senatorial province, then an imperatorial province under Tiberius, and again a senatorial province
under Claudius.^1111 In the year 53–54, when Paul was at Corinth, M. Annaeus Novatus Gallio, the
brother of the philosopher L. Annaeus Seneca, was proconsul of Achaia, and popularly esteemed
for his mild temper as "dulcis Gallio."- Paul and Barnabas mistaken for Zeus and Hermes in Lycaonia, 14:11. According to the
myth described by Ovid,^1112 the gods Jupiter and Mercury (Zeus and Hermes) had appeared to the
Lycaonians in the likeness of men, and been received by Baucis and Philemon, to whom they left
tokens of that favor. The place where they had dwelt was visited by devout pilgrims and adorned
with votive offerings. How natural, therefore, was it for these idolaters, astonished by the miracle,
to mistake the eloquent Paul for Hermes, and Barnabas who may have been of a more imposing
figure, for Zeus. - The colonial dignity of the city of Philippi, in Macedonia, 16:12 ("a Roman colony,"
κολώνια; comp. 16:21, "being Romans"). Augustus had sent a colony to the famous battlefield
where Brutus and the Republic expired, and conferred on the place new importance and the privileges
of Italian or Roman citizenship (jus Italicum).^1113 - "Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira," 16:14. Thyatira (now Akhissar), in
the valley of Lycus in Asia Minor, was famous for its dying works, especially for purple or
crimson.^1114 - The "politarchs" of Thessalonica, 17:6, 8.^1115 This was a very rare title for magistrates,
and might easily be confounded with the more usual designation "poliarchs." But Luke’s accuracy
has been confirmed by an inscription still legible on an archway in Thessalonica, giving the names
of seven "politarchs" who governed before the visit of Paul.^1116 - The description of Athens, the Areopagus, the schools of philosophy, the idle curiosity
and inquisitiveness of the Athenians (mentioned also by Demosthenes), the altar of an unknown
God, and the quotation from Aratus or Cleanthes, in Acts 17, are fully borne out by classical
authorities.^1117 - The account of Ephesus in the nineteenth chapter has been verified as minutely accurate
by the remarkable discoveries of John T. Wood, made between 1863 and 1874, with the aid of the
English Government. The excessive worship of Diana, "the great goddess of Artemis," the
(^1111) Tacitus, Ann. I. 76; Sueton., Claudius, c. 25.
(^1112) Metam., VIII. 625-724.
(^1113) Dion Cass., LI. 4; Pliny, Nat. Hist. IV.11.
(^1114) Strabo, XIII. 4, § 14. Inscriptions found in the place attest the existence of a guild of purple-dealers, with which Lydia was
probably connected.
(^1115) τοὺς πολιτάρχας ,i.e.,τούς ἄρχοντας τῶν πολιτῶν, praefectos civitatis, the rulers of the city. Grimm says: "Usitatius
Graecis erat,πολίαρχος "
(^1116) The Thessalonian inscription in Greek letters is given by Boeckh. Leake, and Howson (in Conybeare and Howson’s Life
and Letters of St. Paul, ch. IX., large Lond. ed., I. 860). Three of the names are identical, with those of Paul’s friends in that
region-Sopater of Beraea (Acts 20:4), Gaius of Macedonia (19:29), and Secundus of Thessalonica (20:4). I will only give the
first line:
ΠΟΛΕΙΤΑΡΧΟΥΝΤΩΝ ΣΩΣΙΠΑΤΡΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΚΛΕΟ.
(^1117) See the commentaries on Acts 17:16, 18, 21, 22, 23, 28. The singular θεῷ in 17:23 creates some difficulty; for Pausanias
(I. 1-4) mentions "altars to unknown gods" which were set up in the harbor and streets of Athens; and Diogenes Laërtius (Epimen.,
c. 3) speaks of "altars without name" in many parts of Athens. It is supposed that Paul meant one of these altars, or that he
ingeniously adapted the polytheistic inscription to his argument. In the dialogue Philopatris which is erroneously ascribed to
Lucian, one of the speakers swears "by the unknown god of Athens."
A.D. 1-100.