Smallpox came to the Roman world in 165, brought by Lucius Verus’ retreating army. In twenty years it reduced the population by about 25 per cent. New leaders took Montanism forward: Themiso, Miltiades, Theodotus. Great Church figures organized opposition. In Rome, Bishop Victor (189–199) may have been behind the decision that Montanist teaching was unacceptable. In Africa, Perpetua and the others martyred with her in 203 may have had a pro-Montanist catechism teacher. But even if the African situation was ambiguous, in Asia a critical mass built up in Great Church circles against Montanism. At Temenothyrae (Uşak) in Phrygia, however, some early third-century gravestones of clergy survive. Ammion, a woman presbyter, is commemorated, as are Bishops Artemidorus and Diogas. Loukios and Asclepiades may also have been clergy. The sites of Tymion and Pepuza were identified near Uşak in 2000. These clergy buried at Uşak must have known the early Montanists at Pepuza, Stephen Mitchell observes, arguing that the Uşak clergy were anti-Montanist. But the fact that one of the Uşak clergy was a woman points in the opposite direction, implying that they were on the Montanist side.

The New Prophecy (= Montanism), a movement which began about 170, originated in Phrygia, east of Philadelphia. Opponents found fault with the Montanists’ style of prophesying, but what they did was similar to prophecy in other Christian traditions. Priscilla and Maximilla, two women prophets, were key figures, along with Montanus, in the first Montanist generation. The Montanists based their church at Pepuza. According to Hippolytus, they wrote ‘countless books’ as well as carrying out missionary journeys to attract disciples. Montanus’ Odes may have been the Montanist hymnbook for almost four centuries. But Montanus, Priscilla, and Maximilla made their mark in less than a decade, Maximilla dying last, in or about 179. They built on an established prophetic tradition. At Thyatira, the church became Montanist from 172 to 263; and the New Prophecy spread far beyond Asia, to Lyon, Rome, Africa. The martyrs of Lyon (177) were influenced by Montanism, and a bishop of Rome acknowledged Montanist prophecies, before retracting his favourable judgement. At Pepuza, a hypogeum found in 2001 may (Peter Lampe argues) have been the burial place of Montanus and the prophetesses.