Monday, June 30, 2014

The Ephesian Riot in Acts 19

 
The Bible details in Acts 19:23-41 an exciting event that occurred in ancient Ephesus. In this passage, the Apostle Paul’s preaching began to disrupt the local economy. The merchants made shrines of the goddess Athena; however, when Paul began preaching about Jesus being the only God incarnate, sales of the Athena statues diminished. Consequently, a riot ensued with shouts of protests from the local merchants among the Ephesians.

It is important to understand how significant the worship of Artemis was to the Ephesians in order to grasp the intensity of this riot. Artemis was the goddess of the hunt and fertility. She was the most important female deity in Ephesus and was part of the culture of Ephesus as well as their religion. The Ephesians built a temple many times larger than the Pantheon in honor of Artemis that attracted a lot of attention; it was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Thus, local businesses capitalized from Artemis’ popularity in Ephesus. Because the temple of Artemis was in Ephesus, it gave the Ephesians a sense of pride and was good for attracting business. Many silversmiths therefore began to craft small shrines of the goddess to sell as souvenirs to pilgrims coming to the city to celebrate and worship Artemis.

                                      


Paul spent three years in Ephesus trying to persuade the people to turn away from worshiping pagan deities such as Artemis. Paul convinced many that Artemis and the Greek deities were false gods and goddesses. Instead, he told of Jesus being the only true God, both divine and human. As Paul neared the end of his stay in Ephesus, many of the Ephesians converted from their belief in Artemis and started to follow the teachings of Jesus. As a result, the silversmith’s sales greatly depleted.  Naturally, the artisans reacted to their loss of business. One such silversmith Demetrius grew very angry at the loss of business after Paul began to preach about Jesus being the only way for people to get to heaven. Demetrius understood correctly that following Jesus demanded followers to give up believing their other deities in total devotion to Jesus as the only true God.

With Demetrius’ protests, the crowd became more enraged and began to protest. They called out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians” and dragged some of Paul’s companions into the theater. The theater could seat up to 25,000 people, at least the whole population of the city. The silversmiths wanted to have a public trial against Paul and his companions. Paul’s friends outside the theater detained him from entering and defending his associates inside the theater because of the chaos and danger.


                      

 
 
Many of the members of the crowd did not even realize why they gathered, but they shouted anyway: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” As a Jew named Alexander rose to separate himself from Paul and the Christians, the crowd grew so loud with their chant forcing him to sit down. The city clerk rose and quieted the crowd by saying that Paul and his companions were not threats to Ephesus, and he told Demetrius and the silversmiths to bring a lawful suit against them. The clerk wanted to maintain order in Ephesus and not arouse the Romans. Therefore, Paul and his associates were safe from the rioting silversmiths.

From this passage, it is clear that because the silversmith’s faced an economic setback from Paul’s preaching of the gospel, a great riot developed that could have been disastrous for Paul and his companions. However, God protected their lives and Paul was able to continue with his missionary travels.

                      



                                            Recommended Readings

Brinks, C.L. “‘Great Is Artemis of the Ephesians’: Acts 19:23-41 in Light
     of Goddess Worship in Ephesus.” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 71:4
     (October 2009): 776-794.

Hooker, Morna D. “Artemis of Ephesus.” The Journal of Theological Studies
     64:1 (April 2013):37-46.

Hughes, J. Donald. “Artemis: Goddess of Conservation.” Forest and Conservation
     History
34:4 (October 1990): 191-197.

Seltman, Charles Theodore. Riot in Ephesus: Writings on the Heritage of Greece.
      London: M. Parrish, 1958.

Paul's Recommendation for Christians' Appearance in Ancient Corinth

 
 

 

In I Corinthians 11:2-16, the Apostle Paul comments on the head-coverings and hairstyles for both men and women in ancient Corinth, which demonstrates Paul’s historical context of living in the Roman Empire. Paul’s opinion is not a moral commandment; instead, it was merely a suggestion or advice for the Christian Corinthians to live a sanctified life among the pagan unbelievers.

                        

Discovering archeological artifacts to unearth the biblical context of this passage, Cynthia L. Thompson wrote a fascinating article, “Hairstyles, Head-coverings, and St. Paul: Portraits from Roman Corinth” for the Biblical Archeologist journal in June 1988. Particularly, Thompson uses portraits, such as coins, marble and small clay statues. She is academically honest, nevertheless, with her research and mentions several problems she dealt with while examining the portraits to determine the historical context of Paul’s experience in Corinth as he advised the believers there how to dress.


                        


She mentions there is a problem in looking at portraits to see how people dressed regularly since different classes wore different styles, people of different trades wore certain garments, and the weather could determine changes in clothing. There is also a problem of knowing when to date the portraiture, especially if it is not clearly marked. Additionally, the size and worth of the portraitures varied because marble statues were tall and expensive, clay statues were small and inexpensive, and coins were even smaller and commonplace. Paul visited Corinth over several years, from about 50-60 A.D., and artifacts from before and after his visit show that culture changes were slow. Therefore, Thompson admits issues archeologists face, but artifacts are still good tools to reveal historical context. 

                      




Thompson says that Paul admonished men not to wear head-coverings because doing such was a sign of paganism based on the portraitures she unearthed. Some of the statues portrayed men with togas over their heads, which had a religious connection. Additionally, some coins displayed emperors wearing wreaths on their head, another pagan religious symbol of emperor worship.


                                             
                                                      Caesar Augustus

Paul recommends that Corinthian Christian women wear their hair up in simple styles because many of the pagan women wore their hair in ostentatious styles. Paul also suggests that the Christian women should not cover their hair with veils as the pagans did for religious purposes, but he leaves the matter for women to decide if they want to cover their heads. While Paul recommends that they do not cover their heads, he leaves the matter open to personal choice, as the issue is one of preference and not morality.


                         


Through using archeology, such as portraitures on coins and statues, Cynthia L. Thompson sheds some light onto what Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians regarding how they dressed while living in a pagan culture. He largely leaves the issue up to individuals' scruples. The Christians in Corinth dressed somewhat differently from their pagan counterparts but still wore hairstyles and head coverings that were culturally acceptable. Paul wanted to provide some guidelines and suggestions for believers; thus, Paul is not giving theological commandments in this passage, as some people interpret I Corinthians 11:2-16.


                                                      Bibliography

Thompson, Cynthia L. “Hairstyles, Head-Coverings, and St. Paul: Portraits
      from Roman Corinth.” The Biblical Archaeologist 51:2 (June 1988): 99-115.