All references to "writings from the apostles' churches" or "early Christian writings" on this site can be read at EarlyChristianWritings.com or Christian Classic Ethereal Library, as well as other web sites. . Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) . The story goes that Antiope was ill-treated by this Dirke, and therefore the children of Antiope put Dirke to death. I use this newsletter to send Bible studies as much as once per week, sometimes less, but never more. [Many ingenious conjectures might be cited; but see Jacobson's valuable note, Patres Apostol., . ], suffered (capital) punishment in the reign of Tiberius through the agency of the procurator Pontius Pilatus. In Monday Begins on Saturday, it is mentioned that the Danades had their case reviewed in modern times, and, due to mitigating circumstances (the marriage being forced), had their punishment changed to laying down and then immediately demolishing asphalt. The vague charges of incendiarism assumed a more definite form, and were associated with the character of Antichrist, which the Church was accustomed to ascribe to Nero on account of his supposed diabolical cruelty. My books, and those I have published for others, consistently maintain 4-star and better ratings despite the occasional 1- and 2-star ratings from people angry about my kicking over sacred cows. papyrus 115 says 616 which i feel was referring to Nero . Just to count the grand houses, the apartment blocks, and the temples that had been destroyed would be very difficult. Greeka team and its community members will be delighted to help you! The key reference here isBarnes, T. D. 2010: Early Christian Hagiography and Roman History, Tubingen. Owing to envy, Paul also obtained the reward of patient endurance, after being seven times thrown into captivity, compelled to flee, and stoned. ", Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 7 (trans. . 33:11]; adding, moreover, this gracious declaration, 'Repent, O house of Israel, of your iniquity'" [Ezek. But the following passage speaks of Paul: Let us set before our eyes the illustrious apostles. Do not hesitate to ask the community! Danaus was angered that his daughter refused to do as he ordered and took her to the Argives courts. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : 6:2 By reason of jealousy women being persecuted, after that they had suffered cruel and unholy insults as Danaids and Dircae, safely reached the goal in the race of faith, and received a noble reward, feeble though they were in body. Later sources such as the writing of Sulpicius Severus are useless for our enquiry because they all depend on Tacitus. Your email address will not be published. Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism (JGRChJ). can be read possibly as Philinna according to Mauricius Schmidt in his annotations of Hyginus. Dirke was originally the wife of King Lykos (Lycus) of Thebes who, as punishment for the mistreatment of her niece Antiope, was tied to a wild bull and torn limb from limb. Nero was seen as a benefactor of the poor and common persons and a future restorer of a golden age. Most Americans tend to think of religion as something rather fluid. . These include: The Daughters of Danaus is also the title of an 1894 novel by Mona Caird, also dealing with imposed marriage although, in this case, it is a single marriage instead of 50, and in 19th-century Great Britain. For all we know from the available evidence Peter died in the 50s, in Jerusalem, peacefully in his sleep. Magda Szab's 1964 novel, A Danaida (The Danaid), is about a woman who lives selfishly for two-thirds of her life without realizing that even she can change the course of history. Danaus agreed to the marriage of his daughters only after Aegyptus came to Argos with his fifty sons in order to protect the local population, the Argives, from any battles. The historian composed his narrative accordingly and, as has been frequently noted, he did it with a consummate art and skill that wove together themes of impending disaster, a final conflagration, and a tyrannical emperor. The first part of the article explores the context in which these designations appear. Prof. Shaws case undermining the historicity of the Tacitus account and its supposed witness to Jesus is an important one, but it could have been much more conclusive and also more supportive to Jesus as myth. Best, John", John Moles, September 2011 (personal email), "I always enjoy reading Neils blog because I think that he is careful, thorough, intellectually fair, and honest. ", Pausanias, Description of Greece 9. Several other martyrs. Now turn to the Book of Revelation, and we find that the Nero-like figure who is coming to destroy and kill on a cosmic scale is none other than Christ. But between such hypotheses and the text there are considerable unfillable gaps in the evidence. He lists Peter, Paul andDanaids and Dircae. They were to marry the 50 sons of Danaus' twin brother Aegyptus, a mythical king of Egypt. Even in the New Testament, we are told that at the judgment those who patiently to do good will be rewarded in eternal life (Rom. . These things, beloved, we write unto you, not merely to admonish you of your duty, but also to remind ourselves. He indulged in all the trappings of his day, including the pastime of watching gladiatorial combat and games where criminals were tortured or eaten alive by wild animals. The spring called Dirke (Dirce), running parallel to the Ismenos (Ismenus) and the walls themselves, which had always previously had clear and pure water, was suddenly and unexpectedly filled with blood. We use cookies to offer you a better browsing experience and to analyze site traffic. The first unequivocal mention of the Neronian persecution in connection with the burning of Rome is found in the forged correspondence of Seneca and the apostle Paul, which belongs to the fourth century. ", "Here I give an admittedly subjective short list, in random order, of useful, high level and regularly updated weblogs on the study of the Old Testament . Nero had somehow come to be connected with the Christians; Christians were linked to thosewho were punished after the Great Fire. ", "Thanks much for this book review. In the Gospel of John there was a prophecy that Peter would meet an undesirable fate and it seemed appropriate that he should die by crucifixion as hadJesus. Christian Interpolation in Josephus Antiquitates Judaicae (c. 94 C.E.). The reason for Nero attacking the Christians (including the deaths of Peter and Paul), according to Lactantius, was the same as we read of in Plinys correspondence: the pagan cults were being abandoned because of the success of Christian preaching. This second group were singled out because others believed they had a general hatred for humankind. . Christian Dirce by Henryk Siemiradzki (National Museum, Warsaw) shows the punishment of a Roman woman who had converted to Christianity. The entirety of his focus in condemning Nero concentrates on the preaching of Peter and Paul at Rome and the effects of their ideas in the city. can be read as Myrmydone as cited in Hyginus, can be read possibly as Cleodora (Mauricius Schmidt) or simply. "These things, beloved, we write unto you, not merely to admonish you of your duty, but also The lack of connection is all the more striking since Lactantius was well aware of the tradition that Nero was a persecutor of Christians and of the rumours that Nero was going to return to earth, in some form, to renew the persecution. Finally, at least for chapter 7, I found this statement interesting: Noah preached repentance, and as many as listened to him were saved. All Rights Reserved. Sheffield Phoenix Press. The absence is doubly striking since it was precisely a fire at Nicomedia (two of them, in fact) that caused Galerius and Diocletian to turn on the Christians in the Great Persecution of 303 C.E. The more I read your stuff (and I still do, of course), the more I realize how much we all owe you. 142-72. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Witnesses_to_the_Historicity_of_Jesus/Part_2/Section_2. What seems to have happened under Claudius and then again under Nero is the temporary banishment of some Jewish sectarians from the city of Rome, but not, in any event, persons who would logically have been labelled at the time as a new and evil superstitio, words which were used only much later by Roman officials to label Christians. For example, when Tacitus says that there arose a distaste towards Nero for his executions because they were perceived to be a concession to the emperors bestiality and not a contribution to the. So we return to Tacituss contemporary, Suetonius, who wrote: Christians were afflicted with punishments, a type of men of a new and evil superstitio . They indeed killed their bridegrooms and buried their heads in Lerma, a region with lakes in southern Argos. There are intelligent, thoughtful comments and commenters regularly offering productive discussion. Other references not currently quoted here: Euripides Bacchae 519, Euripides Heracles 27, Propertius 3.16.13. 2. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Through envy, those women, the Danaids and Dirc, being persecuted, after they had suffered terrible and unspeakable torments, finished the course of their faith with stedfastness, and though weak in body, received a noble reward. The third or fourth bishop of Rome has been proposed, but there are numerous pseudepigraphical texts attached to his name and no certain provenience or date can be established for the text. Maybe this was because he loathed Christians too much to mention them at all anywhere in his work. Perhaps I might write thatlater. A shepherd who is a father figure to the boys after helping to raise them convinces them of the truth that Antiope is their real mother. It betrays some modernizing or up-dating of the facts, among them calling Pontius Pilatus, the governor of Judaea, a procurator. Christians, like the Jews, came to think ofNero asan evil apocalyptic figure, the one who had supposedly killed Peter and Paul and was the first persecutor of the Christians. The phrase a type of men of a new and evil superstitio, in Shaws assessment, reads very much like Suetoniuss own commentary drawing upon what was known of Christians in his day, in the early second century. It is hard to believe that Lactantius was wholly unaware of Tacitus. Nor does Acts 18:1-3 help the cause, for its reference to Jews expelled from Rome who joined Paul in Corinth does not suggest that they were Christians when they left Rome. At first (only) those persons who confessed were arrested, but then because they were pointed out (denounced) by those (i.e. It is very possible that this was the house of St. Clement himself. 6:14). Then, Danaus and his daughters reached Argos, the birthplace of his great-grand-mother, the Argian princess Io. So, please continue to delve deeply and share this intellectual sustenance with your grateful readers. Through envy and jealousy, the greatest and most righteous pillars [of the Church] have been persecuted and put to death. "The grace of repentance" brought by the blood of Christ changes all that. This is ingenious but highly speculative, as Slingerland himself concedes. (The latter is a phenomenon which Tertullian is one of the earliest to focus on, yet without appealing to any Great Fire controversy. Books and publications are covered with a range of perspectives with attempts at fair and accurate representation of others arguments and content (where there are occasional and inevitable missteps on that I notice Neil making corrections and apologies where warranted, which wins points with me). Wherefore let us give up vain and fruitless cares, and approach to the glorious and venerable rule of our holy calling. In the first great persecution of the Church, begun by the Roman Emperor Nero after the burning of Rome in 64AD, many Christians, including Peter and Paul, were tortured and killed. Lactantius wrote accounts of the wrongful persecutions of Christians by Roman rulers yet he omits any mention of a fire in the time of Nero. "[The rivers and springs flee before the pregnant goddess Leto, fearing the wrath of Hera should they provide her refuge :] Fled, too, Aonia [Boiotia] on the same course, and [the Naiades] Dirke (Dirce) and Strophia, holding the hands of their sire, dark-pebbled Ismenos (Ismenus). ", "For an excellent example of generally high-quality scholarship by someone who isnt a biblical studies professor, see Neil Godfreys work posted on the website vridar.org. Under Martin V he reached the top rank of his office, as Apostolicus Secretarius, papal secretary. The rank was true of Tacitus own time, but not of Pilatus own when praefectus was the title held by the governor of Judaea. Finally a clever forger (Poggio?) I dont know if they will print it, because it relates to a secondary subject within the review in question. The names of the Danades was complete but with new entries and some alteration in the spellings. His brother, Aegyptus, had sent his fifty sons to find Danaus and try to take over his new kingdom. 1. But not to dwell upon ancient examples, let us come to the most recent spiritual heroes. How much further than that you can go has never been defined by law. For we are struggling on the same arena, and the same conflict is assigned to both of us. It is a great reminder for us today that if we are not repenting, we are not going to be among his beloved. Lynceus and Hypermnestra started a new dynasty of Argive Kings, known as the Danaan Dynasty. Tacitus does not believe the Christians were guilty, but at the same time he never tells us who he thinks wereculpable. When grace comes, sin loses its power over us (Rom. It is doing God's will that matters, not numbers. . Then notice Tacitus explaining to his readers that these Christians were just as people in his own day thought of them the harbingers of a new and degraded form of superstitio. . ", "Ive even been cited by atheists with approval (which I really dont know how to take, so thanks, I think, but Im not sure,Vrider(even though I feel like I need to take a shower now)). Its worth comparing in detail with the alternative arguments that the entire passage is a later forgery. Unpublished Philosophiae Doctor thesis, Potchefstroom: North-West University. RebuildingtheFoundations.org does not receive any personally identifiable information from the search bar below. Nero had somehow come to be connected with the Christians; hero concept in European and Jewish mythology, and his (apocalyptic?) 5 (trans. 25. Furthermore, the routine fashion in which Pliny phrases his ignorance presumes that the emperor himself did not expect Pliny or any other high-ranking Roman to possess such obvious knowledge of the Christians. . 10 ff (trans. Auf seinen Befehl hin tteten alle bis auf eine in der Brautnacht ihre jungen Ehemnner, smtlich Shne des Aigyptos, die sogenannten Aigyptiaden. Doris Lessing, I like the probability of the impossible." (Keeping it brief this time really? I realized that I hadnt added your blog to our blogroll.
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