his way to repel a Gothic invasion.
95 Probably between 29 August, 267 and 28 August, 268, because Alexandrian coins seem to show the fourth year of Vabalathus ending on 28 August, 271. See Schlumberger, op. cit. (n. 88), 61.
96 See Alföldi, op. cit. (n. 89), and CAH XII, 178–9. Cf. C. Brenot and Pflaum, H.-G., ‘Les émissions orientales de la fin du IIIe siècle après J.-C. à la lumière de deux trésors découverts en Syrie,’ Rev. Num. VII (1965), 134Google Scholar; cf. Callu, J.-P., La politique monétaire des empereurs romains de 238 à 311, Bib. Éc. Fr. Ath. Rom., CCXIV (1969), 220–1Google Scholar.
97 Bittel, K., ‘Funde im östlichen Galatien: ein römischer Münzschatz von Devret,’ Ist. Mitt. VI (1955), 27Google Scholar.
98 Cantineau, J., Inventaire III (1930)Google Scholar, no. 20 = OGIS 648; see Starcky, op. cit. (n. 88), 58.
99 See Schlumberger, op. cit. (n. 88), and H. Seyrig, ‘Vabalathus Augustus’, Mélanges Michalowski (1966), 659. Note, however, an ostracon, O. Mich. 1006 which dates to May/June, 271 and describes Aurelian and Athenodorus (Vabalathus) as Αὐγυστῶν.
100 Dated to 270 by Alföldi, A., ‘Uber die Juthungeneinfälle unter Aurelian’, BIAB XVI (1950), 21Google Scholar = Studien, 427. But see n. 164 below.
101 Zos. I, 50, 1.
102 Zos. I, 44. cf. HA, Claud. II, 1–2. Compare the inscription published by Seyrig, H., Syria XXXI 1954), 214–17Google Scholar. Originating probably from the Hauran, it refers to the deaths of many persons in Egypt, probably men recruited by Palmyra.
103 See A. Stein, Die Präfekten von Ägypten in der römischen Kaiserzeit (1950), 148–50.
104 See Parsons, P. J., ‘A Proclamation of Vaballathus?’, Chron. d'Ég. XLII (1967), 397Google Scholar. See also n. 164 below.
105 Zos. I, 58.
106 OGIS 647 = IGR III 1065. On the other hand, the milestone of Vabalathus on the Bostra-Philadelphia road (AE 1904, 60) calls him ’Im(perator) Caesar’ but not ‘Augustus’, and will be a year or two earlier.
107 Perhaps the nearest to concrete evidence available are the two tesserae of Herodianus and Zenobia which were probably found at Antioch, published by Seyrig, H., ‘Note sur Hérodien, prince de Palmyre’, Syria XVIII (1937), 1Google Scholar. Herodianus should be the Herodes, son of Odenathus, who was killed with his father in 267/8 (HA, Trig. Tyr. 15–16). But even if the find-spots of the tesserae were certain, they are portable objects.
108 See Seyrig, H., ‘Caractères de l'histoire d'Émèse’, Syria XXXVI (1959), 184Google Scholar.
109 See Clermont-Ganneau, M., ‘Odeinat et Vaballat, rois de Palmyre, et leur titre romain de Corrector’, RB XXIX (1920), 382Google Scholar; Février, op. cit. (n. 93), 99; Stein, A., Aegyptus XVIII (1938), 234Google Scholar; Schlumberger, op. cit. (n. 88), 42, n. 8.
110 Inventaire III 19 ( = CIS 3946).
111 See Cantineau, J., ‘Un Restitutor Orientis dans les inscriptions de Palmyre’, Journal Asiatique CCXXII (1933), 217Google Scholar.
112 See Clermont-Ganneau, op. cit. (n. 109), 394, 398.
113 Zos. I, 57, 4, εἰ καθέξουσιν τὴν ἑῴας ἡγεμονίαν.
114 Zos. I, 39, 1, τοῑς δὲ περὶ τὴν ἑῴαν πράγμασιν οὗσιν ἐν ἀπογνώσει βοηθεῖν Όδαίναθον ἔταξεν. Zon. XII, 24 Ώδέναθον δὲ τῆς ἀνδραγαθίας ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀμειβόμενος πάσης ἀνατολῆς αὐτὸν προχειρίσατο στρατηγόν. Cf. Syncellus, p. 716 (Bonn.) ὃς καὶ στρατηγὸς τῆς ἑῴας ὑπὸ Γαλιηνοῦ διὰ τοῦτο τετίμηται.
115 Eutropius IX, 13, 2, ‘Zenobiam quoque occiso Odenatho marito Orientem tenebat’; Orosius VII, 23, 4 ‘Zenobiam, quae occiso Odenato marito suo Syriam receptam sibi vindicabat’; cf. Festus, Brev. 24 ‘ea enim post mortem mariti feminea dicione Orientis tenebat imperium’.
116 HA, Vit. Gall. I, 1 ‘Cum Odenatus iam Orientis cepisset imperium’; 3, 3 ‘totius prope Orientis factus est Odenatus imperator’; 10, 1. ‘Odenatus rex Palmyrenorum obtinuit totius Orientis imperium ’; Trig. Tyr. 14, 1, ‘Odenatus, qui olim iam orientem tenebat’.
117 HA, Vit. Gall. 12, 1.
118 Zos. I, 51, 3.
119 Jer., Chron. ed. Helm, p. 222 ‘In qua pugna strenuissime adversum earn dimicavit Pompeianus dux cognomento Francus. Cuius familia hodieque aput Antiochiam perseverat. Ex cuius Euagrius presbyter carissimus nobis stirpe descendit.’
120 See de Riedmatten, H., Les Actes du procès de Paul de Samosate; étude sur la Christologie du IIIe au IVe siècle (1952).Google Scholar
121 For a survey, D. S. Wallace-Hadrill, Eusebius of Caesarea (1960), ch. VI.
122 See the letter of Alexander to his namesake, bishop of Constantinople, Theodoret, , HE 1, 4Google Scholar, 32–6.
123 Cypr., , Ep. 80, 1Google Scholar. cf. L. Duchesne, Le Liber Pontificalis I (1955), 155.
124 See Duchesne, op. cit. 157; Turner, C. H., ‘The Papal Chronology of the Third Century’, J. Th. St. XVII (1915/1916), 338Google Scholar; Caspar, E., Geschichte des Papsttums I (1930), 71–2Google Scholar.
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126 Jerome, Chron. ed. Helm, 220.
127 Euseb., , HE VII, 27Google Scholar, 2; 28, 3 (cf. 30, 3). For the problem of Gallienus' regnal years, see Manni, E., ‘Note di epigrafia gallieniana’, Epigraphica IX (1947), 113Google Scholar.
128 ibid. 30, 4.
129 See Loofs, op. cit. (n. 10), 45 f.; Bardy, op. cit. (n. 8), 296–7.
130 Ed. Helm, p. 221.
131 Zon. XII, 25.
132 See de Riedmatten, op. cit. (n. 120) 27, 136.
133 See Bardenwehr, O., Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur II (1914), 644–5Google Scholar; cf. C. H. Turner, op. cit. (n. 124), 348–9; L. Duchesne, op. cit. (n. 123), 157.
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136 HE VII, 30, 7–9.
137 See Pflaum, H.-G., Les procurateurs équestres (1950), 210 f.Google Scholar; idem, Les carrières procuratoriennes (1960–1), 950–1; cf. JRS LIII (1963), 197–8Google Scholar.
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139 Pflaum, Carrières 1082.
140 See Schlumberger, op. cit. (n. 88), 35–8.
141 OGIS 645 = IGR III, 1043; OGIS 646 = IGR III, 1045; IGR III, 1044; cf. Ingholt, H., ‘Inscriptions and sculptures from Palmyra’, Berytus III (1936), pp. 93–5Google Scholar.
142 cf. Loofs, op. cit. (n. 10), 18; Bardy, op. cit. (n. 8), 81 f.
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145 Talmud, Jerusalem, Terumoth 8, 12Google Scholar (trans. Schwab, III, 107). See J. Neusner, A History of the Jews in Babylonia II: the Early Sasanian Period (1966), 51.
146 OGIS 129 = ILS 574 = Corp. Ins. Jud. 1449 = E. Gabba, Iscrizioni greche e latine per lo studio della Bibbia (1958), no. 8.
147 Frey, Corp. Ins. Jud. no. 820.
148 OGIS 640 = IGR III 1033; cf. PIR 2 I 196. It is not a fatal objection to this possibility that Zenobia is found with the nomen ‘Septimia’, for this is not attested for Palmyrenes, other than the family of Odenathus, until the 260's; see Schlumberger, , Bull. d'Ét. Or. IX (1942/1943), 59Google Scholar.
149 See E. Peterson, ΕΙΣ ΘΕΟΣ (1926), 24–5; Frey, , Corp. Ins. Jud. II, pp. 65–73Google Scholar.
150 So, in effect, Loofs, op. cit. (n. 10), 34.
151 Both θρόνος and βῆμα are attested for both civil and ecclesiastical authorities, see Stommel, E., ‘Bischofsstuhl und Hoher Thron’, Jahrb. f. Ant. u. Chr. I (1958), 52Google Scholar; and note that very similar podia are found at Dura in the Christian building and in the palace of the Dux; see C. H. Kraeling, The Excavations at Dura-Europos, Final Report VIII, 2: the Christian Building (1967), 142–5. But note Robert, L., Hellenica IV (1948), 42–3Google Scholar, on the theme of the governor's βῆμα or θρόνος in Greek epigrams.
152 Note the trial of the Scillitan martyrs, ‘Kartagine in secretario’; of Crispina ‘apud coloniam Thebestinam in secretario pro tribunali adsidente Anulino proconsule’; of Cyprian, ‘Carthagine in secretario’, Knopf-Krüger-Ruhbach, Ausgewählte Martyrakten 4 (1965), 28, 62, 109. Cf. RE s.v. ‘secretarium’.
153 See C. H. Kraeling, op. cit. (n. 151); esp. p. 127 f., ‘The Christian Building at Dura and Early Church Architecture’; cf. R. Krautheimer, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture (1965), ch. I. Compare Milburn, R. L. P., ‘Ὁ ΤΗΣ ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑΣ ΟΙΚΟΣ,’ J. Th. St. XLVI (1945), 65Google Scholar, and Mohrmann, Chr., ‘Les dénominations de l'église en tant qu' édifice en grec et en latin au cours des premiers siècles Chrétiens’, Rev. Sci. Rél. XXXVI (1962)Google Scholar, Supp. 155, esp. 158–9.
154 Though for instance Lebreton and Zeiller, op. cit. (n. 12), 349, use the term ‘maison épiscopale’. Kraeling, op. cit. (n. 151), 128 and 134 does not seem to me to offer concrete evidence for the residence of presbyters in domus ecclesiae.
155 See Millar, F., ‘The Emperor, the Senate and the Provinces’, JRS LVI (1966), 156Google Scholar; ‘Emperors at Work’, JRS LVII (1967), 9Google Scholar; The Roman Empire and its Neighbours (1967), 42–3, 75–80.
156 OGIS 262 = Abbott and Johnson, Municipal Administration no. 147; cf. Millar, F., CR N.S. XVIII (1968), 264Google Scholar, which requires correction in the light of Seyrig, H., ‘Aradus et Baetocaecé’ Syria XXVIII (1951), 191Google Scholar. The document is now re-edited as IGLS 4028.
157 Roussel, P., de Visscher, F., ‘Les inscriptions du temple de Dmeir’, Syria XXIII (1942/1943), 173Google Scholar; W. Kunkel ‘Der Prozess der Gohariener vor Caracalla’, Festschrift H. Lewald (1953), 81; SEG XVII 759. On the lines in question (38–43) see now Lewis, N., ‘Cognitio Caracallae de Goharienis: Two Textual Restorations’, TAPA XCIX (1968), 255Google Scholar.
158 Theophilus, Ad Autolycum I, 11.
159 HE VII, 13.
160 HE VII, 32, 2; Jerome, Chron. ed. Helm. p. 222.
161 Cod. Just. I, 21, 2; III, 24, 1; VII, 62, 12; IX, 40, 2; XII, 61, 1. For reasons which remain obscure, all these rescripts, to which the dates of propositio at the comitatus and acceptance by the city concerned are attached, date from the decade 310–20.
162 Though where our sources give some indication of the time spent on embassies it tends to be in exceptional cases. But note, e.g., Jos., , Ant.J. XVIII, 6Google Scholar, 5 (170–1)—deliberate delay by Tiberius; Philo. Leg. 29/185–Jewish Alexandrian embassy waiting for an audience with Gaius; Pliny, , Pan. 79, 6–7Google Scholar.
163 Claudius' third trib. pot. is clearly attested, CIL II 1672; III 3521 = ILS 570. See Bivona, L., ‘Per la cronologia di Aureliano’, Epigraphica XXVIII (1966), 106Google Scholar; as Bivona points out (p. 121), this essential datum is missing from J. Lafaurie, ‘La chronologie impériale de 249 à 285’, Bull. Soc. Nat. Ant. France 1965, 139; for the evidence on Claudius' activities see Damerau, P., Kaiser Claudius II Goticus, Klio, Beih. XXXIII, N.F. 20 (1934)Google Scholar.
164 The date of Aurelian's accession is still obscure. But Dr. J. Rea has kindly allowed me to see the arguments for a solution of the dating problem of Aurelian's reign which will be advanced in a forthcoming volume of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri. The scheme which emerges is as follows: (1) Claudius survived until shortly before the end of his second Egyptian regnal year (269/70), (2) Quintillus is attested on Alexandrian coins but no known papyri are dated by him, (3) the third year of Claudius is attested on coins and papyri, suggesting that the news of his death had not yet spread. 270/1 is therefore Quintillus I (coins), Claudius 3 and also (from December) Aurelian I/Vabalathus 4. (4) Subsequently Aurelian re-numbered his Egyptian regnal years to date from the death of Claudius, so making 269/70 Aurelian I. (5) Egypt seems to have been recovered in the summer of 272.
165 The parallel case of the repetition by the Emperor of the wording of the original letter when replying to a provincial governor is patent in the case of Pliny and Trajan, see Sherwin-White, The Letters of Pliny (1966), 537 f.; for letters in reply to city embassies see Millar, Roman Empire 76.
166 Zos. I, 48–9; see Alföldi, op. cit. (n. 100).
167 If that is what is meant by the puzzling phrase of Eusebius, HE VII, 29, 2, σοφιστοῦ τῶν ἐπ' Άντιοχείας Έλληνικῶν παιδευτηρίων διατριβῆς προεστώς. Note Richard, M., ‘Malchion et Paul de Samosate: le témoignage d'Eusèbe de Césarée’, Eph. Theol. Lovanienses XXXV (1959), 325Google Scholar.
168 HE VII, 32, 6, 21.
169 See Kraeling, C. H., ‘The Jewish Community at Antioch’, Journ. Bib. Lit. LI (1932), 130Google Scholar.
170 See, e.g., M. Simon, Verus Israel 2 (1964), 235; H. Chadwick, Origen: Contra Celsum (1953), 41.
171 Euseb., , HE VII, 32Google Scholar, 2–4.
172 Suda s.v. Λουκιανός. See Bardy, G., Recherches sur Saint Lucien d'Antioche et son école (1936), 43 f. 164 f.Google Scholar
173 HE VII, 30, 16–17 (two extracts from the synodal letter); cf. Pamphilus, Apologia pro Origene 5 (PG XVII, 578–9); Theodoret, , Haer. fab. comp. II, 4Google Scholar (PG LXXXIII, 389).
174 HE V, 28.
175 HE VI, 33; the connection is indicated by J. Daniélou and H. Marrou, op. cit. (n. 12), 253. For the documentary record of the confutation by Origen of another local heresy, almost certainly Arabian also, see J. Scherer, Entretien d'Origène avec Héraclide (1960).
176 HE VII, 30, 12.
177 See Vööbus, A., History of Asceticism in the Syrian Orient I (1958), 79Google Scholar.
178 See Cypr., Ep. 4.
179 HE VII, 30, 10–11.
180 See Dalmais, I.-M., ‘L'apport des églises syriennes à l'hymnographie chrétienne’, Orient Syrien II (1957), 243Google Scholar. Note the significant generalization (made without reference to Paul), p. 247 ‘la grande Église doit s'être toujours défiée des chants aussi capiteux, trop éloignées de cette ‘sobre ivresse’ et de cette réserve qui furent toujours siennes … Au cours du IIIe siècle une nette réaction se fait sentir en faveur de l'emploi exclusif des psaumes et des cantiques scriptuaires …’
181 See J. Daniélou and H. Marrou, op. cit. (n. 12), 252, ‘Il est typiquement oriental. On trouve chez lui les usages de la Syrie de l'est…’