Many of the monuments Paul would have seen in Athens, as well as the markets where he would have sought converts, and the Areopagus where he presented his case to the philosophers, have been excavated, preserved, or reconstructed over time. The reconstructed Stoa of Attalus in the Agora evokes the buildings represented by the many foundations throughout the excavations. The Parthenon, built 447-438 BCE, is a vivid example of how time and history affect a monuments survival. The reliefs from the temple are dispersed in museums in Greece and throughout Europe. The most famous of these is the Parthenon Frieze in the British Museum in London. On site on the Acropolis, the roof of the Parthenon remained intact until 1687 when it was blown up while being used as a powder magazine. The city underwent a building boom under the Emperor Hadrian in the second century, so some of the most intact structures, such as the Temple of Olympian Zeus, post-date Paul's visit. As would be expected, the city is host to numerous museums that document all periods of over 5000 years of Greek history. It is important to imagine many of the statues as Paul would likely have seen them lavishly decorated with paint and jewels. The harbor city Piraeus also features some excavations, and sections of the defense walls remain.
Paul could have approached Corinth from Athens by land or by sea. After settling in, he spent his days in Corinth plying his trade and preaching in the synagogues with his hosts Aquila and Priscilla. The couple had left Rome with the Jews expelled by the emperor Claudius, and like Paul they were tentmakers. The tents they made or repaired would have been in demand for soldiers, travelers, and market stalls. Large, heavy and colorful, the tents were usually made from leather and heavy canvases. The rhythm of city life in the Mediterranean would have found Paul at work from early morning until midday, leaving off work in the hot hours of the afternoon, and resuming later in the day. For eighteen months he built his community in Corinth, and he would return to Corinth more than once over the next years. When he left, he was joined by his friends Priscilla and Aquila. Paul was headed back to Antioch, but the couple would stay in Ephesus, and found a fledgling Jesus community there.
Located on the south side of the isthmus connecting the Peloponnese to the mainland, at the foot of a mountain fortress, Corinth was the capital of the Roman province of Achaia. A great lighthouse and Temple to Poseidon guided ships into the harbors, to fill the city markets and the warehouses down on the wharves with merchandise from the around the empire and beyond spices from India, silk from China, linen from Tarsus, local Corinthian marble and variegated marble from Turkey, Greece, and North Africa, timber from Italy, and wine and olive oil, fruits and vegetables from fertile fields of Corinth. Ships were dragged across the isthmus on a road called the diolkos, and in 67, Nero would begin to build a canal using the labor of 6,000 Jewish prisoners from Judea though it was never finished in antiquity. The city had made a remarkable comeback after its total destruction at the hands of the Romans in 146 BCE. The entire city had been razed-its people killed or enslaved. Julius Caesar revived the city as a colony in 44 BCE, and by the mid-first century CE, Corinth had the largest population in Greece, a population that would swell with visiting sailors and merchants to the ports, and tourists attending the festivals of athletic games. Corinth served the nearby Isthmian games, an ancient international athletic festival held every two years. Dedicated to Poseidon, the victor's prize was a crown of wild celery. Contests included chariot and foot races, and literary contests. The games were revived in the Roman period, and added to with games in honor of Caesar. Two days journey from Corinth was the city of Epidauros, which had one of the most important sanctuaries to Asklepios, the god of healing. Pilgrims would come from around the empire in hopes of healing.
Because of its great wealth and transitory population, Corinth had a reputation for luxury, and uninhibited pleasures. This reputation was further bolstered by the city's association with Aphrodite her image appeared on the city's coinage, and Corinth had at least three temples to the goddess of love, including one on the very high summit of Acrocorinth, where she held a shield before her like a mirror. In addition, the harbors had their own temples to the goddess of love. In pre-Roman times, one temple of Aphrodite was served by temple prostitutes, and, though modern scholars debate whether ritual prostitution had ceased by the time of Paul's arrival, there is little doubt that prostitution would have thrived. Brothels have been excavated in several Roman cities, including Pompeii and Ephesus. But Aphrodite was important to the city in other ways, too. Born out of the sea, she could protect the sailors and ships on which the city's economy depended. And Julius Caesar, the city's colonial patron, claimed descent from Venus, the Roman form of Aphrodite.
The new city of Corinth is located east of the ancient city. A canal was finally built through the isthmus in the late 19th century, but sections of the diolkos are still visible. The excavations at ancient Corinth give some idea of the city's former prominence; a Temple to Apollo has standing columns, and some streets and market shops can evoke the flavor of the trade city. Along one side of the Forum is a bema-a platform from which Roman officials would address the public. Here the governor may have refused to arrest Paul. There is a museum onsite. The mountain fortress Acrocorinth still looms over the site, and the view from the summit is well worth the hike. Also on the summit are ruins of the Temple of Aphrodite, among others. The fortifications on the mountain are, in the main, much later than the Roman period, but indicate the continued strategic importance of the site for centuries. The harbor town of Cenchreae is largely underwater, but warehouses and a sanctuary of Isis are visible. Nearby Isthmia, site of the biannual athletic contests, has a museum and remains of the stadium, city walls, and sanctuary of Poseidon. In Epidaurus, the sanctuary of Asklepius is undergoing excavation and some restoration. The well-preserved theater at Epidaurus presents live theater in the summer.
Paul left Antioch and headed inland once again to visit his earliest congregations in Galatia. He was headed back to Ephesus, and followed the Meander River valley down through the mountains to the coast. He could have passed the Roman spa town of Hieropolis, with mineral pools and hot springs. It also had a sanctuary of Pluto, the god of the underworld. This sanctuary was an opening in the ground that emitted a noxious gas. It was near a Temple to Apollo. Perhaps due to the geothermal activity, marble from Hieropolis was brilliantly colored, and wool was easily dyed. This western quarter of Turkey was called Asia Minor during the Roman period, and Ephesus was its largest city.
When Paul arrived in Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila greeted him, introduced him to the congregation that met at their house and briefed him on the status of the local movement. According to Acts, Ephesus had believers who had been baptized by disciples of John the Baptist and followed a teacher named Apollos. He had since left Ephesus for Corinth, with a letter of introduction from Aquila and Priscilla. The Ephesus community knew the teachings of Jesus, but had not heard Paul's message of the holy spirit. Similar variations, and sometimes rivalry, must have marked many early congregations, varying by teacher, local tradition, and communications with other cities. In his circuit of travels, Paul tried to establish some continuity. Paul would spend three years in Ephesus, and may have been imprisoned for some of that time. His letters indicate that he made visits to Corinth during his stay. And, as in Corinth, Paul earned his keep working as a tentmaker when he could, and depended on the support of his congregations when he could not. With this support he was able to spread his message even while under arrest.
Most of Paul's surviving letters were probably written during his time in Ephesus. The sequence and authenticity of the letters have been debated in recent generations, and it seems forged or misidentified letters were already a problem during Paul's lifetime. Since most of his letters were dictated, Paul made a point to personally sign his letters, and asked his readers to look for his distinctively large letters. It also seems that letters were shared between the nascent communities either copied or circulated and moving from city to city with the traveling teachers and companions. The letters themselves are testimony to the frequency of travel. While there was a military postal service, it was reserved for the official business of Empire. Letters like Paul's would have been carried by friends or acquaintances, and their distribution across the range of Paul's congregations suggests a steady stream of bearers. The letters served many social purposes and represent a range of concerns letters of introduction would smooth friends' travel, and build networks among the cities; letters in response to requests for advice on belief and practice sometimes exasperated letters reining in wandering souls would instruct the nascent communities, and shape the formation of churches for centuries; letters of gratitude for support during his imprisonments would encourage followers in the face of opposition; and there is one letter recommending its recipient free a free a man named Onesimus, who is thought to have been an escaped slave Paul met in Ephesus. He had probably come to seek refuge in the sanctuary of Artemis, and Paul sent him back to his owner a fellow believer with the letter encouraging his emancipation.
Ephesus was the largest city in Asia Minor, and the center for criminal and civil trials. The city's theater sat facing the sea at the head of the main road from the harbor into the city. Ephesus had a troubled history with Rome. In the first century BCE, Roman tax collectors and businessmen had run roughshod over the province, outraging the locals with their exploitation and extortion. The Ephesians welcomed the challenge to Roman hegemony posed by an invading eastern king, and with his capture of the city in 88 BCE, its citizens joined in the massacre of the city's Italian residents. Rome responded with a characteristically firm hand, exacting huge penalties and taxes to keep the city without resources. The economy did not recover until the reign of Augustus.
And, as in Jerusalem, Corinth and Athens, Ephesus attracted a large number of tourists, though smaller than modern standards. Pilgrims came to Ephesus to see the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. This temple had been destroyed and rebuilt many times over the centuries. The temple Paul would have seen was erected in the fourth century BCE; a forest of marble, it had 127 columns measuring 1.2 meters in diameter, standing 18 meters high. It was a refuge for runaway slaves, and was outside the city proper. The form of Artemis worshipped here was unlike anywhere else, perhaps because she had been assimilated with a local Anatolian earth goddess. Unlike the virgin huntress and twin sister of Apollo most familiar in the stories of the Greeks, Artemis at Ephesus was a fertility goddess, and her physical manifestation was a statue of the goddess festooned with oval protuberances probably representing testicles of sacrificial bulls and she wore a stole of bees. Acts repeats a story of how Paul's success threatened the livelihood of those citizens who relied on proceeds from visitors to the Temple of Artemis. |