Download - Recruitment, Conquest, and Conflict: Strategies in Judaism, Early Christianity, and the Greco-Roman World (Emory Studies in Early Christianity)

34 RECRUITMENT, CONQUEST, AND CONFLICT

that philosophers would recruit pupils to their schools and also attract adherents for their views among those who had not frequented the school. And it was in the same way that philosophers would also have a more direct political impact on political rulers, who often would not, and probably could not quite, neglect the ethical and political views of the philosophers. This was an indirect way of social functioning, as opposed to a more direct con-cern about recruitment, mission, and social engineering. But it was no less effective for that - due, precisely, to the social force of the newly created ffentlichkeit.

This is not to say that the impact of philosophy on political life will necessarily have been very great. That wh oIe issue is at once extremely important and extremely difficult to decide in any precise and verifiable way. But it would also be foolish to deny that Hellenistic philosophy may in fact have had considerable influence. If my attempt to identify a special sphere of ethico-political public discourse has been successful, then the impact must have been considerable, though not necessarily directly so. For then Hel-lenistic philosophy is even to be defined in terms of its relationship with that social institution which had the strongest cultural power, in Greece itself and wherever Greeks came into contact with foreigners, whether in the East or in the West. That institution is the Greek 7rOALreLex in all its many forms. Even when, as became so importantly the case in the Hellenistic period, the form of rule was not, at the highest level at least, that of the 7rOAL7eLex, but one of kingship, .the institution of the 7rOAL7eLa. (one might even say of "constitutional" rule) remained in force, both in fact (in the many cities which were still constitutionally governed, though not with an independent foreign policy) and also in theory in the constant preoccupation of Greeks and Romans with constitutional rule even when the ruler was a monarch.

A Final Test

I shall end by illustrating the last point through referring to the famous report given by Philostratus in his Life of Apollonius of Tyana (5.27-40) of a set of conversations with three intellectuals that the Roman emperor Vespasian is supposed to have had in Alexandria immediately after he had possessed him-self of the throne. Vespasian's conversation partners were Apollonius him-self (the neo-Pythagorean sage) and two philosophers (as they are called): Euphrates and Dio Chrysostom - the same Dio whose whole life and career are so very germane to this essay.

ENGBERG-PEDERSEN: HELLENISTIC FFENTLICHKEIT 35

It is a striking story, almost certainly fictive and highly romantic. Vespasian arrives in Alexandria and seeks out Apollonius in order to get his blessing, as it were, for his new kingship. He gets it - but also the advice to observe the mean as king. For God hirnself has defined equity (la07T/C;) as consisting in the mean (lleao7T/C;, 28). Vespasian next declares that he wishes to state to Apollonius his justification (a7rOA0-YLex) for assuming royal power, in the hope that Apollonius will then justify his actions to others. Vespasian's justification is that he hirnself constantly behaved soberly and moderately, whereas Roman ePlperors before hirn have been lacking precisely on this point, even Claudius who (as we have been told in chap. 27) went astray in spite of having a reputation for being fond of culture in all its forms (29). Apollonius again gives hirn the gods' blessing (30). On the next day, however, Apollonius introduces the two philosophers to Vespasian (31). Vespasian states that he has already justified his acts to Apollonius. Today, he says turning to Dio, he wishes for them to "philosophize together" con-cerning the decisions he has made, in order that his" general policy should be both as noble as possible and salutary to mankind. " Apollonius replies on behalf of the others and formulates the problem: how a sovereign ought to rule.

First Euphrates recommends in a long speech that Vespasian should restore the Roman republic by putting an end to monarchy and giving democ-racy (70 70V oi!1l0V Kpa70C;) to the Romans (33). Next Dio supports this. He welcomes the idea of democracy, but adds:

I fear lest the servility to which these successive tyrannies [i. e. those of the previous emperors] have reduced the Romans will render any change difficult to effect; I doubt if they are able to comport themselves as free men or even to lift their eyes to a democracy, any more than people who have been kept in the dark are able to look on a sudden blaze of light.

Dio therefore recommends Vespasian "to give the people of Rome the right to choose their own polity and, if they choose a democracy, to allow it them."

Vespasian is not pleased. Fortunately, Apollonius comes to the rescue and argues for the monarchy that Vespasian has already assumed. After all, "the government of one man, if it provides all round for the welfare of the community, is democracy" (35)!

The point should be clear. Even at such a late date as the second half of the second century CE (for the time of Philostratus' s writing), rulers needed philosophers to give them legitimacy, and the terms of the debate were exactly the same as 500 years earlier, going right back in fact to Herodotus, whose famous debate ab out the kind of rule to be followed in Persia Philostratus is obviously for his own purposes . It is difficult to find a


more eloquent testimony to the prestige of "philosophy" in ancient society in the period we have been considering.

Again the question may be raised whether this is not mere window-dressing, the aim of which on Vespasian's part would only be (if the story were true at aIl) to obtain some kind of legitimacy for his usurpation of power. It certainly also is window-dressing. But that, in a way, only serv~s to emphasize that there was this sphere of ethico-political public discourse, which even a soldier and autocrat like Vespasian would do weIl not to ignore. A modern analogue, which is obviously also historically connected with what I have been talking about, is the need feIt even in dictatorships for some kind of constitutional backing in the form of elections, parliaments, and the like. Nobody will have any illusions about their real power, but it would also be foolish to deny that there is something here with more influence than none whatever. That phenomenon, together with the modem sphere of public dis-course which supports it, is derived historically from the sphere of ethico-political public discourse that I have identified. It is because Hellenistic philosophy was part of that sphere that the philosophers had no special sense of mission and no special idea of strategies for recruitment. And it is for the same reason that they could contribute to solving social and political conflicts in the Hellenistic and early Roman periods without engaging directly in social engineering. They already belonged at a level of public discourse where they would be influential just by participating in that discourse. 29

Works Cited

Baldry, H. C. 1965 The Unity of Mankind in Greek Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge

University.

Dewitt, N. W. 1936 "Organization and Procedure in Epicurean Groups." CP 31 : 205-211. 1954a Epicurus and his Philosophy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota. 1954b St. Paul and Epicurus. Minneapo1is: University of Minnesota.

Dihle, A. 1986 "Philosophie - Fachwissenschaft - Allgemeinbildung." pp. 185-231 in

Aspects de la philosophie hellenistique. Fondation Hardt 32. Ed. H. Flashar, O. Gigon. Vandoeuvres-Geneve.

29This essay was written for a conference at Emory University in 1991. Shortly after the conference, the author consented to have it published. As time went by, he secretly hoped that nothing would come of this. The essay is published here in the hope that it will stimulate more comprehensive work to develop and consolidate the perspective that it offers on" the social role of philosophy in the Greco-Roman world.

;.,

l

_I_-~-

ENGBERG-PEDERSEN: HELLENISTIC FFENTLICHKEIT 37

Erskine, Andrew 1990 The Hellenistic Stoa: Political Thought and Action. London: Duckworth.

Frischer, Bemard 1982 The Sculpted Word: Epicureanism and Philosophical Recruitment in

Andent Greece. Berkeley: University of Califomia.

Gigante, M. 1969 "Philodeme: Sur la liberte de parole." Association Guillaume Bude.

Actes du VIIIe Congres. Paris.

Habermas, Jrgen 1962 Strukturwandel der ffentlich.keit: Untersuchungen zu einer Kategorie der

brgerlichen Gesellschaft. Neuwied: H. Luchterhand.

Long, A. A., and D. N. Sedley 1987 The Hellenistic Philosophers. 2 Vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University.

Lynch, J. P. 1972 Aristotle's School: A Study of a Greek Educational Institution. Berkeley:

University of Califomia.

Malherbe, Abraham J. 1986 Moral Exhortation: A Greco-Roman Sourcebook. Library of Early

Christianity 4. Ed. Wayne Meeks. Philadelphia: Westminster.

Meeks, Wayne A. 1983 The First Urban Christians: The Sodal World ofthe Apostle Paul. New

Haven: Yale University.

Mikkola, E. 1954

Usener, H. 1901

Isokrates: Seine Anschauungen im Lichte Seiner Schriften. Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae. SeT. B. Tom. 89. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Tiedeakatemia.

"Philonides." Rheinisches Museum 56: 145-148.

-~

CHAPTER2

EXPANSION AND RECRUITMENT AMONG HELLENISTIC RELIGIONS: THE CASE OF MITHRAISM

D. E. Aune Loyola University 01 Chicago

Introduction

Within the context of a symposium on the subject of recruitment, conquest, and conflict of religious cults and philosophical schools in the Hellenistic world, it is appropriate to inquire into the factors which might account for the apparently enormous appeal and success of Mithraism during the period of its initial appearance in the late first century CE to its decline in the fourth century. Of all the mystery cults with eastern origins (or eastem pretensions) which penetrated the Roman Empire, the massive evidence for the pervasive presence of Mithraism throughout the Roman Empire suggests that it was the most popular and influential of such private cults. A focus on Mithraism is also appropriate in view of the increasing scholarly interest in Mithraism evi-dent during the last twenty years.

Franz Cumont, the founder of the modem scientific study of Mithraism, regarded his work on Mithraism as a contribution to the issue of the success of Christianity in the Roman empire. In his magnum opus on Mithraism, he focused on the subject of the dissemination of the cult in a chapter entitled "La propagation dans l'Empire Romain" (1896-99:1.242-77). Despite the mass of material evidence for Mithraism, the paucity of literary evidence means that there is a great deal that archaeological sites and artifacts cannot reveal about Mithraism. According to Cumont (1956a:39-40):

Despite their frequency, the epigraphic texts and sculptured monuments throw but very imperfect light on the local history of Mithraism. It is impossible for us to fol-low the detailed steps in advancement, to distinguish the concurrent influences exercised by the different churches [eglises], to draw up a picture of the work of conversion, pursuing its course from city to city and province to province. All that we can do is to indicate in large outlines in what countries the new faith was propagated and who were in general the champions [apotres] that advocated fprechee] it.

Though somewhat obscured by the English translation, the French text makes


it abundantly cIear that Cumont has conceptualized Mithraism based on a Christian model, a fact revealed by the presence of such terms as "eglises," "conversion," "apatres," and "prechee" (Simon:461). Cumont, of course, was not the only scholar to exaggerate the similarities between Christianity and ancient Mediterranean mystery cults. 1 It is nevertheless important, par-ticularly in enterprises which are inherently comparative, such as the present International Symposium, to avoid skewing the evidence by analyzing each religious cult or philosophical school in its own right and to avoid imposing on it an alien conceptual framework. It is quite possible that despite the fact that both Christianity and Mithraism are categorized as "religions," they have functioned in very different ways for their respective adherents.

Mithraism exhibits a number of phenomenological similarities with other ancient mystery cults. (1) The focus of the cult was a seven-staged initiation ritual based on the depiction and perhaps recitation of a mythical narrative involving certain vicissitudes in the life of the hero. (2) Like other mystery cults, but unlike Judaism and Christianity, Mithraism was not excIusivistic but rather syncretistic.

Yet Mithraism differed from other cults in several significant ways (Nock 1937:108-113): (1) Women were usually excIuded from the cult (Verrnaseren 1963:162-65),2 perhaps because women were regularly excIuded from most collegia tenuiorum (a possible social model for most Mithraic groups), though they were usually incIuded in most mystery cults. (2) Moral requirements appear to have been demanded of initiants (though evidence for this is slim).3 (3) No initiants appear to have been Iranian (Le. no Iranian names occur in inscriptions); only a few survivals of the Iranian language are reflected in inscriptions; there are no known links between Mithraic cults and Persia, the supposed place of its origin (La Piana: 183-203). Unlike many mystery cults, Mithraism was not primarily constituted by members of a particular ethnic group; and so Mithraism had neither an

IThis was accompanied by the tendency to minimize the differences between the vari-ous mystery cults, for example, by supposing that the dubious category of the dying and rising god was the central myth of all mystery cults. The weaknesses of this category have been exposed by Smith (521-527).

2The only text in which women are specifically mentioned is in Porphyry De abstinentia 4.16 (quoting Pallas): "Thus they [the Mithraists] called the initiates who had been fully admitted into their Mysteries 'lions,' women 'hyenas,' and the underlings 'ravens. '" Gordon (1980:57-62) argues that this passage does not support the indusion of some women in the cult, but rather, Mithraists used the designation "hyena" of women because of its negative associations.

3porphyry De antro nympharum 15 (trans. Arethusa): "So in the Lion mysteries, when honey is poured instead of water for purification on the hands of the initiates, they are exhorted to keep them pure from everything distressing, harmful, and loathsome."

AUNE: THE CASE OF MITHRAISM 41

ethnic homeland nor a diaspora population. (4) There was no professional Mithraic priesthood. (5) Mithraism had its own distinctive cosmogony and eschatology. (6) Again unlike other mystery cults Ivlithraism had many of the features of a secret society in which the members (excIusively male) had strong mutual ties.

There are a number of important questions about Mithraism which are relevant for the present Symposium: (1) What was the basis for the apparently widespread appeal of Mithraism? (2) Given the limited size of the mithraea which have been excavated, how large were local Mithraic groupS?4 (3) What factors account for the iconographic and architectural similarities which characterized Mithraism throughout the Roman Empire? (4) What were the major me ans used to propagate Mithraism? (5) Was Mithraism really a serious competitor of Christianity, or is that simply a modern sup-position of scholars (Simon:457-78; Brandon 1954-55:107-114)?

The Evidence for Mithraism

The evidence for Mithraism is primarily archaeological, iconographical, and epigraphical. The little literary evidence there is falls into three broad cIassi-fications: 5 (1) Sympathetic interpretations by Neoplatonic authors (Numenius and Cronius, both preserved in Porphyry). (2) Occasional notices about Mithraism found in Greco-Roman writers. (3) The name Mithras is occasionally incIuded in invocations in magical procedures. 6 (4) Largely unsympathetic notices in Christi an literature beginning with Justin Martyr in the mid-second century CE.?

4No one knows how many members of a Mithraic collegium would gather at one time in a mithraeum, though it is generally thought that the size of a mithraeum must have some relationship to the number of initiants who belonged to the local group. The earliest mithraeum at Dura was a room about 15 x 17 meters.

5Most of the references to Mithraism in ancient literature have been collected by Geden.

6The "great god Relios Mithras" is addressed once in the so-called "Mithras Liturgy," i.e. PGM IV.475-834, line 482. A typical syncretistic invocation occurs in PGM V.4: "Zeus, Relios, Mithra, Sarapis, unconquered one [aniketa] , Meliouchos, Melikertes, Meligenetor"; invictus and insuperabilis, the Latin equivalents of aniketos ("unconquerable, victorious"), are frequently found in dedicatory inscriptions to Mithras. The divine names Meliouchos, Relios, and Mithra also occur in the same context in PGM III.99-100, while Relios Mithra is mentioned in PGM III.462. "Mithreu Mithra" occurs in an isolated manner in the midst of a sequence of voces magicae in Ostracon 2.8 (Preisendanz:2.233).

7Justin 1 Apol. 66.4; Dial. 70.1; 78.6; Tertullian De bapt. 5; De cor. 15; Adv. Marc. 1.13; De praescr. ha er. 40; Apol. 8; Origen Contra Celsum 1.9; 6.21; Commodian Instructiones 1.13; Ambrosiaster Quaest. veto et nov. test. 114; Firmicus Maternus De errore 4, 20; Gregory Nazianzus Or. 4.70; 39.5; Ad Nemesium 7.265ff.; Jerome Ep. 107;


One of the earlier notices occurs in Plutarch (Pompey 24.5; LCL trans.), who, while narrating Pompey's defeat of the Cilician pirates during a three-month campaign in 67 BCE, observed that these same pirates had plundered many famous religious sites between Greece and the western coast of Asia Minor:

They also offered strange sacrifices of their own at Olympus [located in southwest Asia Minor] and celebrated there certain secret rites, among which those of Mithras continue to the present time, having been first instituted by them.

Most of the literary evidence concerning Mithraism in . Christi an authors occurs in apologetic contexts (Colpe:29-43; Freudenberger:579-92; Metzger 1945:225-33; Rossi:17-29). lustin (1 Apology 66.4; see also Tertullian De praescriptione haereticorum 40), after describing the Christian Eucharist, observes:

This also the wicked demons in imitation handed down as something to be done in the mysteries of Mithra; for bread and a cup of water are brought out in their secret rites of initiation, with certain invocations which you either know or can leam.

Perhaps the surprising feature is the fact that lustin claims to be aware of secret Mithraic practices and sees them as diabolical imitations of Christian practices. When he claims that "you either know or can learn [i] e7rLa70la(}e i] jJ..Ol(}eLv ovvOla(}e]" of the secret Mithraic rites, he is referring to those to whom he addressed his apology, the emperor Antoninus Pius, together with his sons Verissimus and Lucius (1 Apol. 1.1).

Mithraism was one among many rivals of Christianity, though the fact that lustin refers to it just three times (1 Apol. 66.4; Dial. 70.1; 78.6) sug-gests that he does not regard it as posing a serious threat. Of course, when lustin composed this work (ca. 155 CE), Mithraism had not yet reached the peak of its popularity, though he wrote in Rome which was perhaps the most important center of the cult. The paucity of references in Christian authors to the real or potential threat of Mithraism suggests that the burden of proof is on those who would argue that Mithraism was in fact a dangerous riyal to Christianity .

While it is an exaggeration to claim that Mithraism was one of the most dangerous rivals of Christianity (Nilson 2.669), the degree of rivalry cer-tainly varied greatly from place to place. One of the settings within which Mithraism and Christianity met with relative frequency was that of the Roman army itself, for from 170 CE on, there is increasing evidence for the

Adv. Jov. 1.7; 2.14; Comm. in Amos 5.9-10; Socrates Hist. ecel. 3.2-3; Sozomen Hist. ecel. 5.7.


presence of Christi an soldiers in the Roman legions (H~rnack:65.-~04; Hunter: 87-94). Commodian (perhaps a third cent. CE Afncan Chnstlan) allildes to Mithraism when he compares wayward Christi ans to deserters: "Do not wander long as a soldier through the caves of wild beasts" (lnstructiones 52).

Most of the evidence for Mithraism is of an archaeological nature, including mithraea together with artistic representations and inscriptions. The earliest evidence for the famous Mithraic tauroctone (Mithras slaying the bull) , however, is found in a literary source, the Roman poet Statius (80 CE) who refers to "Mithra as beneath the rocks of the Persian cave he presses back the horns that resist his control" (Thebais 1.717ff.). According to Verrnaseren, no Mithraic monument can be dated earlier than the end of the first century CE. In his view, the earliest datable monument of Mithraism is astatue from Rome of Mithras slaying the bull (CIMRM 593),8 with an inscription (CIMRM 594) which mentions T. Claudius Livianus, who may be identical with the commander of the Praetorian guard of the same name under the emperor Trajan, 98-117 CE (Verrnaseren 1963:29-30). A Mithraic monument from Moesia Inferior, not far from the mouth of the Danube (from Novae/Steklen), can be dated to 100 CE (CIMRM 2268, 2269) and hence may be even older than CIMRM 593-594 (Gor don 1975:1.231; de Laet 1949:204; Beskow 1980:2-3).9 One of the earliest Mithraic monuments in the Danube is the altar of C. Sacidius Barbarus (CIMRM 1718) from Carnuntum in Pannonia, which dates to either the 70's-80's or 105-114 CE (Daniels:2.250-251). The Mithraic altar dedicated by L. Valerius Fuscus in Moesia Inferior must be placed between 71 and 162 CE (CIMRM 2286). By the late second century, however, there is an abundance of archeological evi-dence indicating that Mithraism had spread from one corner of the Roman empire to the other.

While there is an enormous amount of archaeological evidence, includ-ing hundreds of very short inscriptions but only a few extensive inscriptions, particularly those from the Santa Prisca Mithraeum in Rome which date from the late second century CE (Verrnaseren and Van Essen:187-240; Betz:62-80),10 and an extraordinarily rich iconography, there is a paucity of literary

8The abbreviation CIMRM refers to Vermaseren 1956-60. 9Per Beskow 1980:2-3; R. L. Gordon 1975:1.231. lOThe visible lines of this inscription are as follows:

IFecunda tellus cuncta qua generat Pales. "Fertile earth, through wh ich Pales procreates everything."

4Fons coneluse petris qui geminos aluisti nectarefratres. "Rock-bound spring that fed the twin-brothers with nectar."

7Hunc quem aur[eijs humeris portavit more iuvencum. ., "This young bull which he carried on his wonderful shoulders accordmg to hIS

ill " w .


evidence. Apart from the disputed "Mithras Liturgy" identified by Albrecht Dieterich, and the problematic "Hymn to King Helios [=Mithras]," by Julian (Oration 4), there are no literary texts produced by adherents to Mithras which provide us with any information about the Mysteries of Mithras.

One of the major problems of modem research into Mithraism is the way in which the literary evidence is used to interpret the archaeological evi-dence. Literary evidence has been used to suggest that Mithraism was intro-duced in Rome ca. 66 CE during the reign of Nero by Tiridates. ll Yet Tiridates appears to have been an adherent of a traditional form of Iranian religion, since nothing in the text is distinctive of the Mithraic mysteries.

Characteristics 0/ Mithraism

Ancient sources describe the cult of Mithras as "the mysteries of Mithras. "12 Those initiated into the cult were not designated by a particular name, though occasionally they are called "Persians ," since Mithraism was widely believed by both outsiders and insiders to have originated in Iran and to have been founded by Zoroaster.

9Atque perlata humeris t[ujli m[ajxima divum. "And to the end I have borne the orders of the gods on my shoulders. "

lODulci[ija suntfi[cataj avium [sjed cura gubemat. "Sweet are the livers of the birds, but care reigns. "

llpi[ej r[ejb[ujs renatum dulcibus atque creatum. "Hirn (or that) who (or which) is piously reborn and created by sweet things."

12Nubila per ritum ducatis tempora cuncti. "You must sustain c10uded times together through the rite."

13Primus et hic aries astrictius ordine currit. "Here too the ram runs in front, more strictly in line. "

14Et nos servasti etemali sanguinejuso. "And you saved us after having shed the eternal blood."

15[Oflfero ut . . a. ? numina magna Mithre. "I bring offerings in order that the great powers of Mithras are shown. "

16Accipe thuricremos pater accipe sancte Leones, 17 Per quos thuradamus per quos consumimur ipsi.

"Receive, holy Father, receive the incense-burning lions, through whom we offer incense, through whom we ourselves are consumed. "

18Nama leonibus novis et multis annis "Hai! to the Lions for many and new years."

llCassius Dio 63.10; Ps.-Callisthenes 2.14.5 (ed. Kroll); Pli ny Hist. nato 30.16.7; Suetonius Nero 13; see also Cumont 1933:145-54.

12Plutarch Pomp. 24.5 (O!i 1"OU MWpou 1"l;;A81"0!L); Eunapius Vitae soph. 476 (~ Md}pLO!K8 T8A81"8); Justin 1 Apol. 66.4 and Dial. 70.1 (1"a TOU MiBpO! J.LUCT1TIpLO!); Dial. 78.6 (Ta MWpO! J.LUCTT'1pLO!); Origen Contra Celsum 6.22 (~ 1"OU MWpou T8A81"8).


The cult of Mithras worshipped in artificial cavern-like structures called mithraea, usually located below ground level. 13 According to Porphyry (De antro nympharum 6; Bidez-Cumont, 2.29), the Mithraic cave was an "image of the cosmos" (elKwv TOU KoaJlov):14

Similarly, the Persians call the place a cave where they introduce an initiate to the mysteries, revealing to hirn the path by which souls descend and go back again. For Eubulus tells us that Zoroaster was the first to dedicate a natural cave in honour of Mithras, the creator and father of all; it was located in the mountains and had flow-ers and springs. This cave bore for hirn the image of the Cosmos which Mithras had created, and the things which the cave contained, by their proportionate arrange-ment, provided symbols of the elements and c1imates of the Cosmos.

Thus far the judgment of archaeology is that the earliest mithraea were con-structed ca. 140-50 CE. Mithraea were relatively sm all , seating no more than about fifty people. They average about 15 meters in length (the longest is the Mithraeum at Marino which is nearly 30 meters long). Mithraea were frequently constructed on an east-west axis with the entrance on the west; probably Mithras was worshipp~d as the sun god. The archeological remains of fifty-eight Mithraic sanctuaries have been identified, of which twenty-five are located in Italy, including seven in Rome (Coarelli lists forty actual or possible sites for Roman mithraea), 1~ and fourteen or fifteen in Ostia (Laeuchli; White:48). Remains of mithTaea in the eastern Mediterranean are rare. In Roman Syria only three mithraea have been identified: Sidon (where artifacts suggest the presence of a mithraeum, though the actual mithraeum itself has not been located), Dura-Europos and Caesarea Maritima (Beck 1984:2013-2017; Hopfe:2214-2235).16 None have been discovered in Egypt, Anatolia (Beck 1984:2018-2020), or Greece, though a dedicatory inscription suggests the presence of one on Andros (Beck 1984:2047-2048). In some instances there is archaeological evidence for the decline and expan-sion of individual mithraea, such as in the case of the A ventine Mithraeum. The two stages of construction of the Santa Prisca Mithraeum indicate the growth and expansion of the membership (White:169-170). In virtually every Mithraeum there was an artistic representation (commonly a fresco or

13The earliest Dura mithraeum, used for the forty years between 168 and ca. 210 CE, is an important exception; the reconstructed mithraeum was built as a vaulted spelaeum.

14Justin (Dia I. 70.1) also mentions that Mithraic initiations took place in a cave, which he regards as an imitation of the place of the birth of Christ. See also Gervers:579-99. On mithraea as imaging the cosmos, see Gordon 1976:119-65.

15Coarelli (76-77) suggests that there may have been 680 to 690 mithraea in Rome. 16The Sidon mithraeum may be dated 389/390 CE; the Dura-Europas mithraeum went

through three phases of construction: (1) It was originally founded in 168 CE in a private horne, (2) it was rebuilt and enlarged, ca. 210 CE, (3) and it was again enlarged, ca. 240 CE. The Caesarea Maritima mithraeum may be dated late first to late third century CE.


stone relief) of the tauroctony or "bull-slaying" scene. The fact that more than five hundred representations of this scene have been discovered makes the central significance which it had for the cult abundantly clear. In this scene, Mithras is depicted as using one knee for leverage on the back of a bull while pulling his snout back with his left hand and plunging a short sword into its heart with his right hand.

The central focus of the cult was the preparation for astral salvation which would be realized upon death when the soul would ascend through the seven planetary spheres to the place of its origin. Origen has preserved one version of the Mithraic conception of the ascent of the soul which he attributes to Celsus (Contra Celsum 6.22; trans. Chadwick):

These truths are obscurely represented by the teaching of the Persians and by the mystery of Mithras which is of Persian origin. For in the latter there is a symbol of the two orbits in heaven, the one being that of the fixed stars and the other that assigned to the planets, and of the soul's passage through these. The symbol is this. There is a ladder with seven gates and at its top an eighth gate. The first of the gates is of lead, the second of tin, the third of bronze, the fourth of iron, the fIfth of an alloy, the sixth of silver, and the seventh of gold. They associate the first with Kronos (Saturn), taking lead to refer to the slowness of the star; the second with Aphrodite (Venus), comparing her with the brightness and softness of tin; the third with Zeus (Jupiter), as the gate that has a bronze base and which is fIrm; the fourth with Hermes (Mercury), for both iron and Hermes are reliable for all works and make money and are hard-working; the fifth with Ares (Mars), the gate which as a result of the mixture is uneven and varied in quality; the sixth with the Moon as the silver gate and the seventh with the Sun as the golden gate, these metals resembling their colours.

Though doubts have been expressed concerning whether or not Origen is accurately reproducing Mithraic theology (the planetary order is not typical of Mithraism, but reverses the planetary order of the days of the week),17 it is widely held that the ascent of the soul through the planetary spheres was cen-tral to Mithraism (Merkelbach 1985:235-244), though this view has recently been criticized. Further , it is clear from the correlation of the grades with certain planets (in the Felicissimus Mithraeum and the Santa Prisca Mithraeum), that the seven grade initiation structure was in some sense a guide through the planets, a via salutis. One of the more recent issues which has emerged hinges on the question of whether this ascent of the souls occurs only after death (Cumont 1956a:143-144), or whether it was experienced by the initiate while still alive (Gordon 1980:38-39; Heck 1988:77-82). The heavenly ascent prescribed in the "Mithras Liturgy" (PGM IV.475-834) is experienced by a living adept. Robert Turcan has argued that the notion of postmortem ascent is Neoplatonic and Gnostic but not found in any of the

17The essential accuracy of Origen's account is argued by Beck 1988:73-85.


ancient mystery cults including Mithraism (Turcan 1982:173-91). Further, he regards Origen's account as garbled, and the real significance of the cor-relation of Mithraic grades with planets is seen not in terms of a spatial celes-tial joumey, but rather as a metaphor of a temporal journey through seven successive world ages (Turcan 1975:44-61). While conclusive evidence for either view is lacking in the sources, it appears likely that the ritual experi-ence of ascent served as an anticipation of the final postmortem ascent of the soul (Merkelbach 1965:219-257, esp. 250).

The most significant part of Mithraism was the ritual of initiation which was superintended by a pater (i.e., an initiant who had achieved the seventh and highest grade of initiation). Members of the cult were initiated into seven ascending levels or grades of initiation, each of which had the protection of a planetary god (Verrnaseren 1963:138-153): (1) corax, "raven" (Mercury), (2) nymphus, "bride" (Venus) or cryphius,18 (3) miles, "soidier" (Mars), (4) leo, "lion" (Jupiter), (5) Pe rs es , "Persian" (Moon) , (6) heliodromus, "courier of the sun" (Sun) , and (7) pater, "father" (Saturn).19 In inscriptions and graffiti, pater is mentioned most frequently (114 times in CIMRM), then leo (35 times), following by corax (8 times), miles (8 times), Perses (5 times), nymphus or cryphius (5 times), heliodromus (2 times). The planetary order used in Mithraism, however, does not represent any other known way of ordering the planets in ancient astronomy or astrology (Saturn, Sun, Moon, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, i.e., moving from heaven to earth). Therefore the planetary order is probably part of the secret lore of the cult concealed from all but initiants. Further , these seven grades of initiation, preserved in literary setting only in Jerome (Ep. 107),20 are found in the graf-fiti of the Mithraeum of Felicissimus at Ostia (CIMRM 299), in the mosaic pavement of the Santa Prisca Mithraeum in Rome (CIMRM 480),21 and in graffiti (omitting only Heliodromus) at the Mithraeum at Dura (CIMRM 63), where the seven steps in the third mithraeum probably represent the seven grades. Yet it cannot be assumed that Mithraism everywhere in the ancient world used the same order, though the iconographical homogeneity of the cult throughout the Roman Empire is generally quite remarkable. 22

18 According to Vermaseren (1963: 139-140), following C. w. Vollgraff, the chryphii are "the hidden ones," i.e., youths not yet received as official members of the cult.

19A1l seven Mithraic grades were known only from Jerome Ep. 107 until 'confirmed by the discovery of the mosaic pavement of the Mithraeum of Felicissimus in Ostia (CIMRM 299) and the graffIti of the S. Prisca Mithraeum (CIMRM 480); see Beck 1988:1-4, and Vermaseren and van Essen 1965:155-58.

20The terms for the seven grades preserved by Jerome are corax, cryphius, mi/es, leo, Perses, heliodromus, pater.

21CIMRM 480 is corrected in Vermaseren and van Essen: 1965:155-158. 22Beskow (1978: 11-12) argues that the seven-grade system originated in Syria and

moved from there to Rome.


Mithraic initiation scenes have been preserved in both frescoes in the Santa Prisca (CIMRM 480-84), Capua (CIMRM 187-97) (Verrnaseren 1971 :24-48 and plates XXI-XXVIII), and Dura (CIMRM 42), and the reverse of the Konjic relief from Dalmatia (CIMRM 1896). The pater, enthroned and dressed in a costume reminiscent of Mithras, presided at initia-tion ceremonies (CIMRM 480; Verrnaseren and van Essen 1965:155). In these ceremonies, it is possible that the initiates wore masks representing the grade they had achieved (Cumont 1956a:152-154),23 though this is far from certain (Gordon 1980:69, n. 1).24 A text in Ambrosiaster (Quaest. 114) sug-gests the mimetic character of such ceremonies:

Their [initiants'] eyes are blindfolded that they may not refuse to be fouUy abused; some moreover beat their wings together as birds do, and croak like ravens, and others roar Iike lions; and yet others are pushed across ditches ftlied with water: their hands have previously been tied with the intestines of a chicken, and then somebody comes up and cuts these intestines (he calls hirnself their "liberator").

Tertullian mentioned another aspect of Mithraic initiation (De corona 15.3):

Blush, ye fe11ow-soldiers of his, henceforth not to be condemned even by hirn, but by some soldier of Mithras, who, at his initiation in the gloomy cavem, in the camp, it may well be said, of darkness, when at the sword's point a crown is presented to hirn, as though in mimicry of martyrdom, and thereupon put upon his head, is admonished to resist and cast it off, and if you like, transfer it to his shoulder, saying that Mithras is his crown.

The Origins 0/ Mithraism

The problem of the origins of Mithraism is one of the more hotly debated issues among concerned scholars, and one which has several aspects. One major aspect of the problem of origins is concerned with the issue of whether or not Mithraism is a modified, westernized form of Iranian religion. This is a hermeneutical as weIl as an historical issue, for Cumont and many others have interpreted the largely mute Mithraic iconography in the light of Iranian and Indian texts. A second major aspect of the problem of origins is con-cerned with the center or centers where the myste.ries of Mithras took on dis-tinctive Roman features and from which the cult was disseminated to other parts of the Roman world.

23CIMRM 1896 depicts human figures with the head of a raven and a lion; CIMRM 42 and 397 depict human figures with the heads of ravens.

24Gordon's skepticism is in part confirmed by the drinking cup from Trier (CIMRM 988), where Mithras and Sol dine in the presence of several animal figures: a lion, a raven, ci serpent, and a cock.


Franz Cumont thought that Mithraism originated in Persia during the second millennium BCE, ~d that it gradually moved west into Mesopotamia bythe fourteenth century (where it picked up Semitic elements), and by the first century CE it was found in Syria and Asia Minor where it was adopted by the Romans. Cumont also argued that Mithraism was essentially Zoroastrianism transplanted to the West with certain transformations. During the last twenty years, however, there has been a shift, and there is now a tendency to understand Mithraism in terms of the astronomical and astrologi-cal traditions of the Mediterranean world (Gordon 1975: 1.215-248). While for Cumont the tauroctony depicted an Iranian myth and represented the struggle between the forces of good and evil in a cosmic dualism, more recently there has been a growing recognition that this central icon of Mithraism was a star map (Beck 1977:1-17; Beck 1988; Insler:519-520; Speidei; Ulansey).25 While Cumont and many scholars influenced by hirn have emphasized the continuities with Zoroastrianism in Roman Mithraism (Cumont 1956b:135-149; Cumont 1956a:1-32),26 this view has come under increasing criticism in recent scholarship (Wikander; Gordon 1975:1.215-248). R. L. Gordon has persuasively argued that Roman Mithraism should be investigated as a western religious phenomenon whose development and social structure should be understood in terms of its own inscriptions, iconography, and monuments, without regard for hypothetical Iranian roots (Gordon 1972:92-121). There are some obvious "Persian" features of Mithraism. The more obvious include the name of the god Mithras itself (very similar to the Iranian "Mitra" or "Mithra," but which the Greeks spelled Mithres), including his association with light and the sun and his Per-sian wardrobe, the use of the Persian words "narna" (meaning "hornage, reverence," used to invoke gods and preserved in Mithraic liturgicallanguage like "amen" or "hallelujah" in Christianity), "nabarzes" (CIMRM 501, 1790, 2029; cf. 380, 915; 2153 [all of which have the abbreviation ND; perhaps meaning either invictus, "unconquerable, victorious" (Cumont 1956a:142-143; Colpe 1975:2.392),27 or "high or great male" (Schwartz:2.422-423), the names "Cautes" and "Cautopates, "28 and the designation of the fifth grade of initiation as "Perses, " or "Persian. " Further , a number of ancients refer to

25In many respects the most unsatisfactory of these studies is that of Ulansey; see the critique of his work by Swerdlow.

26The Iranian origins of Mithraism were forcefully argued by Widengren. 27Note the connection between nabarzes and the titles of Mithras in CIMRM 1790

(Pannonia): "Invicto Mythrae Nabarze," CIMRM 2029 (Dacia): "Nabarze Deo," CIMRM 2153 (Dacia): "S(oli) i(nvicto) N(abarze) M(ithrae)."

28The names "Cautes" and "Cautopates" appear to be Iranian, although there is no agreement regarding their derivation or meaning; for a survey of previous discussion and a new proposal, see Schwartz (2.406-423).


the Mysteries of Mithras as Persian. 29 The significance of these Persian fea-tures should not be exaggerated. Until the discoveries of the mithraea at Dura Europos (CIMRM 34-70) and Caesarea Maritima, there were no known mithraea in Syria-Palestine. The Mithraism reflected in the three phases of the Dura Mithraeum in western Mithraism does not, as one might expect, exhibit a syncretistic combination of both eastern and western fea-tures. The Mithraism of Dura was brought first by a numerus of Palmyrene archers, an auxiliary unit of the Roman army, 30 and second by Roman soldiers led by Antonius Valentinus, a centurio princeps, ca. 210 CE (CIMRM 53), not Parthians. 31 The cult founded by the Palmyrene auxiliaries, however, exhibits no Semitic elements and appears to have reflected the Palmyrene adoption of Roman Mithraism from the foundation of the cult.

While evidence for Mithraism has been found only within the borders of the Roman Empire, the archaeological sites and artifacts are far from evenly distributed. In the Roman provinces of Gaul, the structural remains of just seven mithraea have been identified, together with more than eighty Mithraic inscriptions, sculptures, monuments and representations on pottery (Walters). In Spain, even less evidence for the presence of Mithraism has been discov-ered (Garcia y Bellido). The paucity of mithraea in the western Roman provinces suggests not only that Mithraism was not practiced in the west on a wide scale, but also that it was not carried from the east to the west in a developed form (Daniels:2.272).

Anatolia has often been regarded as the place where Mithraism took on the distinctive features of a mystery cult under the influence of Persian magi from Mesopotamia (Cumont 1956a:11-12; Hopfe:2232-33). The kingdom of Commagene, lying between eastern Anatolia and western Mesopotamia, has been widely regarded as a likely center for the development of the mysteries of Mithras (Cumont 1956a:151-153). Antiochus I (first cent. BCE), the king of Commagene, founded a syncretistic cult in which he combined Greek with Iranian traditions; three deities named in inscriptions are Zeus-Oromasdes, Apollo-Mithra-Helios-Hermes, and Artagnes-Herakles-Ares. Yet nothing specifically connected to the mysteries of Mithras has yet been found in either

29Statius Thebais 1. 717ff.; Origen Contra Celsum 6.21; Firmicus Matemus De errore profanarum religion um 4.

30The evidence is provided by a Palmyrene inscription dated 168 CE (CIMRM 39) which names Ethpeni (a Palmyrene name) as Cf7pa7rry(x; of the archers in Dura. Another dedication on the base of arelief, this one written in Greek, names Zenobius or Eiaeibas (another Palmyrene name) as the Cf7parrryoC; of the archers, and can be dated to 171 CE (CIMRN 42). .

31Against the extremely speculative proposal by SpeideI.


archaeological excavations or inscriptions (Duchesne-Guillemin 1978: 187-199).

Per Beskow has emphasized the special features found in Mithraic inscriptions in Pannonia and Syria and the connections between those regions and Rome (Beskow 1978:9-12). From Pannonia and Syria, Beskow then traces a link to the two provinces of Inferior Moesia and Superior Moesia, on the eastern part of the Danube, where he believes that the earliest known Mithraic monument has been found, dating to ca. 100 CE (CIMRM 2269). From he re a more primitive form of the cult radiated west along the Danube and east through Palmyrene soldiers to Syria (Beskow 1978:12). More speculatively, Beskow then proposes that the Mysteries of Mithras were brought to N ovae by the soldiers of legio I Italica upon their return from the Bosporan king dom in the Crimea (Beskow 1978:12-18).

The Expansion o[ Mithraism

While the rapid expansion of Mithraism throughout the Roman world during the second and third centuries CE is documented by archaeological remains, little is actually known of the way or ways in which the cult was propagated so successfully. There are a number of important issues which must be con-sidered in this connection, including the region which appears to have been the major center for the dissemination of Mithraism, the areas in which it found most of its adherents, and the social types who were responsible for the propagation of the cult. Epigraphical evidence indicates that members of the cult were soldiers and high military officials in the Roman army, procurators and other state bureaucrats, merchants and slaves (women were systemati-cally excluded). Cumont believed that Mithraism did not affect the Greek world, but was transmitted to the Latin world when Rome annexed a number of eastern kingdoms and the eventual placement of various legions along the frontier formed by the Euphrates river (Cumont 1956a:35-36).

Scholars remain in general agreement that the principle means for the propagation of Mithraism was the Roman army (Cumont 1896-99:1.246-263). Cumont emphasized the presence of easterners in the army, such as the extraordinary representation of men from Commagene, where Mithraism, he claimed, had deep roots (Cumont 1896-99:1.247). In the eastern Mediter-ranean, there were a number of urban areas with large concentrations of Roman soldiers. These included Caesarea Maritima, Antioch, and Dura-Europos . Mithraism was particularly popular with Roman soldiers from the second to the fourth centuries CE.

Worshipers of Mithras were also found among Roman civilians, parti-


cularly customs officials, especially slaves of the portorium (the system of indirect taxation in the Roman empire). However, the connection between Mithraism and the portorium is almost exc1usively limited to a single customs district, the publicum portorium Illyrici, which covered nearly all the Danubian provinces (Beskow 1980:1-18). Three mithraea have been excavated in Poetovio in Pannonia, where the administrative center of the publicum portorium Illyrici was located. 32 Mithraea I, abandoned toward the end of the second century, and II, constructed toward the end of the second century (Beskow 1980:6), were used by customs officials (Mithraeum I: CIMRM 1490, 1491, 1493, 1497, 1501, 1503, 1507; Mithraeum II: 1529, 1533), while Mithraeum III was used by solders before the middie of the third century CE.

Conclusions

In light of the above discussion, we can reach at least four conc1usions: 1. Roman Mithraism cannot be regarded as a western transformation of

an eastern mystery cult, but on the basis of the present state of the evidence must be considered an indigenous western religious phenomenon which retained only relatively superficial ties to Persia and Zoroastrianism.

2. The similarities between Roman Mithraism and early Christianity, as weIl as the cont1ict and competition which supposedly existed between the two religious systems, have been exaggerated by Franz Cumont and by many subsequent students of Mithraism. The paucity of references to Mithraism by early Christian writers suggests that they did not consider the cult to be a major riyal to Christianity, a fact which suggests that Mithraism was never a great popular religion in the Roman world.

3. The exc1usion of women from the Mithraic cult means that th~ household played no role whatsoever in the social character of Mithraism: Even though both Christianity and Mithraism are conceptualized in modern terms as "religions," the central role of households and house churches in early Christianity suggests that these two cults functioned in very different ways for their respective adherents.

4. It is still true that, despite the extensive (but mute) archaeological evidence, little is known of the way(s) in which the cult was propagated so successfully, though speculation is possible. Mithraism was a highIy special-

32Mithraeum I (CIMRM 1487-1508), Mithraeum II (CIMRM 1509-1577), and Mithraeum III (CIMRM 1578-1612), with indications of a possible Mithraeum IV (CIMRM 1613-1618).

~

i

I I

I I f

I


ized fraternal cult of Roman soldiers and civil servants, located primarily on the frontiers of the Roman empire and in Rome itself, which was an ec1ectic combination of a variety of astrological lore, secret rites, ancient myths, and grades of initiation in a way uniquely suited to frontier life. The costs of the mithraea and the artwork used to decorate them were borne by those high military officials, state bureaucrats, and merchants who were sufficiently weaIthy to finance such projects. The inscriptions suggest that those who expended such wealth functioned as patrons and pateres who exerted author-ity over Mithraic groups of member-c1ients. Given this time-honored Roman social system, the expansion of local Mithraic cults must have occurred through the personal contacts of the patrons and c1ients with those among their friends and acquaintances who might be interested in the religious and fraternal benefits of becoming associated with such collegia tenuiorum.

Beck, Roger 1977

1984 1988

Beskow, Per 1978

1980

Betz, H. D. 1968

Works Consulted

"Cautes and Cautopates: Some Astronomical Considerations." JMS 2: 1-17. "Mithraism since Franz Cumont." pp. 2002-15 in ANRWII, 17.4. Planetary Gods and Planetary Orders in the Mysteries 0/ Mithras. EPRO 109. Leiden: Brill.

"The Routes of Early Mithraism." pp. 7-18 in Etudes Mithriaques: Actes du Deuxieme Congres International. Ed. Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin. Acta Iranica 17. Tehran and Liege: Bibliotheque Pahlavi. "The Portorium and the Mysteries ofMithras." JMS3:1-18.

"The Mithras Inscriptions of Santa Prisca and the New Testament." NovT 10:62-80.

Bidez, Joseph and Franz Cumont 1938 Les mages hellenises: Zoroastre, Ostanes et Hystaspe d'apres la tradition

grecque. 2 Vols. Paris: Societe d'editions "Les Belles lettres."

Brandon, S. G. F. 1954-55 "Mithraism and Its Challenge to Christianity." Hibbert journal 53: 107-14.

Chadwick, Henry (ed. and trans.) 1953 Origen: Contra Celsum: Translated with an Introduction and Notes. Cam-

bridge: Cambridge University.

Coarelli, F. 1979 "Topografia mitriaca di Roma (con una carta)." pp. 69-79 in Mysteria

Mithrae: Proceedings 01 the International Seminar on the Religio-


Historical Character 0/ Roman Mithraism with Particular Reference to Roman and Ostian Sources. Ed. Ugo Bianchi. Leiden: Brill.

Colpe, Carsten 1975 "Mithra-Verehrung, Mithras-Kult und die Existenz iranischer Mysterien."

pp. 378-405 in Mithraic Studies, Vo12. Ed. John R. Hinnells. Man-chester: Manchester University.

Cumont, Franz 1896-99 Textes et monumentsfigures relati/s aux mysteres de Mithra. 2 Vois. Brus-

1956a 1956b

sels: H. Lamertin. The Mysteries 0/ Mi th ra. Second edition. New York: Dover. Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism. New York: Dover.

Daniels, C. M. 1975 "The Role of the Roman Anny in the Spread of Mithraism." pp. 249-74

in Mithraic Studies, Vo12. Ed. John Hinnells. Manchester: Manchester University.

Dieterich, Albrecht 1910 Eine Mithrasliturgie. Second edition. Leipzig and Berlin: B. G. Teubner.

Garcia Y Bellido, A. 1967 Les religions orientales dans l'Espagne romaine. Leiden: Bril!.

Geden, A. S. 1990

Gervers, M. 1979

Gordon, R. L.

Mithraic Sources in English. Hastings: Chthonios Books.

"The Iconography of the Cave in Christian and Mithraic Tradition." pp. 579-99 in Mysteria Mithrae. Ed. U go Bianchi. Leiden: Bril!.

1972 "Mithraism and Roman Society. Social Factors in the Explanation of Reli-gion Change in the Roman Empire." Religion 2: 92-121.

1975 "Cumont and the Doctrines of Mithraism." pp. 215-48 in Mithraic Studies, Voll. Ed. John R. Hinnells. Manchester: Manchester U niversity .

1976 "The Sacred Geography of a Mithraeum: The Example of Sette Sfere." JMS 1:119-65.

1980 "Reality, Evocation and Boundary in the Mysteries of Mithras." JMS 3:19-99.

Harnack, Adolf 1981 Militia Christi: The Christian Religion and the Military in the First Three

Centuries. Philadelphia: Fortress.

Hopfe, Lewis M. 1990 "Mithraism in Syria." pp. 2214-35 in ANRWII, 18.4.

AUNE: THE CASE OF MITHRAlSM 55

Hunter, David G. 1992 "A Decade of Research on Early Christians and Military Service." RSR

18:87-94.

Ins1er, Stanley 1978 "A New Interpretation of the Bull-Slaying Motif." pp. 519-38 in Hom-

mages a Maarten J. Vermaseren, Voll. Leiden: Brill.

de Laet, S. J. 1949 Portorium: etude sur l'organisation doullaniere chez les Romains. Brugge:

Rijksuniv. te Gent.

Laeuchli, Samue1 (ed.) 1967 Mithraism in Ostia. Evanston: Garrett Biblical Institute.

Merkelbach, Reinhold 1965 "Die Kosmogonie der Mithrasmysterien." Eranos Jahrbuch 34:219-57. 1985 Mithras. Konigstein: Anton Hain.

Nilsson, Martin P. 1961 Geschichte der griechischen Religion, Vol 2: Die hellenistische und

rmische Zeit. Second edition. Mnchen: Beck.

Nock, Arthur Darby 1937 "The Genius of Mithraism." JRS 27: 108-13.

Preisendanz, Karl 1973-74 Papyri Graecae Magicae: Die griechischen Zauberpapyri. Second edition.

Stuttgart: Teubner.

Schwartz, Martin 1975 "Cautes and Cautopates, the Mithraic Torchbearers." pp. 406-23 in

Mithraic Studies, Vo12. Ed. John R. Hinnells. Manchester: Manchester U niversity .

Simon, Marcel 1978 "Mithra, Rival du Christ?" pp. 457-78 in Etudes Mithriaques. Acta

Iranica 17. Leiden: Brill.

Smith, Jonathan Z. 1987 "Dying and Rising Gods." pp. 521-27 in The Encyclopedia 0/ Religion,

Vo14. New York:. Macmillan; London: Collier Macmillan.

Speide1, Michael 1978 "Parthia and the Mithraism of the Roman Army." pp. 479-83 in Etudes

mithriaques: Actes du Deuxieme Congres International. Ed. Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin. Acta Iranica 17. Tehran and Liege: Bibliotheque Pahlavi.


Turcan, Robert 1975 Mithras Platonicus. Leiden: Brill. 1982 "Salut mithriaque et soteriologie neoplatonicienne." pp. 173-91 in La

soteriologia dei culti orientali nell' Impero Romano. Ed. U. Bianchi aIid M. J. Vennaseren. Leiden: Brill.

Ulansey, David 1987 "Mithraic Studies: A Paradigm Shift?" RSR 13:104-10.

Vennaseren, Maarten 1956-60 Corpus Inscriptionum et monumentorum religionis mithriacae. 2 vols. The

1963 1971

Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. Mithras, the Secret God. London: Chatto & Windus. Mithraica I: The Mithraeum at S. Maria Capua Vetere. EPRO 16. Leiden: Brill.

Vennaseren Maarten J. and C. C. Van Essen 1965 'Excavations in the Mithraeum ofthe Church 0/ Santa Prisca. Leiden:

Brill.

Walters, V. J. . 1974 The Cult 0/ Mithras in the Roman Provinces o/Gaul. EPRO 41. Leiden:

Brill.

White, L. Michael 1990 Building God's House in the Roman World. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins.

Widengren, Geo . . 1965 "The Mithraic Mysteries in the Graeco-Roman World Wlth SpeCIal Regard

to Their Iranian Background." pp. 433-55 in La Persia e il mondo greco-roman. Rome: Accademia nazionale dei Lincei.

Wikander, Stig 1951 Etudes sur les mysteres de Mithra. Lund: Almqvist & Wiksel.

i

I I J

CHAPTER3

PROSELITES, CONQUEST, AND MISSION

Peder Borgen The University 0/ Trondheim

Introduction

The terms mlsszon and proselytism are used in a variety of ways. Some would list them together under the concept of religio~s propaganda to be seen as part of the dynamic and competitive thrusts of the many religions and philosophies in the pluralistic Greco-Roman world (Fiorenza; cf. Schwartz). To others "mission" is a broad and inclusive term which comprises the vari-ous ways of actively recruiting and integrating new members in a group, thus also Jewish proselytism (Moore, Kuhn and Stegemann, Jeremias, Georgi, etc.).

Again according to others, the two terms are to be seen as contrary to each other: proselytism, from the Greek term 7rpOai(AV'TOC;, "one who has arrived, who is come to a place," is seen as based on the particularism of one nation, while mission, "sending (out)" is seen within a universalistic view which has overcome particularism (Bousset:85 esp; Fischer).

This sharp distinction between particularism and universalism does not do justice to the historical data, however (cf. Mller; Hengel:657-58). Par-ticularism and universalism are 'not mutually exclusive concepts when applied to J ewish and Christian history and self-understanding. Here the particular Jewish nation is seen as having a universal role to play. Against this back-ground, both proselytism and mission have their setting in the dynamic inter-play between the Jewish nation, Israel, and the other nations.

Also from this starting point proselytism and mission may be seen as contrasting notions. Proselytism is understood to represent a centripetal movement, that is, gentiles and gentile nations come to Israel and to the Jerusalem Temple as the center. Mission, on the other hand, is a centrifugal movement, by which the Gospel is brought from the center, Israel, to all nations, even to the ends of the world (Aalen:282-306; Sundkler:462-64; Munck:265).

McKnight (48) draws the distinction between proselytism and mission in a more general way:


. .. although there is c1early an almost universally positive attitude toward proselytes and proselytism, a positive attitude toward, and an acceptance of, proselytes is to be methodically distinguished from aggressive missionary activity among the gentiles. In other words, although Jews c1early admitted proselytes, and although they c1early encouraged gentiles to convert, and although they anticipated that Day when hordes of gentiles would convert, there is almost no evidence that Jews were involved in evangelizing gentiles and aggressively drawing gentiles into their religion.

The data which McKnight hirnself presents caIl for a more differentiated conclusion to be drawn, as indicated by his own formulation: " ... there is almost no evidence that Jews were involved in evangelizing Gentiles .... " In his final conclusions he modi fies his own general view in a similar way (117): "Although there is some evidence for conversion through literature and missionaries , the predominant me ans of conversion appear to have been the life of individual Jewish citizens" (my italics). Moreover, in his survey of the methods of proselytizing, McKnight includes conversions caused through force (68). One must then raise the question why he did not classify this method as the Jews "aggressively drawing gentiles into their religion" (48)? Thus a more precise conclusion seems to be: among the Jews there were different ideas, attitudes, and activities at work in receiving or bringing non-Jews into the Jewish religion.

As for the Christi an mission some scholars stress its distinctive and per-haps unique basis and legitimation to such an extent that its relationship to Jewish proselytism and to Judaism in general is pushed into the background; indeed, it is almost ignored. To a large extent this is done by Munck and Hahn. Munck wrote (265): "Nicht das Judentum bereitet die christliche Mission vor und gibt fr diese gleichzeitig eine Erklrung. Sie ist etwas ganz Neues, die zwar im Alten Testament ihre Voraussetzungen hat, aber die sie nicht vom Spt judentum aus erklren lsst." Hahn surveys Jewish: proselytism in passing and largely ignores it, because he keeps closely to this definition: "Mission is the Church's service, made possible by the coming of Christ and the dawning of the eschatological event of salvation, and founded in J esus' commission."

In this study some of the various views and activities of the J ews will be examined. The sources demonstrate that some gentiles became proselytes because of attraction. In other cases Jews actively presented their religion in gentile circles and even at times used military force to bring people into the Jewish religion. These various approaches were applied both to individuals as weIl as to coIlective groups; they were at work both in past and present history, and they were also part of the future eschatological scenarios.

Although the Christi an mission did have some distinctive features, its matrix. was the J ewish notions of proselytism, eschatology, and conquest.

r

~

i i i

J I I

. 11 . . , I

BORGEN: PROSELYTES, CONQUEST, AND MISSION 59

The substantiation of this thesis will especially be sought by analyzing sec-tions of Philo's writings and material from the New Testament. Also other sources will be drawn into the discussion, although to a lesser degree.

Background: The Impact on Other Peoples

To give background and perspective for an investigation of proselytism, con-quest, and mission it will help to indicate in wh at ways the Jewish people and their teligious convictions and practices made an impact or were thought to make an impact on non-Jewish surroundings. It is of particular interest to sketch some of the J ewish ideas on this matter. Also some other data will be included, however.

The first task is to point to the fact that the Laws of Moses were understood both to be the particular laws of the J ewish nation and the universallaws which in principle were to be the laws of all nations. On this basis the J ewish nation understood itself to have a universal role to play. One might call this understanding particularistic universalism (Borgen 1992). This point is illuminated by the first sections of Book 2 of the treatises On the Life 0/ Moses, in which Philo presents his understanding of Moses and his views on the Laws of Moses. He characterizes Moses's role as king, legis-lator, high priest, and prophet (Mos. 2:1-11) and surveys in this way the con-tent of the treatises On the Life 0/ Moses. Then in Mos. 2: 12-65 he gives praise to Moses as lawgiver. Surprisingly, he does not here tell about the giving of the Laws on Mt Sinai but praises Moses on the basis of their qualities as made evident in their history after they were received. Philo develops here a perspective of national and universal revelatory history . In contrast to the laws of other nations, the Laws of the Jewish nation were "firm, unshaken, immovable, stamped, as it were, with the seals of nature herself' and they "remain secure from the day when they were first enacted to now, and we may hope they will remain for all future ages as though immortal, so long as the sun and moon and the whole heaven and universe exist" (Mos. 2:14). On this basis Philo interprets the history of the Jewish people: "Thus, though the nation has undergone so many changes, both to increased prosperity and the reverse, nothing - not even the smallest part of the ordinances - has been disturbed" (Mos. 2: 15),1 Moreover, the Laws of

IPhilo expresses here a common view held by Jews in the Diaspora as weil as in Palestine. Even his fonnulation seems to be based on widespread phraseology, as can be seen from similar statements like the one in Mt 5:18: " ... till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished." See also Josephus, Apion 2:277, Matt 5:19, and Luke 16:17 .


Moses " ... attract and win the attention of all, of barbarians, of Greeks, of dwellers on the mainland and islands, of nations of the east and the west, of Europe and Asia, of the whole inhabited world from end to end" (Mos. 2:20).

Philo interprets this revelatory history within the Greek distinction that divides the world's population into two parts, the Greeks and the barbarians.2

Within this context two events have basic significance: (1) the giving of the Laws at Mount Sinai in the Hebrew language for the barbarian half of the human race, and (2) the translation of these Laws into Greek on the island of Pharos at Alexandria to make them known to the Greek half of the world. This second event took place in the Ptolemaic period in Egypt, under Ptolemy Philadelphus, the third in succession to Alexander , the conqueror of Egypt (Mos. 2:25-40).

In Mos. 2:25-40 Philo renders a summary of the traditional account of the origin of the Greek translation. His version is in basic agreement with the story of the translation given in the Letter 0/ Aristeas. There are also impor-tant differences, however. 3 Thus, Philo is hardly in a direct way dependent on the Letter 0/ Aristeas, but both of these versions may draw from Alexandrian traditions about the translation (Swete: 12; cf. Meecham: 123-24).

For Philo, the Septuagint translation has a theological and ideological importance. When it was translated under king Ptolemy II Philadelphus -more than two centuries before the time of Philo - it was the event in history at which the Laws of Moses revealed their beauty to the Greek half of the world (Mos. 2:26-27). This universal aim is also expressed in Philo's de-scription of the work of the translators on the island of Pharos:

... taking the sacred books, stretched them out towards heaven with the hands that held them, asking of God that they might not fail in their purpose. And He assented to their prayers, to the end that the greater part, or even the whole, of the human race might be profited and led to a better.life by continuing to observe such wise and truly admirable ordinances (Mos. 2:36).

For Philo, the reason for the translation was not the lack of knowledge of Hebrew among Alexandrian Jews, but the need for the Laws of the Jewish nation, which at the same time were the One God's cosmic and universal Laws, to be made known to all nations. For theological reasons Philo had to

21mmut. 136; Mos. 2:18.20; Jos. 134; Praem. 165; Gaium 141; Quod Omn. 73.94.98.138; Prov 2:15. This distinction is also applied to the c1assification of lan-guages: Greek is the language of the Greek half of the world, while Hebrew serves as the main language of the barbarian world, Mos. 2:27ff.; cf. Conf 68. Cf. also Paul's use of the distinction Greek and barbarians in Rom 1: 14.

3For details, see Meecharn (121-24): parts of the Letter 0/ Aristeas are not found in Philo' S version, and parts of Philo' s story are not in the Letter 0/ Aristeas.

t "

I Ii

I n

I J L .. ~~~~'~ . ~,,: ~

BORGEN: PROSELITES, CONQUEST, AND MISSION 61

base his presentation of the Laws of Moses on the event in bistory which brought them from the Hebrew/barbarian half to the Greek half of the world.

According to Phi1o, the circumstance that Ptolemy II Philadelphus (284-46 BeE), a king of highest distinction, initiated the translation of the Laws of Moses into Greek, showed that the Laws were precious in the eyes of rulers (Mos. 2:25-43). Correspondingly, Philo also praises Augustus and the Roman official Petronius for their personal qualities and their favorable atti-tude to the J ews.

Augustus recognized the rights of the Jews to worship and live in accordance with their ancestral laws and customs (Gaium 153-58). He also adorned the Jerusalem Temple and ordered that, at his own expense, con-tinuous sacrifices should be carried out every day as a tribute to the most high God (Gaium 157). As for hirnself, he never wished anyone to address hirn as God (Gaium 154).

In his characterization of the Roman legate to Syria, Petronius, Pbilo brings hirn elose to Judaism:

Indeed it appears that he hirnself had some rudiments of Jewish philosophy and reli-gion acquired either in early lessons in the past through his zeal for culture or after his appointment as governor in the countries where the Jews are very numerous in every city, Asia and Syria, or else because his soul was so disposed, being drawn 10 things worthy of serious effort by a nature which listened to no voice nor dictation nor teaching by its own. But we find that to good men God whispers good decisions by which they will give and receive benefits, and this was true in his case (Gaium 245).

Philo reports on the impact made by the J ewish people on others in tbis way:

But, in course of time, the daily, unbroken regularity of practice exercised by those who observed them brought them to the knowledge of others, and their farne began to spread on every side. For things excellent, even if they are bec10uded for a short time through envy, shine out again under the benign operation of nature when their time comes (Mos. 2:27).

In a more general way Philo states that the celebration of the Sabbath made a strong impact on both Greek and barbarian peoples:

They [the Laws of Moses] attract and win the attention of all , of barbarians, of Greeks, of dwellers on the mainland and islands, of nations of the east and the west, of Europe and Asia, of the whole inhabited world from end to end. Far, who has not shewn his high respect for that sacred seventh day, by giving rest and relaxation from labour to hirnself and his neighbours, freemen and slaves alike, and beyond these to his beasts? (Mos. 2:20-21).

Josephus, in Apion 2:282-83, describes in a similar way the broad influence of Judaism on the gentile world: Among the observances kept by


non-Jews, Josephus lists the abstaining from work on the seventh day, the fasts, the lighting of lamps, and many of the prohibitions in the matter of food. Both Philo and J osephus exaggerate the impact of the Sabbath and other observances on other peoples, but there are data which indicate that there was some basis for these statements. Tcherikover points to the fact that personal names such as "Sambathion, " and so forth were used also by non-J ews from the first century CE and onwards in Egypt and in other areas of the Mediterranean world. Tcherikover and others (Tcherikover, Fuks, and Stern: 1 :94-96; 3:XIII; Goldenberg:414-47; Cohen:20-21) draw the conclu-sion that such" names attest the adoption of sabbath observance by numerous non-Jews. Correspondingly Seneca wrote: "... the customs of this accursed race have gained such influence that they are now received throughout all the world. The vanquished have given laws to their victors" (Stern: #186).

In Gaium 210-11 Philo teIls how the attitudes of non-Jews create cor-responding responses among the J ews:

For all men guard their own customs, but this is especially true of the Jewish nation. Holding that the laws are orades vouchsafed by God and having been trained in this doctrine from their earliest years, they carry the likeness of the commandments enshrined in their souls. Then as they contemplate their forms thus dearly represented they always think of them with awe. And those of other races who pay homage to them they welcome no less than their own countrymen, while those who either break them down or mock at them they hate as their bitterest foes.

The phrase "those of other races who pay homage to them" applies in partic-ular to proselytes, of course, but it mayaiso include others who express posi-tive attitudes towards the Jews and their religion.

One such example is the annual Septuagint festival on the island of Pharos, an event in which non-Jews also participated:

Therefore, even to the present day, there is held every year a feast and general assembly in the island of Pharos, whither not only Jews but multitudes of others cross the water, both to do honour to the place in wh ich the light of that version first shone out, and also to thank God for the good gift so old yet ever young. But after the prayers and thanksgivings, some fixing tents on the seaside and others redining on the sandy beach in the open air feast with their relations and friends, counting that shore for the time a more magnificent lodging than the fine mansions in the royal precincts. Thus the laws are shewn to be desirable in the eyes of alI, ordinary citizens and rulers alike ... (Mos. 2:41-43).

AIthough the appearance of Christianity created a new situation, it is relevant in this connection to point to the fact that the synagogal communities for a long time attracted many gentile Christi ans . This situation was at times feIt to be such a threat to leading circles in the Church that sharp polemic and conflict arose.

BORGEN: PR OSELITES, CONQUEST, AND MISSION 63

Early in the second century Ignatius of Antioch admonishes the Chur-ches of Magnesia and Philadelphia not to yield to Judaizing influence. Inscriptions found in the area around Acmonia and Eumoneia dated to the third and fourth centuries CE, displaya blending of Jewish and Christi an fea-tures. After the cessation of imperial cuIt activities in the Sebasteion in Aphrodisia the premises seemed to have been used as shops. Here both menorahs and crosses have been incised on some of the doorjambs. The intense attack by J ohn Chrysostom of Antioch in his 8 homilies preached in 386-87 CE against the Jews and against Christi ans who frequented the synagogue illustrates how vehement polemic presupposes a strong influence from the synagogal community. Chrysostom levels an attack against Christians who go to the synagogue on the sabbath, receive circumcision, celebrate the Jewish Pesach, and keep the Jewish dietary laws and other observances, such as fasting. Moreover, in canon 29 of the Council of Laodicea held in the second half of the fourth century the following for-mulation occurs: "It is forbidden that Christi ans live like Jews and rest on sabbath; they should work on that day. They should prefer the Lord's day to rest on, if possible, since they are Christians. If they turn out to be judaizers, let them be accursed by Christ" (Sheppard; Horst).

Proselytes "Coming In"

A comprehensive body of material in Philo of Alexandria's writings deals with proselytes who become Jews. In most of these passages the focus is on individual persons. According to Philo the conversion of gentiles to Judaism consists of three aspects:

.cl) The religious conversion: The central theme is the change from worshipping many gods to the worship of the One True God. On the whole the conversion passages do not specify the various gods, but refer to them in a general way. In Virt. 102-4 Philo teIls how proselytes have abandoned the images of their gods and the tributes and honors paid to them. Therefore they have turned away from idle fables to the clear vision of truth and the worship of the one and truly existing God within the context of the Jewish Law. 4

(2) The ethical conversion: Another theme is the change from a pagan way of life to the Jewish virtuous life, which has the worship of the One God as its source. For example, On the Virtues 181-82 reads:

4See also Joseph and Asenath 13:11-12.


For it is exeellent and profitable to desert without baekward glanee to the ranks of virtue and abandon viee that malignant mistress; and where honor is rendered to the God who is, the whole company of the other virtues must follow in its train as surely as in the sunshine the shadow follows the body. The prose1yte becomes at onee temperate, eontinent, modest, gentle kind humane serious just high-minded, truth-Iovers, superior to the desire f~r mon~y and ple~sure .. .' . '

(3) The social conversion: In On the Virtues 102-4 Philo says that proselytes have left thelr family, their country, and their customs. Abraham is the prototype of the proselyte who leaves his horne in this way (Virt. 214). The proselytes thus have made their kinsfolk into mortal enemies (Spec. 4: 178). According to Philo, proselytes have entered the Jewish nation, 7fOALr8La, a term whieh means "rights of a citizen, body of citizens, government, constitution of astate, commonwealth." The proselytes have entered a "newand godly commonwealth," 7fOALreLa, Spec. 1 :51; in Virt. 180 Philo explicitly states that proselytes enter "the government of the best law," that is, the Laws of Moses. Thus they join "a commonwealth, 7fOALreLa, full of true life and vitality" (Virt. 219).

Although these passages on proselytes deal primarily with individuals, it is pertinent to ask if this concept also can be applied to collectives, such as ethnie groups and nations.

In the same section where Philo teIls about the announcement of the Laws of Moses to the Greek half of the world and reports on the Septuagint festival celebrated annually on Pharos, he also expresses the hope that all nations will accept these Laws:

1?.us the Laws are shown to be desirable and preeious in the eyes of all, ordinary ~ltlzens and ruler~ alike, and that too though our nation has not prospered for a long time . . .. But lf a fresh start should be made to brighter prospeets, how great a eh~nge for. the better might we expeet to see! I believe that they would abandon thelr peeuhar ways, and throwing overboard their aneestral eustoms turn to honour-ing these (i.e. our) laws alone. For, when the brightness of 'their shining is aeeompanied by national prosperity, it will darken the light of the others as the risen sun darkens the stars (Mos. 2:43-44).

When Philo looks forward to a new period of prosperous times for the J ews, he may refer to his philosophy of history , according to which kingdoms come and go and their fortunes change so that one kingdom succeeds the other (Immut. 174).5 Or he may look forward to prosperity of the Jewish nation in the eschatological time. The creation story points to the cor-responding eschatological possibility: The first father of the race lived without toil or trouble in lavish abundance. These glorious times will return

SCf. Philo's deseription of the glorious fortunes of the Roman empire at the time when Gruus Caligula began his reign as emperor (Gaium 8-13).

r , BORGEN: PROSELYTES, CONQUEST, AND MISSION 65

- in spite of the punishment of Adam and Eve for their disobedience - if the religious and ethical conditions are met (Op. 79 ff.; Borgen 1994). It is to be noticed that prosperity in its broadest sense is also seen as one aspect of the eschatologie al blessing in Praem. 98 ff. and 168 as weIl as in other Jewish writings, such as Sib. III:741-59.

Mos. 2:43-44 shows that Philo looked forward to the time when all nations will become Jewish proselytes. He uses here several phrases which also are used in passages about proselytes: KaraAL7f01'rae; ... ra t'OLa (Mos. 2:44), with a parallel about the proselyte in Spec. 1 :309: K. ra 7farpLa. Another phrase with almost the same meaning is used in Mos. 2:44: 7foAAa XaLP8L1' 4>paua1'rae; rOLe; 7farpLOLe;. An additional example is found in Mos. 2:44: Jl8raaA8L1' 87ft riJ1' rovrw1' JlO1'W1' TLJlT,1', with a parallel about the proselyte in Virt. 177: Jl. 7fpOe; Cx1'V7faLTL01' SWT,1'. As for the phrase &.1' olp.m . . . EKauroVe; Jl8raaA8L1', it refers to the optative form of a sentence with the predieate changed into the infinitive. The optative with &1' denotes a future action that is qualified by, or dependent on, some circumstances or condition, whether expressed or implied (Reik: 107). Here the condition for the future action in the form of collective conversion is the impact made by the Laws of Moses together with the glorious and prosperous times of the Jewish people.

The universal acceptance of the Laws of Moses is also the future hope expressed in Sib. III:702-30. When the peoples see how weIl God guards and cares for His Elect, then they will say: "Corne, let us all fall on the ground and entreat the immortal king, the great eternal God. Let us send to the Temple, since he alone is sovereign and let us all ponder the Law of the Most High God ... " (Sib. III:716-19; Charlesworth:1.378, cf. 741-59; cf. Volz: 172, 390; Baron: 199-209). Such parallel ideas support the understand-ing that Philo in Mos. 2:43-44 envisions the time when all nations will be-come J ewish proselytes by abandoning their own laws and accepting the Laws of Moses.

The "Reaching Out": Mission to and Conquest 0/ the Nations

There are sources which suggest that Jews actively reached out by peaceful means or by military me ans in order to recruit proselytes. In Virt. 211-19 Philo pietures Abraham as a proselyte who peacefully approached his pagan surroundings by being a model that called for respect as weIl as by his per-suasive prophetie speech. Abraham turned away from the polytheistie creed of the Chaldeans and left his native country, his race, and paternal horne. He was regarded as king by those in whose midst he settled, a sovereignty gained


not with weapons, nor with mighty armies but by the election of God. He was transformed by the divine spirit: "whenever he was possessed, every-thing in hirn changed to something better, eyes, complexion, stature, car-riage, movements, voice. For the divine spirit which was breathed upon hirn from on high made its Iod ging in his soul, and invested his body with singular beauty, his voice with persuasiveness, and his hearers with understanding" (Virt. 217). Thus, in this picture of Abraham, there is an element of a con-quest of others not by military means, but by inspired teaching and by being a model presented to the gentiles for them to imitate when becoming proselytes. Moreovet, the conversion is conceived of as a transformation by means of the divine spirit. Under inspiration he sought another society than that of the gentile surroundings (Borgen 1994:227-28).

According to Virt. 177 Moses also actively reached out to the gentiles. He invites polytheists and offers them instruction, exhorting them to turn away from the many gods to God, the Creator and Father of all. Cor-respondingly, Philo encourages those whose actions serve the common weal to use "freedom of speech and walk in daylight through the midst of the agora, ready to converse with crowded gatherings . . . and . . . feast on the fresh sweet draught of words wbich are wont to gladden the minds of such as are not wholly averse to learning . . .. [W]e [the Jews] should follow her [nature's] intentions and display in public (7rpon()ivcxL) all that is profitable and necessary for the benefit of those who are worthy to use it" (Spec. 1 :321, 323; McKnight:55).6

The evidence from Rome is of special interest. Cn. Cornelius Scipio Hispanus (ca. 139 BCE) "banished the Jews from Rome, because they attempted to transmit their sacred rites to the Romans" (Stern:#147a; cf #147 b). Moreover, in 19 BCE J ews were expelled from Rome by the emperor Tiberius, and at least one of the reasons was related to proselytes (Josephus, Ant. 18:81-84; Tacitus Annales 2:85:4; Dio Cassius Historia Romana 57:18:5a). McKnight (73-74) tries to minimize the importance of these data, but admits that here Jewish missionary activity had been at work.

In J ewish history and traditions there is also another form of reacbing out to the gentile world, that of military conquest. Here the emphasis is placed on the collective aspect, that of the people of Israel conquering the nations. According to Philo God even gave into Moses's hands the whole world as his portion (Mos. 1:149, 155-57). In the battle with the Phoenicians, God showed that the earth and the lowest regions of the universe were the portions assigned to the Pho enici ans , and the ethereal, the holiest region, to the Jews. Just as heaven holds kingship in the universe and is

6Cf.Josephus, Ant. 9:208-14.

BORGEN: PROSELITES, CONQUEST, AND MISSION 67

superior to the earth, so the Hebrew nation should be victorious over its opponents in war (Mos. 1:217; Borgen 1992:344).

The conquest of pagan peoples refers both to conquests in the history of the Jewish people and in the future (eschatological) hope. As for past history it is of interest to notice that J osephus records cases where military conquest and proselytism were combined. He reports that Hyrcanus subdued all the Idumeans and permitted them to stay in their country "if they would circum-cise their genitals, and make use of the laws of the Jews" (Ant. 15:257-58). Aristobulus "made war against Iturea, and added a great part of it to Judea, and compelled the inhabitants, if they would continue in that country, to be circumcised, and live according to the Jewish laws" (Ant. 13:318). Although the Book of Esther is a novel in historical form, it is of interest to see that here the conquest of pagans by the Jews took place in a diaspora setting, in Persia. The Persian king issued an edict for "the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to slay, and to annihilate any armed forces of any people or province that might attack them . . ." (Esther 8:11); " ... the Jews were to be ready on that day to avenge themselves upon their enemies" (8:13); " ... and many from the peoples of the country declared themsel ves J ews, for the fear of the J ews had fallen upon them" (8: 17). In the Septuagint, Esther 8: 17, it is further specified how the gentiles became Jews: "and many of the Gentiles were circumcised and became Jews, for the fear of the Jews." Also Josephus, Ant. 11:285, mentions cir-cumcision. Since the Book of Esther is the text related to the feast of Purim, the J ews thus every year learned the ideology of militaryactions which brought gentiles to become proselytes by fear. Thus, the Septuagint festival, according to Philo, made non-Je ws to become almost proselytes and to express thanks for the Laws of Moses, while the feast of Purim, as confirmed by Josephus (Ant. 11:292-95), advocated military measures against pagans, to the effect that some would become proselytes out of fear.

As for the future and eschatological hopes there were traditions which envisioned a universal conquest of all nations by the J ewish nation. This view is already formulated in the Septuagint version of Num 24:7: "There shall come a man out of his seed, and he shall rule over many nations . . . . [H]e shall consume the nations of bis enemies . . . ." The use of the Sep-tuagint version of this text in various writings proves that it represented a living tradition (Vermes: 169ff.; Hengel).

Thus in Mos. 1 :290 Philo draws on Num 24:7(LXX) and pictures a Hebrew emperor who will bring to its full realization the universal charge of Moses and the Hebrew nation: "There shall come forth from you one day a man, and he shall rule over many nations and his kingdom spreading every day shall be exalted on high." In Praem. 93-97 Philo also refers to Num


24:7(LXX) and states that the conquest is conditioned on the lews keeping the Laws of Moses. At that time:

the first boon you will have is victory over your enemies. Either, then, as he says, the war will not pass thro

Download - Recruitment, Conquest, and Conflict: Strategies in Judaism, Early Christianity, and the Greco-Roman World (Emory Studies in Early Christianity)

Top Related