Biblical Archaeology session 8
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This document provides an overview of Herod the Great, the birth of Jesus, and related archaeology. It discusses Herod as the Roman-appointed king who ruled at the time of Jesus' birth. The document examines the characters involved, including Caesar Augustus, Quirinius, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. It explores issues around the chronology in Luke related to Quirinius and the census. The document also mentions archaeological evidence related to Herod, such as his various palaces and cities, helping to provide historical context around the time of Jesus' birth.
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Biblical Archaeology session 8
- 1. THE BIBLE AND ARCHAEOLOGY Session 8 Welcome
- 2. HEROD, THE BIRTH OF JESUS AND ARCHAEOLOGY • Historicity • Setting • Aspects • Chronology WHAT ARE WE GOING TO TALK ABOUT TODAY?
- 3. REVIEW LAST WEEK What was that?
- 4. NEW TESTAMENT AND ARCHAEOLOGY OVERVIEW 1.The Archaeology before Jesus' Birth 2.The Archaeology at Jesus’ Birth 3.The Archaeology during Jesus’ Life 4.The Archaeology after Jesus death and Resurrection
- 5. HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY • Herod the Great (Herodian Dynasty) • Rome, Parthia, Seleucids, Hasmoneans • Antiochus Epiphanes • Hanukkah or Feast of Dedication • Palaestina, Judeaus, and Ioudas
- 8. ROMAN I (HERODIAN) • 37 B.C. – 70 A.D • Roman domination • Herod (the Great) and his sons rule Israel • The line of David as a political force has been marginalized • The priestly class has been politicized and corrupted • Vying political parties vied for control of the Temple
- 9. OT AND NT ARCHAEOLOGY • Focus • Setting • People • Scope • Science DIFFERENCES
- 10. NT AND OT ARCHAEOLOGY • We are dealing with “old” things • Digs and tells are still important • Purpose SIMILARITIES
- 11. HEROD (THE GREAT) 73 BC- 4 BC
- 12. WHO WAS HEROD (THE GREAT)? • His father (Antipater) and mother (Cyprus) were Idumeans (Edomites) • He was from Jericho • He was a nominal Jew • He married into the Hasmonean dynasty • He is mentioned twice in the New Testament (Matt 2:1-19; Luke 1:5) • He had ten wives
- 13. MACCABEAN LINEAGE Fight for Power
- 14. HERODIAN DYNASTY
- 15. HEROD’S KINGDOM
- 16. ARCHAEOLOGY AND HEROD • Temples to Roma, Augustus and Baal Shamim, the Pythian temple at Rhodes and Jerusalem Temple • Palaces at Masada, Jericho, Ascalon and others • Gymnasia, baths, fountains, colonnades, markets and other public buildings throughout the eastern Roman empire • The cities Sebaste and Caesarea Maritima
- 17. MASADA
- 18. HERODIUM
- 19. CAESAREA MARITIMA (BY THE SEA)
- 20. PUBLIC FORUM
- 21. HEROD’S DEATH
- 22. “In the days of Herod the king…” • Luke 1:5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. • Matthew 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Jesus was born into this world
- 23. QUESTIONS? Does anyone have any questions about last weeks lesson?
- 24. HEROD, THE BIRTH OF JESUS AND ARCHAEOLOGY • Historicity • Setting • Characters • Aspects • Chronology
- 25. THE BIRTH OF JESUS AND CHRONOLOGY 1.Chronology is not absolute 2.The Bible is not a strict time keeper 3.We can’t be dogmatic on when Jesus was born 4.When the Bible is silent, we need to be silent 5.Focus on redemptive history not chronological certainty
- 26. THE TEXT IN QUESTION Luke 2 1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. 2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
- 27. CHARACTERS AND PROBLEM • Caesar Augustus • Cyrenius (Quirinius) • Herod • Joseph • Mary • Jesus
- 28. CAESAR AUGUSTUS • Also known as Gaius Octavian • Great Uncle was Julius Caesar • Lived from 63 B.C. – 14 A.D. • Rome’s first emperor • Ruled from 23 B.C. to 14 A.D • Took the power away from the Senate as a body and gave individual Senators power
- 29. CAESAR AUGUSTUS 63 B.C. – 14 A.D.
- 30. WHO IS CYRENIUS? • Luke 2:2 • (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) • Quirinius (Latin) • High Roman official
- 31. Publius Sulpicius Quirinius • Lived from c.45 BCE? - 21 CE • Roman Senator • He oversaw a prominent census in 6 A.D. where many rebelled including many Jews • Military hero • Served Caesar as Governor of Galatia and Pamphylia (central Turkey)
- 34. IMPORTANCE OF YOUR HOMETOWN • Luke 2:3 • And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. • Family or birth city (ancestral home) • Required travel
- 35. “EACH WENT TO HIS OWN HOUSE…”
- 36. LUKE’S CENSUS • Greek word for enrolment and census is used (apographe) in Luke 2:2 • Inhabitants are compelled to go • All members of the family • Taxation and registration are implied • Empire wide • Go to your ancestral home
- 37. SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY March 1851- April 1939
- 38. WHO IS SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY? • Originally set out to disprove the New Testament • Eventually after a few years of digs in Asia Minor became a Christian and was convinced of the trustworthiness of the New Testament • World’s foremost authority on Asia Minor and its archaeology
Editor's Notes
- Welcome Prayer requests Prayer review
- Key terms
- The world of Roman dominated Judea
- Focus is on Jesus Christ Setting is predominantly Israel People are Jewish and expand to the Gentile Because the focus and setting is more narrow than the scope is different The science is more highly developed
- Politics in the Holy land leading up the the Time of Jesus MARK 4 The Holy Land just prior to and during the time of Jesus was formally under the supervision of the Roman governor of Syria.The Roman period began in 63 e.c.and culminated with the destruction of the tempie in A.d. 70 and the establishment of Jerusalem as a pagan city in a.o. 135. As a critical epoch in the history of Israel, ancient contemporaries and modern interpreters view these years as a period of tremendous change, expectation and consequence. Arrival of Rome and the End of the Hasmoneans Arrival of Rome and the End of the I Hasmoneans Roman control debuted in Israel in the wake of a conflict for succession between two sons of the Hasmonean queen Salome Alexandra: Hyrcanus II, who had served as high priest,and Aristobulus II,who had been the chief military commander. Although Hyr-1 canus initially yielded to his brother, he was pressed by the Idumean leader Antipater to fight for the throne. Both sides sent delega- tions before the Roman general Pompey in Damascus, who eventually sided with Hyr- canus. In the meantime, the supporters of Aristobulus had barricaded themselves in the temple of Jerusalem. Pompey's forces be- sieged the temple mount for three months, eventually taking the area. Josephus recorded that Pompey desecrated the temple by enter- ing into the Most Holy Place (Wars, 1.7.1 -6). J Hyrcanus was confirmed in ponw^atthougfc r denied the title of king and stripped of ail »f coastal and Transjordanian r reek dfes. , d After another rebellion in 57s.cby Aristcfc. l- lus's son Alexander, Hyrcanus retained mtf j- the high priesthood and the temple, white al the province of Judea was div:r: i- administrative districts, w During the course of a Roman dvi mar e, between Pompey and Julius Caesar,the ton mean Antipater encouraged Hyrcanus to sup- port Caesar and to send a l /troops to his aid in Egypt (47 B.C.). As a gesture of thanks, Julius Caesar conferred upon Hyrcanus Ike ie title Ethnarch of the Jews (an Etnnarchwasa ?n man appointed by Rome to be ru f- ie pie) and named Antipater as the ?. -r. : *¦;«:. k rator of Judea.1 Antipater named his two n sons, Phasael and Herod, as prefe r- dea and Galilee, respectiveK He ;: ;. ;< is distinguished himself and named pi*- o feet of Syria by the Roman governor.* Herod the Great Caesar's assassination in 44 B.C. was a blow to Jewish communities throughout he empire and produced a period of instability in Rome. During this interval the east- ern empire was attacked by Parthians from Mesopotamia. They named Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, as high priest and king in Jerusalem. Phasael was captured and slain, while Herod fled to Rome. After the defeat of the Parthians, Mark Antony and Octefea' 0, Caesar's heir) ¦ conferred the j»bK * Jews upon Herod in 37 b.c 9 0A'i 5 Herod ruled from Jerusaleni G ^ support of Rome from 3 7 to 341,7 ,h* „tiv 6« tioned as a client-king (a king'(w ;S. under the authority of an outside pow> q,venas was considered a "friend and ally 0f th * of Antip man people" (a title conferred by the s territory upon non-Romans whose support thevf i,al'CaC ued). He was dependent upon Rome i hj 34 his kingship and was compelled to swear an oath of allegiance to Caesar (Josephs/to J uities, 17.2.4). In return he promised stability, (als0 order and tax revenue. Herod earned an in; 141. rational reputation as a great benefactors pho.!'s builder of cities and temples, but his legacy within Judaism is almost entirely negative ^jj Josephus recorded the contemporary evalua- H tion that Jews suffered more during the reign ^ (utjo of Herod than during the entire period prior ^ to Herod since the Babylonian exile (Josephus, Wa Roman were the
- The'birth of Jesus Christ, took place at ?i; close of Herod's life, after he had re- tvedtis rivals from other families by vio- E deaths, and when his domestic tooubtes were at their height. He had slam his sons Alexander and Aristobulus, and more re- cently Antipater, for plotting against his life ; and now he was told that a child ol David s line had just been born to be king ol the Jews. The slaughter of the infants who came into the world about the same time and place was such a method of meeting the difficulty as would suggest itself to one with Herod's propensity to bloodshed (Mat. ii. 1- 19). It was one of the last acts of his life. Seized at length with loathsome and mortal disease, he repaired to Callirhoe, the hot sulphur springs of the Zerka, the water r?mA ahlch runs into the eastern part of the JJeaa bea. They came to be called, in con- ttiev^' I ?an7' the baths of Herod ; but E tt?- *****tha^ -he was and away. He S be ?lc™g when he passed husbandeI?!ore told his sister Salome and and Alexas to shut up the principal jews in the circus at Jericho, and put thft death whenever he expired, that there nZu be mourning at, though, of course, not for his death. Then, about 4 b. a, he passed away, in the seventieth year of his age and the thirty-fourth of his reign, counting from the time when he actually obtained the king, doin. When news of his demise arrived, the circus prisoners were set free, and the death of the tyrant was welcomed as a relief in- stead of being attended by mourning, tame* tation, and woe (Antiq. xvii. (>, 5; 8, 2).
- II Archaeology and Luke's Account of Jesus' Birth ^ Interwoven prominently in the Christmas story as by Luke in Chapter 2 of his gospel is a pivotal passage of immense importance (Luke 2:1-7) that has been furiously assailedi unt romparatively recent times as being almost completely unhistorical, a mere legend, at best a bundle of blunders. (1) Luke the Historian and the First Taxation Enrolment In this important passage Luke asserts that (1) such a census (enrolment) first took place under Caesar Augustus during the reign of Herod, (2) that it involved the return of everyone to his ancestral home, (3) that it constituted part of an empire-wide enrolment ( all the world"), meaning the sphere of the Roman Empire, (4) and that it was held during Quirinius' first governorship of the province or Syria. Although as a result of archaeological discoveries it is now widely admitted in critical circles, both by theological and historical scholars, that these four declarations of Luke may be authentic, such was emphatically not the case before Sir William Ramsay's researches on the subject of Luke's historical reliability in the first decade of the twentieth century.13 Despite the fact that it is still rare to find the same critic admitting all four of Lukes' assertions,14 scientific advance has done much to vindicate his historical reliability, though some prob- lems still remain. No longer, however, can the arbitrary attitude of earlier critics be defended who assumed that Luke was bound to be wrong simply because he stood unsupported by other ancient author- ities, forgetting that the genuine worth of a historian, when he stands alone is put to the acid test of whether he blindly follows tradition or has conducted original investigation for the facts (cf. Luke 1-14) Supporting the possibility that the census may have taken nl in Herod's reign is the assertion of Josephus that toward the end f his rule as a client-king Herod was dealt with by Augustus as k ject rather than a friend.1* Also Luke's reliability in this aspect %] complicated issues involved in this crucial passage (Luke 2-13} supported by the evidence that this procedure was normal with client kingdoms 13 the Bearing of Recent Discovery on the trustworthiness of the New Testament (The James Sprunt Lectures tor 1911, reprint Grand Rapids 1953)
- II Archaeology and Luke's Account of Jesus' Birth ^ Interwoven prominently in the Christmas story as by Luke in Chapter 2 of his gospel is a pivotal passage of immense importance (Luke 2:1-7) that has been furiously assailed until comparatively recent times as being almost completely unhistorical, a mere legend, at best a bundle of blunders. (1) Luke the Historian and the First Taxation Enrolment In this important passage Luke asserts that (1) such a census (enrolment) first took place under Caesar Augustus during the reign of Herod, (2) that it involved the return of everyone to his ancestral home, (3) that it constituted part of an empire-wide enrolment ( all the world"), meaning the sphere of the Roman Empire, (4) and that it was held during Quirinius' first governorship of the province or Syria. Although as a result of archaeological discoveries it is now widely admitted in critical circles, both by theological and historical scholars, that these four declarations of Luke may be authentic, such was emphatically not the case before Sir William Ramsay's researches on the subject of Luke's historical reliability in the first decade of the twentieth century.13 Despite the fact that it is still rare to find the same critic admitting all four of Lukes' assertions,14 scientific advance has done much to vindicate his historical reliability, though some prob- lems still remain. No longer, however, can the arbitrary attitude of earlier critics be defended who assumed that Luke was bound to be wrong simply because he stood unsupported by other ancient author- ities, forgetting that the genuine worth of a historian, when he stands alone is put to the acid test of whether he blindly follows tradition or has conducted original investigation for the facts (cf. Luke 1-14) Supporting the possibility that the census may have taken nl in Herod's reign is the assertion of Josephus that toward the end f his rule as a client-king Herod was dealt with by Augustus as k ject rather than a friend.1* Also Luke's reliability in this aspect %] complicated issues involved in this crucial passage (Luke 2-13} supported by the evidence that this procedure was normal with client kingdoms 13 the Bearing of Recent Discovery on the trustworthiness of the New Testament (The James Sprunt Lectures tor 1911, reprint Grand Rapids 1953)
- Caesar Augustus was born as Gaius Octavius on September 23, 63 B.C.E. Julius Caesar, his great-uncle, took an interest in Augustus. When Julius Caesar was murdered, Augustus discovered that he was Julius's heir to the throne. Before Augustus could gain the throne, however, he was forced to battle the armies of both Cleopatra VII and Marc Antony, who had their own plans for power following Julius Caesar's death. Augustus was victorious, and during his rule as Egypt's first Roman emperor, the country was peaceful and prosperous under his rule. Augustus died on August 19 in 14 C.E.
- Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (c.45 BCE? - 21 CE): Roman senator, famous as governor of Syria. In a sense, Publius Sulpicius Quirinius is among the most famous Romans. He is mentioned in the gospel of Luke: In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This census took place when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Because Jesus of Nazareth was born at the time of this census, this line from the Christmas story is well-known to many Christians. But we know a lot more about Publius Sulpicius Quirinius. He was born in the neighborhood of Lanuvium, a Latin town near Rome; his family was rich but did not boast any senators or magistrates. Octavian's rise to power and his founding of the empire -he was from now on called Caesar Augustus- offered these people many opportunities for upward social mobility. Quirinius was one of them. In 15 BCE, Augustus appointed him as governor with the rank of proconsul of a province called Crete and Cyrenaica. Here, he subjected the Nasamones, a native tribe. Roman careers always followed the same course (cursus honorum). One could not be a proconsul unless one had served as praetor; and this position was unattainable unless one had reached an age of about 30 years and occupied magistracies like the aedileship, the quaestorship and a military tribuneship. Although we know nothing about Quirinius' earlier career, we may assume that he had occupied these functions and knew much about the administration of the Roman empire. In Cyrenaica, Quirinius successfully fought against the Garamantes, a tribe in the Sahara desert dwelling to the south of Cyrene. As a war hero he returned to Rome and was in 12 elected consul, still the most important office in the empire - after the emperor himself of course. Quirinius' colleague was a man named Gaius Valgius Rufus, otherwise known as a poet. After this success, Augustus appointed Quirinius as governor of Galatia and Pamphylia (central Turkey). Between 5 and 3 he fought against a brigand tribe that was called Homonadensians. Perhaps, he was later appointed as governor of the very rich province of Asia, but this is not entirely certain. Anyhow, Quirinius had shown that his successes in the Sahara were not incidental. He was a capable commander and Augustus trusted him. In the first years of our era, Quirinius was ordered to be rector ('guide') of Gaius Caesar, the grandson of Augustus and his intended successor. The young man was to visit the eastern provinces and learn something about government. He left Rome on 29 January 1 BCE. (Among the officers that escorted the him were the historian Velleius Paterculus, Marcus Lollius, and Seianus, the future praetorian prefect.) Quirinius was probably present when Gaius met the new Parthian king Phraataces on an island in the Euphrates, and must have been one of Gaius' military advisers when he invaded Armenia. Unfortunately, the young man was wounded and died on his return to the west (3 CE). Augustus now selected his stepson Tiberius as successor. Ostracon, recording a census (more...) (Nationalbibliothek, Vienna) Almost immediately, Quirinius was appointed as governor of Syria, one of the most important provinces of the empire, garrisoned with no less than four legions (III Gallica, VI Ferrata, X Fretensis, XII Fulminata). The area to the south, Judaea, was unquiet. Its leader, Herod Archelaus, had made big mess of his realm, and in 6, Augustus sent him into exile in Gaul. Judaea now became an autonomous part of the Roman province Syria, ruled by a prefect. Quirinius was ordered to organize the taxation of the new prefecture. Until then, taxes had been paid in kind. However, during the census which Quirinius organized, the inhabitants were required to declare their property in money. There are no indications that the Roman money taxes were higher than the taxes they replaced, but taxes in money were more onerous than taxes in kind, because a farmer had to borrow in case of a poor harvest. Besides, any Roman coin would bear an image of the goddess Roma or a legend saying that the man represented was the divine emperor: a violation of at least two of the ten commandments. Not surprisingly, the Jewish peasants were unhappy. The high priest Joazar, however, was able to convince almost everyone to cooperate with the new authorities, since the alternative would be the return of the detested Herod Archelaus. But there remained some resistance. A Pharisee named Zadok and a scribe from Galilee named Judas of Gamala said that this taxation was equivalent to the introduction of slavery, and exhorted the Jews to assert their liberty. Their program was simple: God was Israel's only lord, and it was blasphemous to pay tribute to anyone else - including the Roman emperor. If they revolted, the Jews would find God as their zealous helper. It is unclear what happened next. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus writes that 'men received their teachings with pleasure, and the plot to strike boldly made serious progress' (Jewish Antiquities, 18.6). That there were disturbances can be deduced from a remark in the Acts of the apostles, where it is implied that Judas' band of followers was defeated and Judas was killed (Acts 5.37). The revolt is absent from the catalog of armed interventions by Syrian governors of the Roman historian Tacitus (Histories 5.9); it was not necessary to send the legions, which means that the rebellion cannot have been widespread. However this may be, Quirinius' census and the riots that followed were remembered by the Jews. As we have already seen above, the evangelist Luke, writing two generations after the events, could assume that every reader knew Quirinius' governorship. Even later, Flavius Josephus commented that this revolt caused a change in the ancestral constitution. No longer were the peasants listening to those who had always been their leaders. In 14, Augustus died and Tiberius succeeded him as emperor. Quirinius, now an old man, seems to have retained much influence. Quirinius, now a very wealthy man, was married to Aemilia Lepida, a granddaughter of the triumvir Lepidus, who had been Rome's pontifex maximus. In 20, she was pregnant and claimed that Quirinius was the father. However, he denied that this was possible, divorced her, and accused her. She was convicted. One year later, Quirinius died. He was accorded a public funeral. He had no children, neither with Aemilia Lepida, nor with his first wife, Appia Claudia.
- Caristanius also identified himself as pontifex. Two previously known inscriptions also identify him as pontifex, and one of thes< inscriptions claims he was also sacerdos("). The fact that he held (oi had held) these priesthoods suggests that he would have had a personal Stake in the preservation of the religious status quo at Pisidian Antioch ;Wnile Judaism represented a known form of religious devotion in the Hly, Christianity could have been viewed as a disturbing new development, especially if the missionaries actually "turned to the Gentiles" in this city, as Acts 13,46 claims. IHCaristarrius' personal prominence in Pisidian Antioch may have Keen more important than any office that he held at the time when Paul IHL expelled. Besides having been duumvir, pontifex and sacerdos.Upi had been the prefect of P. Sulpicius Quirinius( ). the prefect of two other notable persons 06), and the first citizen of the city to be honored with a statue erected at public expense O. He possessed the wealth to erect a huge statue, and he also possessed the wealth to provide games. Sacrifices and venatio. He was not onl a prominent person but also a prominent member (paterfamilias'!) of a prominent family T). Even the inscription that honors the freed man Tiberius Claudius Epinicus •>ouUs to the prominence of the ("anstanii. for it contains the&ord "Caristamorunr. a word thai suggests that tpinicus had once bcdH iffif their slaves (*").
- This is the Quirinius mentioned in Luke 2.2. As noted by Sherk, "Roman Galatia"1037-1038 Caristanius "had been given the honor of serving as the representative o P. Solpieius Quirinius, when that eminent consular had been made honorary duovir in the colony. That man, of course, was not expected to be there and attend to the colonial administration himself. Caristanius became his deputy in that capacity. Such honorary duos nates gave added splendor to the colony'',
- From Egypt, 104 CE, Ht. 22.2 cm. BL Papyrus 904. A papyrus document containing a command in Greek from the Prefect Gaius Vibius Maximus for all those in his area of authority to return to their own homes for the purposes of a census (apogaphēs). This illustrates a situation in the time of Trajan analogous to that described by Luke at the time of the birth of Christ (Luke 2:1-4), when Augustus decreed that a census should be taken of the Roman world. Mitchell, T.C. The Bible in the British Museum; Interpreting the Evidence. London: British Museum Press, 1988.
- Supporting also the now widely admitted possibility that Lukes census may have involved the return of everyone to his ancestral home is the evidence from periodic enrolments in Egypt which were con- ducted on a fourteen-year cycle and were by households.17 The edict in question is that of G. Vibius Maximus, prefect of Egypt and dated 104 a.d. "Since the enrolment by households is approaching, it | necessary to command all who for any reason are out of their own district to return to their own home, in order to perform the usual business of the taxation < In addition a letter from the late third century contains a request ( that the writer's sister endeavor to enroll for him but if that is not pos- sible, to let him know that he may come and do it himself. t To my sister, lady Dionysia, from Pathermouthis, greeting. As you sent me word on account of the enrolment about enrolling yourselves, since I cannot come, see whether you can enroll us. Do not then neglect to enroll us, me and Patas; but if you learn you cannot enroll us, reply to me and I will come. Find out also about the collection of the poll tax, and if they are hurrying on with the collection of the poll tax, pay it, and I will send you the money; and if you pay the poll tax get the receipt. Do not neg- lect this, my sister, and write to me about the enrolment, whether you have done it or not, and reply to me and I will come and enroll myself. I pray for your lasting health.19 Supporting also the now widely admitted possibility that Luke's census may have constituted part of an empire-wide enrolment is the evidence from the papyri of periodic enrolments from 11 and 8 B.C., the evidence for an Egyptian census in 10-9 b.c. being practi- cally conclusive.20 Discoveries among papyri from the sands of Egypt prove that a periodic fourteen-year census was taken in Egypt and doubtlessly throughout the empire. Definitely dated census returns come from the years a.d. 34, 48, 62 and numerous examples extending 16Annals, VI. 41. i7Cf. A. T. Robertson, Luke the Historian in the Light of Historical Research (New York, 1930), p. 125. The title is always apographe kat' oikian "enrolment according to a household," the same word for enrolment or census {apographe) as that used in Luke 2:2. Cf. also A. Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East (1910), pp. 268 ff. i8Frederic G. Kenyon and H. Idris Bell, Greek Papyri in the British Museum III (1907), no. 904. i'> Adolf Deissmann, Licht vom Osten, Das Neue Testament und die neuentdeckten Texte der hellenistisch-romischen Welt (4th ed., 1923), p. 231. "Thus th« sih.arin
- Sir William Mitchell Ramsay (15 March 1851, Glasgow –20 April 1939) was a Scottish archaeologist and New Testament scholar. By his death in 1939 he had become the foremost authority of his day on the history of Asia Minor and a leading scholar in the study of the New Testament. From the post of Professor of Classical Art and Architecture at Oxford, he was appointed Regius Professor of Humanity (the Latin Professorship) at Aberdeen. Knighted in 1906 to mark his distinguished service to the world of scholarship, Ramsay also gained three honorary fellowships from Oxford colleges, nine honorary doctorates from British, Continental and North American universities and became an honorary member of almost every association devoted to archaeology and historical research. He was one of the original members of the British Academy, was awarded the Gold Medal of Pope Leo XIII in 1893 and the Victorian Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1906.
- William Ramsay paid a lot of attention to the New Testament events, particularly the Book of Acts and Pauline Epistles. When he first went to Asia Minor, many of the cities mentioned in Acts had no known location and almost nothing was known of their detailed history or politics. The Acts of the Apostles was the only record and Ramsay, skeptical, fully expected his own research to prove the author of Acts hopelessly inaccurate since no man could possibly know the details of Asia Minor more than a hundred years after the event—this is, when Acts was then supposed to have been written. He therefore set out to put the writer of Acts on trial. He devoted his life to unearthing the ancient cities and documents of Asia Minor. After a lifetime of study, however, he concluded: 'Further study . . . showed that the book could bear the most minute scrutiny as an authority for the facts of the Aegean world, and that it was written with such judgment, skill, art and perception of truth as to be a model of historical statement' (The Bearing of Recent Discovery, p. 85). On page 89 of the same book, Ramsay accounted, 'I set out to look for truth on the borderland where Greece and Asia meet, and found it there [in Acts]. You may press the words of Luke in a degree beyond any other historian's and they stand the keenest scrutiny and the hardest treatment...' When Ramsay turned his attention to Paul's letters, most of which the critics dismissed as forgeries, he concluded that all thirteen New Testament letters that claimed to have been written by Paul were really his.