1655 . Sipre Deut . 87.2.2, citing Prov 1:20–21.

1655 . Sipre Deut . 87.2.2, citing Prov 1:20–21.

1651. Eurip. Bacch. 472; Lysias Or. 6.51, §107; Callim. Aetia 3.75.8–9; Dion. Hal. Lit. Comp. 25; Hor. Odes 3.2.25–29; Plut. Educ. 14, Mor. 10F; Alcib. 19.1; Heracl. Ep. 8; Aelian Farmers 1 (Euthycomides to Blepaeus); Paus. 1.14.3; 2.3.4; Lucian Fisherman 33; Men. 2; Apul. Metam. 3.15; Diog. Laert. 7.7.186; Tert. Apol. 7.6; Burkert, Mystery Cults, 7–9, 42; Mylonas, Eleusis, 224–29; Klauck, Context, 94. For punishments, see, e.g., Thucyd. 6.53.1–2; Ovid Metam. 3.710–20; Livy 39.13.1–8, 18.

1652. E.g., 1QpHab VII, 4–5, 13–14; 1QHa II, 13–14; IX, 23–24; XI, 9–10, 16–17; XII, 11–13; 1QS VIII, 1–2, 12; IX, 13, 17–19; 4 Ezra 14:45–47; cf. Dan 2:18, 19, 22–23, 27–30, 47; 4:9; Wis 2:22; Test. Levi 2:10; Test. Jud. 16:4; t. Qidd. 5:21; Exod. Rab. 19:6; Esth. Rab. 2:4; all of rabbinic Judaism in Pesiq. Rab. 5:1; see further discussion in Nock, Christianity, 30; Gibbard, “Mystery,” 109; Caragounis, Mysterion, 126; Casciaro Ramírez, “Misterio”; Keener, Matthew, 378–79; esp. Brown, “Mysterion”; idem, Mystery.

1653. E.g., m. Ḥag. 2:1; t. Ḥag. 2:1, 7; ʾAbot R. Nat. 39 A; b. Ḥag. 13a; 15a, bar.; Pesaḥ. 119a; Šabb. 80b; y. Ḥag. 2:1, §15, 63–64; Gen. Rab. 1:5, 10; 2:4; Pesiq. Rab Kah. 21:5; 2 En. 24:3.

1654. One could read this promise solely eschatologically, but cf. Luke 8:15–16.

1655. Sipre Deut. 87.2.2, citing Prov 1:20–21.

1656. Rhet. Her. 4.15.22; Rowe, “Style,” 139 (citing Rom 2:1; Tert. Mart. 1); Porter, “Paul and Letters,” 581.

1657. Digressing from one’s speech to address someone else is what some rhetoricians called apostrophe (Rhet. Her. 4.15.22; Men. Rhet. 2.16, 435.30–436.1, esp. 435.30; Rowe, “Style,” 139; cf. Porter, “Paul and Letters,” 581; Anderson, Glossary, 25).

1658. A speaker could appeal to a judge’s expertise or knowledge, as in, e.g., Apul. Apol. 25; 36; 38 (all of which also thereby praise the judge).

1659. This may be especially complimentary in view of some conservatives—even Josephus—thinking Agrippa too “liberal” on some points (Jos. Ant. 20.189–91, 216–18, esp. 218).

1660. Those who view this as a peroratio can note that this was the place to elaborate and reiterate points in one’s favor (Cic. De or. 1.31.143) and, ideally, to include emotional appeal (cf. Anderson, Rhetorical Theory, 181–82).

1661. Agrippa’s conversion would have repercussions for Israel’s conversion as a whole, a goal of the earliest Christians (cf. Acts 3:19–21), including the historical Paul (Rom 11:13–27). As Agrippa might know from his sister Drusilla (Acts 24:24), Paul had already sought to convert Felix (24:24–25; Agrippa and Felix were not on favorable terms). For Paul, of course, seeking conversion was not the frequent modern notion of recruiting more allies to one’s “side” but the sharing of a great benefit with the recipient.

1662. See O’Toole, Acts 26, 145.

1663. The best rhetoric was supposed to be able to sway a judge (Cic. Brut. 93.322). Dunn, Acts, 323, suggests a parallel with “the thief on the cross” in Luke 23:40–43, but he was converted, unlike Agrippa, and their status is too divergent to represent a convincing parallel.

1664. This would prove even more problematic than using Sergius Paulus’s conversion (see comment on Acts 13:12). Writers hoping to gain a hearing could not afford to misrepresent matters of public interest on which they could be readily challenged (see, e.g., the comments of Judge, First Christians, 379–80, regarding the Gallic Romans publishing their own version of Claudius’s speech).

1665. Cf. Malherbe, Philosophers, 161, who notes that many philosophers allowed for instantaneous conversion; he also notes that some told conversion accounts (as Paul has) inviting imitation but that the anticipated responses to such accounts were often ironic or sarcastic.

1666. C. Williams, Acts, 265; Conzelmann, Acts, 212; Johnson, Acts, 440; Dunn, Acts, 332.

1667. Several (C. Williams, Acts, 265; Conzelmann, Acts, 212; Johnson, Acts, 440) cite this verse, though the parallel is uncertain.

1668. Some MSS (including E, P, Ψ, and many minuscules; italic texts) thus prefer γενέσθαι, reflecting Paul’s favorable twist on Agrippa’s words in the next verse (Acts 26:29).

1669. As Bruce, Commentary, 495–96, puts this, “In short, you are trying to make me play the Christian” (cf. also idem, Acts1, 449).

1670. E.g., Fitzmyer, Acts, 764 (against Haenchen, Conzelmann, and Schneider); Bock, Acts, 723.

1671. Johnson, Acts, 440. Conative force seems more convincing in Acts 26:11.

1672. E.g., Johnson, Acts, 440. Cf. Calvin’s various options in Chung-Kim and Hains, Acts, 345.

1673. Witherington, Acts, 751; cf. O’Toole, Acts 26, 144.

1674. Johnson, Acts, 440.

1675. Ibid., 443.

1676. See BDAG, citing, e.g., Plato Apol. 22B; Jos. Ant. 18.145; Lucian Tox. 24; cf. Blass, Debrunner, and Funk, Grammar, 104, §195. Turner, Grammatical Insights, 98–99, cites classical parallels and argues that Agrippa warns, “You are trying to persuade me that you have made me a Christian in a short time (or easily).”

1677. Talbert, Acts, 209, cites Lucian Nigr. 1; Plut. Progr. Virt., Mor. 75CE. Parsons, Acts, 346, suggests that Agrippa sides with those skeptical of instant conversion (citing also Albinus Epitome doctrinae platonicae 30.2). Certainly he is skeptical of the possibility of his own.

1678. For Cicero’s incessant jesting, see Plut. Cic. 38.2–6 (the examples in 38.3–6 reveal that Cicero had perfected the art of witty cynicism, used for sarcastic insults); 40.3.

1679. A Latin construction, it may also have been gaining some currency in Roman circles (1 Pet 4:16; Tac. Ann. 15.44; Suet. Nero 16.2; but cf. Suet. Claud. 25.4). Nevertheless, it started among Greek-speakers in Antioch, and Festus was not familiar with the movement before meeting Paul (Acts 25:19).

1680. So also Tajra, Trial, 169.

1681. James was not the only individual executed, but he is the only one whom Josephus specifically names (Ant. 20.200) and hence was presumably a prominent target.

1682. This figure (called ἐμβόησις by some who used technical terms) was particularly appropriate in apostrophe (Anderson, Glossary, 41), hence here. On exclamatio, see Rowe, “Style,” 143 (citing Greg. Naz. Or. 8.14; Cic. Cat. 1.2); Porter, “Paul and Letters,” 582 (on Paul); Thurén, “Writings,” 603n70 (on Jude 11).

1683. Fitzmyer, Acts, 765: “the only place in the NT where the potential optative with an occurs in a main clause, expressing an attainable wish (BDF [Blass, Debrunner, and Funk, Grammar] §§359.2; 385.1).”

1684. Cf. Justin Dial. 8, where Justin wishes all to share his devotion to Christ. For Paul wishing all his hearers to be like him, cf. Gal 4:12; for identification with others, see, e.g., Cic. Quint. fratr. 1.3.3; Or. Brut. 31.110; Pliny Ep. 6.30.1; 2 Kgs 3:7; especially in a plea, Suet. Galba 20.1. Some (Shiell, Reading Acts, 200) suggest that Paul is being wry and humorous here; at the least, he responds to Agrippa’s wit with witty banter appropriate to an intellectual, while remaining nonthreatening.

1685. Whether the reference is, indeed, temporal is debated, though the temporal meaning is suitable; see discussion on Acts 26:28.

1686. Malherbe, Philosophers, 162.

1687. Rowe, “Style,” 141 (citing as examples Basil Hom. Hex. 9.7.63C; Aug. Serm. 339 c. 1); cf. Porter, “Paul and Letters,” 581 (on Rom 3:5). For correction as a rhetorical device, see further Rhet. Her. 4.26.36; Hermog. Inv. 4.12.203–4; also Anderson, Rhetorical Theory, 162, 170–71, on metabole in Gal 3:4; 4:9. One could provide for correction deliberately rather than as an afterthought.

1688. This is again a positive projection of ēthos; Paul is confident of his moral rectitude.

1689. If he were presumed guilty, his testimony also would not be taken seriously, since many regarded the testimony of certain classes of criminals as invalid (e.g., b. Sanh. 26b).

1690. Polyb. 20.10.7–9; 38.17.2; cf. 2 Tim 1:16; Heb 11:36; Rapske, “Prison,” 829; for punishment in general, Dio Chrys. Or. 76.4. See further comment on Acts 16:39; 22:29. Some (e.g., Ach. Tat. 4.9) also used them for those who were “mad” (Acts 26:24); in Polyb. 32.3.6–8, one so treated (though with the addition of a neck collar) eventually went insane.

1691. Rapske, Custody, 309. Chains even functioned as a form of torture; see idem, “Prison,” 828, and sources there; comment on Acts 22:29.

1692. Quint. Curt. 6.9.26 (cf. 6.9.25); cf. LCL, 2:84 n. a (Rolfe): “Hence not sine praeiudicio.”

1693. E.g., Jos. Ant. 18.233; perhaps Pliny Ep. 10.57.2.

1694. Rapske, “Prison,” 829 (citing, e.g., Sen. Y. Ep. Lucil. 9.9; Philost. Vit. Apoll. 4.37; Lucian Tox. 18, 28–29).

1695. E.g., Isaeus Menec. 44, 47; Cic. Quinct. 30.91–31.99; Rab. Post. 17.47–48; Quint. Decl. 267.12–13; 270.25–29; 291.7–8; 298.16; 315.24–25; 322.31; 328.7; 331.14; 338.3; 339.29–32. Sumney, “Πάθος,” 147, notes that despite ancient handbooks placing it especially at the end, pathos could be used anywhere in a speech.

1696. See Witherington, Acts, 751. On pathos, see comment on Acts 20:31; it was used anywhere, but especially in the peroratio.

1697. See Conzelmann, Acts, 212 (citing, e.g., the second edict of Augustus from Cyrene); Rapske, Custody, 27. Apparently, chaining was employed even for house arrest (Jos. Ant. 18.237; Rapske, Custody, 31). Those tried for offenses such as treason might “plead their case in chains” (Quint. Decl. 303 intro., Bailey, LCL).

1698. See Rapske, Custody, 9, 25–26, 28; idem, “Prison,” 828; further discussion at Acts 21:33; 22:29.

1699. This apparently remained true historically; given the cultural humiliation associated with them, it is unlikely that later tradition invented them (Eph 4:3; 6:20; 2 Tim 1:16) for his Roman detention (Phil 1:7, 13–17; Phlm 1, 9–10, 13, 23; Eph 3:1; 4:1; Col 4:3, 10, 18; cf. 2 Tim 1:8; 2:9). Luke would hardly retroject this shame for his hero earlier than he believed authentic, in view of his pro-Roman Tendenz.

1700. Sufferings (including a person’s past life) were often used to generate public sympathy in court (e.g., Pliny Ep. 4.9.22).

1701. Rapske, Custody, 31.

1702. Ibid., 206–7. For the neck, see, e.g., Quint. Curt. 7.5.36; for the feet, Apul. Flor. 17.7.

1703. Rapske, Custody, 207.

1704. Ibid., 207–8.

1705. Thus a philosopher could address a tyrant without fear (Apul. False Preface 2.106; Diog. Laert. 2.68); see further comment on Acts 4:13. Here Jones, “Holds Power,” 168, uses communication theory to identify power positioning and highlights the prisoner Paul’s surprising lack of “subservience” to Agrippa the king.

1706. Except the implied favor of Acts 28:31; the verdict of Caesar’s own tribunal is not recorded.

1707. Poets could act as omniscient narrators with such scenes (e.g., Sil. It. 9.66–177, 340–45), but stricter historians frowned on them when written by laxer historians (Polyb. 2.56.10). Luke offers very few of them (see esp. Acts 25:14–22), but where he does, he fleshes them out no more than most historians did (his expanded portrayal is mostly speech material in 25:14–22 and 26:31–32, which historians could flesh out) and bases them on reasonable inference from his perspective of the events.

1708. Cf. Tannehill, Acts, 329. On the principle of avoiding taking responsibility, see Malina, Windows, 137.

1709. Tannehill, Acts, 329.

1710. Most scholars see the connection (e.g., C. Williams, Acts, 266; Johnson, Acts, 440; Dunn, Acts, 323). The connections between innocence statements for Jesus and Paul were also not lost on earlier interpreters (John Chrysostom in Cat. Act. 23.28–30 [Martin, Acts, 282]).

1711. Doble, Paradox, 93–160, contends that the meaning is “righteous,” including in Luke 23:47, rather than (with many scholars; cf. 70–92) “innocent.” Although “righteous” does fit Luke’s larger usage best, righteousness should, presumably, include the relevant nuance of innocence here.

1712. With Witherington, Acts, 752.

1713. Cf. the same principle regarding the Johannine Pilate in Keener, “Truth.”

1714. Dicken, Herod, 162, argues that since the only chiliarch who features previously in Luke’s narrative, Lysias, is favorable toward Paul and helps him (Acts 23:10, 19–31), we should infer the same regarding the composite character of chiliarchs here (25:23).

1715. Luke would need to be fairly certain about this point to include it, since Agrippa II remained alive and influential when (according to the range of dates assigned Acts by the majority of Acts scholars) Luke wrote. Although Luke was not privy to the conversation, Agrippa’s support for Paul could, if known to prominent Gentiles from Caesarea (Acts 25:23; 26:30), come up in some conflicts with Caesarean Jewish leaders (who apparently opposed Paul, 25:24, although this could refer hyperbolically to Jerusalemite envoys speaking in Caesarea) in that period of tension. But Luke would no longer be in Caesarea (27:1–2) and hence would not have access to this information unless travelers from the church in Caesarea brought news of the rumor.

1716. See Goodman, Ruling Class, 141–42.

1717. Cf. the irrevocability of royal decrees in Esth 1:19; 8:8; Dan 6:8, 12, 15, 17; many think that these cases refer not to a law (for which we lack significant extrabiblical evidence, e.g., Sprinkle, “Law,” 647; we admittedly lack relevant contemporary Persian sources) but to the king’s honor (cf., e.g., Walton, Matthews, and Chavalas, Background Commentary, 485, 490, 635, 739; pace, e.g., Baldwin, Daniel, 128).

1718. On the importance of honor (and shame), see, e.g., Hom. Il. 5.471–93, 529–32; 8.145–50, 167–71; Isaeus Cleon. 39 (§37); Publ. Syr. 211–12; Pliny Ep. 3.4.1; 5.11.2; 6.6.4, 9; Suet. Jul. 11; 19.2; Arius Did. Epit. 2.7.10c, pp. 60–61.19; 2.7.11i, pp. 78–79.25–29; Lucian Critic 4; Philost. Hrk. 45.8; Hermog. Issues 76.5–6; 78.22–79.6; Nicolaus Progymn. 7, “On Commonplace,” 44; deSilva, “Honor and Shame”; idem, “Wisdom”; idem, “Shame”; Jewett, “Shame”; Delaney, “Seeds,” 16; Brandes, “Reflections,” 121–23; Barton, Honor; idem, “Moment”; Malina and Neyrey, Portrait, 176–82. Christian and Islamic tradition have likely reinforced some traditional Mediterranean values on this point (cf. Brandes, “Reflections,” 126). It remains important in many cultures and ethical discussions today (e.g., Park, Hurt to Healing, 37–44).

1719. Cf. Rapske, Custody, 188.

1720. Sherwin-White, Society, 65; Hemer, Acts in History, 132; D. Williams, Acts, 423; Witherington, Acts, 752–53; Jeffers, World, 169. Offenses that seriously detracted from the emperor’s honor were treasonous (Robinson, Criminal Law, 77–78).

1721. Perhaps they would not protest (cf. Acts 28:21), but this could not be taken for granted.

1722. With Witherington, Acts, 753 (following Cassidy, Society, 113); D. Williams, Acts, 423. For records of decisions of official bodies, see Rüpke, “Commentarii,” 628; this occasion may be more informal, but then it must take the place of an official decision in Festus’s notes. Normally, the defendant’s and accusers’ petitions would also be forwarded (Pliny Ep. 10.59, though the defendant in this example is not sent); we do not know whether this is the case here (Acts 28:21 addresses synagogues, not Caesar’s court).

1723. See, e.g., Pliny Ep. 10.96–97, where Trajan basically confirms all of Pliny’s judgments. (Pliny, however, may have had the added incentive of seeking to collect as much correspondence with the emperor as possible, which could be subsequently published to his own honor. Cf. similarly Noreña, “Economy,” who notes that Pliny’s letters honor both himself and Trajan by offering an illusion of closeness that the letters do not, in fact, indicate was possible.)

1724. One could argue the contrary, namely, that after Luke’s (convenient) ending, Nero confirms Festus’s death sentence (Omerzu, “Fallstudie”), and that Luke is simply careful so as to portray neither Paul nor the Roman administration in a bad light (idem, “Angeklagter,” 137). This argument is plausible, but Luke, who does not hesitate to portray Felix’s corruption, appears (on my view) more favorable concerning Festus; I believe that the Lukan evidence points more easily to favored treatment reflecting Festus’s positive, or at least neutral, appraisal of Paul’s honor (see comment on Acts 28:30–31). On my view, Luke does not provide even a semblance of legitimate grounds for Paul’s later execution; but of course one could respond plausibly that providing such a semblance would not serve Luke’s apologetic purpose. Nero’s court could also disregard a positive recommendation (see comment below), but the recommendation would remain in the case records (if not burned in the fire of 64).

1725. Although the declaration fits Luke’s purpose, one should not conclude from Paul’s later execution that Luke simply invented it. Given what we know of Nero and his persecution of Christians (Tac. Ann. 15.44), it is plausible that he disregarded Agrippa’s verdict (and also possible that Paul was released and rearrested later). For an example of a fictitious account, see Philost. Vit. Apoll. 8.5, where Domitian acquits Apollonius but wishes to detain him further, and so the latter vanishes.

Voyage to Rome (27:1–28:15)

1. Johnson, Acts, 10.

2. Others note this chapter’s role as a literary climax, including in its depiction of Paul (Börstinghaus, Sturmfahrt).

3. It might also not be coincidence that Paul chose passage on his earlier voyages, whereas here his participation is at others’ discretion. But in contrast to Greek tales of heroes who avoided doomed voyages, Luke never emphasizes Paul’s earlier prophetic avoidance of shipwrecks. (Such a portrayal would not have fit well the widely traveled historical Paul; 2 Cor 11:25.)

4. More generally, cf. Salmeier, Restoring, 187: “Even a shipwreck has its necessity (27:26) since God uses it to demonstrate the divine protection under which Paul exists.”

5. See discussion in Keener, Acts, 1:445–47; idem, “Apologetic.”

6. For one concise bibliography of relevant sources on Acts 27, see Jervell, Apostelgeschichte, 602.

7. Bruce, Commentary, 498; idem, Acts1, 450. MacDonald, “Shipwrecks,” finds Homer’s Odyssey the sole model (esp. Od. 5, 12), which he thinks Luke christianizes. Direct dependence on Homeric language or even allusions is not impossible, but it cannot be exclusive (see Talbert, Acts, 213). Although Luke’s ideal reader may be familiar with the Odyssey, we know from many quotations in Luke-Acts that he expects familiarity with the LXX as a more primary subtext and hence would expect familiarity with, e.g., Jonah. Herodotus imitates Homer’s style (see Woodman, Rhetoric, 1–3); we need not for this reason doubt the historical genre of Herodotus’s work, though what this meant in his day differs from what historiography became (Woodman might go too far in his skepticism on account of the imitation [4–5]). For the Odyssey’s influence on early Roman historiography, see discussion in Leigh, “Early Roman Epic.” Naturally, novels also appropriated Homeric literary conventions (cf. Telò, “Gaze”).

8. Koester, Introduction, 1:114. See more extensively Davis, “Navigation,” 161–75 (a work brought to my attention by Mark Wilson).

9. Aune, Environment, 123. Cf. Davis, “Navigation,” 162: “Nearly all of the extant versions are prose works devoid of literary pretensions, although many go beyond the formula and insert historical, mythological or paradoxographical vignettes.”

10. Periploi normally required “impersonal style” and “interest in coastal peoples, places, and imports and exports,” unlike Acts (Praeder, “Acts 27:1–28:16,” 687).

11. Pace Robbins, “Land and Sea.” Cf. Haenchen, Acts, 710, who doubts a “standard account of sea voyages” in antiquity, noting that shipwrecks in novels are samples among countless other adventures and that such travel reports do not always lead to catastrophe.

12. Praeder, “Acts 27:1–28:16,” 687, noting that sea itineraries could be short (e.g., Hom. Od. 9.82–84), only a little longer (Virg. Aen. 3.266–77), or much longer but travelogues were longer.

13. Praeder, “Acts 27:1–28:16,” 687.

14. Ibid., 688. Cicero also summarizes his recent travels, including contrary winds, elsewhere (Att. 5.12–13).

15. For parallels with other sea voyages, including suspense-building, see esp. Praeder, “Acts 27:1–28:16.”

16. Ibid., 693. Cf. similarly battle scenes; reflecting a common rhetorical curriculum, they were similar in most ancient historians, but of course ancient battles did have similar characteristics (Laistner, Historians, 57, 95), and some historians (such as Thucydides, vs. Livy, on the siege of Syracuse; Caesar, vs. average historians; and sometimes Sallust) could get even military details quite accurate (ibid., 58).

17. With, e.g., Porter, “‘We’ Passages,” 552; Schnabel, “Reading Acts,” 254.

18. Aune, Environment, 129 (citing Livy 21.58.3–11; Sen. Y. Ag. 465–578; Lucan C.W. 4.48–120). Some overemphasize Virgil allusions here (e.g., Shea, “Pieces of Epic”), although comparisons are instructive. Reardon, “Homing to Rome,” compares the emphasis on a voyage to Rome in both Virgil and Acts. But by this period, there was a sense in which all roads did lead to Rome (Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 376)—particularly for prisoners sent there for trial.

19. Pervo, Profit, 51, rightly.

20. Schnabel, “Reading Acts,” 254, following Reiser, “Charakter,” 53, and citing Petron. Sat. 114.1–3; Ach. Tat. 3.2.2; 3.2.8.

21. On this last point, see Schnabel, “Reading Acts,” 254, also noting (with qualification) Kratz, Rettungswunder, 336–37.

22. Aune, Environment, 129 (citing Char. Chaer. 3.3.10–18; Xen. Eph. Anthia 3.2.11–15; Heliod. Eth. 1.22.3–5; Ach. Tat. 3.1–5 [see esp. 3.2]).

23. Johnson, Acts, 451, compares later Ps.-Clem. Hom. 12.9.3–12.10.4. See also, e.g., Apoll. K. Tyre 11 (with a description pieced together from Virgil and elsewhere); Xen. Eph. Anthia 3.4, 12 (in contrast to Luke, most of Xenophon’s ships are wrecked!); the hypothetical setting in Sen. E. Controv. 8.6.

24. Johnson, Acts, 451, cites Juv. Sat. 12.17–82; Lucian Posts 1–2.

25. Johnson, Acts, 451, cites Lucian True Story 1.6.

26. Pervo, Story, 91. We may note that some seafarers invented fictitious stories about these perils themselves (Lucian Posts 1–2), but because such perils did occur (commonly enough for those who sailed often, 2 Cor 11:25). Pervo, Acts, 645, finds parallels between Acts 27 and novels (noting others, including Pokorny, “Romfahrt”; Weiser, Apostelgeschichte, 2:659); for a literary but not historical shipwreck, see also Seul, Rettung.

27. See, e.g., Keener, Acts, 1:53–54, 63, 66–67, 70–72, 81, 125n72, 131–33, 146, 160; cf. 119, 126, 134n162, 148, 264, 279; here, also Johnson, Acts, 457.

28. Alexander, Context, 85. So also Marguerat, Histoire, 368; idem, Historian, 256, noting various genres and preferring especially exploration narratives and narratives about the settlement of colonies.

29. Pervo, Profit, 51. More recently, Pervo has clarified his argument, recognizing that Acts is a work of ancient historiography (Acts, 15) but arguing that popular genres, including popular historiography, could include elements that we would call fictitious. Certainly no one will disagree that at many points ancient historians employed standards different from those observed in the guild today. Comparisons with novels are, moreover, helpful. But these comparisons are most fruitfully undertaken alongside fuller attention to ancient historical works, an endeavor not as fully developed by Pervo (as even a survey of his commentary’s index of ancient sources will reveal), despite his noteworthy contributions in many other areas; see Keener, “Review of Pervo.”

30. E.g., Suet. Jul. 25.2; Claud. 17.2; see further comment below.

31. E.g., Jos. Life 14–15; Lucian Peregr. 43 (a storm); Dio Chrys. Or. 7.1–2 (a shipwreck, if we accept his claim that the story is authentic [though undoubtedly adapted]; he reports that these were common, 7.6, 51–52, 55). See further comment and sources below.

32. Praeder, “Acts 27:1–28:16,” 694–95.

33. Aune, Environment, 129, citing Ael. Arist. Or. 48.65–68.

34. Aune, Environment, 129.

35. Of course, novels set in the real world also lacked these, but Luke’s voyage approximates known weather conditions at various locations (see discussion ad loc. below) in ways that novels would not care to research, if the novelists could even collect such information (certainly not by voyaging under such conditions!).

36. Johnson, Acts, 451, cites, for the fidelity of friendship, Lucian Tox. 19–20; for the efficacy of prayer, y. Ber. 9:1.

37. Johnson, Acts, 451, cites Diog. Laert. 2.71; also a novelistic adaptation of this pattern in Lucian Peregr. 43–44. See further comment on Acts 27:21–26, with citations from a range of genres.

38. Noted, e.g., by Bruce, Commentary, 498; idem, Acts1, 451; also Pervo, Acts, 645 (who, like Bruce, also notes the Odyssey); extensive discussion in Börstinghaus, Sturmfahrt, 183–209 (also noting Ps 107, pp. 209–24; Ezek 27, on 224–28; and extrabiblical sources). Jonah was one of the most popular figures in later Christian art, though especially because of the comparison with Jesus (see discussion in Ferguson, “Jonah”).

39. The predication of aspects of the brief Jonah story on the more adventuresome Greek Argonautica (Hamel, “Argo to Nineveh”) is chronologically problematic, and sea-travel lore was widespread.

40. Johnson, Acts, 451, cites Thucyd. 2.6.26; 6.20.104; 8.24.31, 34; Hdt. 3.138; 7.188; Talbert, Acts, 212, cites Tac. Ann. 2.23–24. See also Vell. Paterc. 1.1.2 (albeit legendary); 2.79.3–4; Jos. War 3.425, 530; Tac. Ann. 15.18 (two hundred ships destroyed by a storm in the harbor), 46.

41. Johnson, Acts, 451, cites Jos. Life 15; Diog. Laert. 7.3; Ael. Arist. Sacr. 2.11–12, 65–67; 4.35–37. See also Suet. Jul. 25.2; Claud. 17.2; Nero 40.3. A liar’s appeal to the dangers of the sea, however, can sound implausible (Jos. Ant. 17.335).

42. Finding parallels in accounts of genuine sea voyages, see also Schnabel, “Reading Acts,” 254–55, who notes the fuller argument in Reiser, “Charakter,” 53–61, and Lucian Navigium 7–9; Ael. Arist. Sacred Tales 2.65–68; 4.32–36; Arrian Peripl. 4.1–5.2; and esp. Plutarch Dion 25.1–5.

43. Toner, Culture, 48. Not all will accept Toner’s basis in extrapolations from oracular responses, but these at least inform us that dangers were encountered often.

44. E.g., Suet. Terence 5 (one report); Jul. 89; Aug. 27.4; Philost. Vit. soph. 1.10.494 (Protagoras). This happens in modern times in this region as well (e.g., Cavarnos, St. Methodia, 61).

45. Alciph. Fish. 3 (Glaucus to Galateia), 1.3, esp. ¶3. For fatal sea storms, see also, e.g., Philost. Hrk. 31.6; various dangers, Libanius Thesis 1.28; Anecdote 3.25; Comparison 4.12–13; Narration 13.

46. Aelian Farmers 18 (Demylus to Blepsias); Libanius Comparison 4.1, 3; for the risks of seeking profit by sea trade, see also Sen. Y. Nat. Q. 4A.pref. 7. Some conceded the danger but argued that it was worth the risk (Libanius Thesis 3.7).

47. Athenaeus Deipn. 8.350b (trans. C. B. Gulick, LCL, 4:85); cf. preference for remaining on land in Eurip. Philoctetes frg. 789a (= 793 N).

48. Parker, “Shipwrecks”; cf. Konen, “Shipwrecks.” Shipwrecks were common enough for shipwreck epitaphs to constitute a specific category of epigrams (see Di Nino, “Posidippus’ Shipwrecks”).

49. Also observed by Ambrosiaster Commentary on Paul’s Epistles (Vogels, 293; Bray, Corinthians, 298).

50. Johnson, Acts, 450, noting that Luke includes but compresses these motifs. On the danger of storms at sea, see, e.g., Ovid Metam. 11.474–569 (ending in one’s death); Sen. Y. Ep. Lucil. 53.1–5; Philost. Hrk. 1.2; for the difficulties of sea travel, e.g., Sen. Y. Ep. Lucil. 57.1; and its dangers in 2 Cor 11:25–26; hypothetical shipwrecks in declamations, e.g., Quint. Decl. 259 intro.; 259.8.

51. Praeder, “Acts 27:1–28:16,” 694. Cf. also Peterson, Acts, 686.

52. Praeder, “Acts 27:1–28:16,” 694–95.

53. Ibid., 693.

54. Ibid., 694 (with many examples of each of these elements). Praeder thinks that Luke composed with literary models in mind and possibly some tradition but that he does not follow “the epic model for storm scenes” (694). She thinks that Luke’s rhetorical training helps him fill in here, as in the speeches (695). Elements such as lightning were known to occur during some sea storms (Libanius Anecdote 3.25).

55. See Witherington, Acts, 764–65 (following Praeder, “Acts 27:1–28:16,” 689).

56. Cf. the same theme in a mosaic in Whitehouse, “Shipwreck on Nile.”

57. Cf. Johnson, Acts, 457 (though his added point that the details are not necessary for the parallels is easily answered whether the narrative is novelistic or historical).

58. Of course, apart from the storm, the entire stay in Malta (including details such as Luke’s naming of Publius) might be presumed fictitious, but the same sort of skepticism with regard to other ancient historical works would leave little of ancient history accessible (especially since this section purports to derive from an eyewitness himself).

59. See Dunn, Acts, 335.

60. Cf. OT patriarchal narratives, regarded by most early Jews and Christians as historical; in these God surmounted obstacles to his promise of seed, such as repeated challenges to the matriarchs’ chastity (Gen 12:15–20; 20:2–18; 26:7–11) or their infertility (21:7; 25:21; 30:22) and also the patriarchs’ and matriarchs’ putative ages (17:17; 21:5; less difficult, cf. 25:20, 26).

61. Johnson, Acts, 456 (though he rejects [457] skepticism about its core). Again, histories did not flesh out most storm scenes to this extent, but neither did most novels. But eyewitness material was often more detailed.

62. See, e.g., Gaventa, Acts, 349.

63. E.g., when retelling my wife’s or my stories (as in one forthcoming book), I often prefer to focus on the true adventures of chief interest to our audience, even though some less exciting elements of the story are naturally of greater personal importance to my wife and myself.

64. Dunn, Acts, 335; cf. idem, Beginning, 998. For nautical terminology, see, e.g., Robertson, Luke, 206ff., though a study of these terms in the TLG today would undoubtedly change commentators’ understanding of numerous details. Moreover, whereas most elements of Acts 21–28 relate directly to the rejection in Jerusalem that impels Paul to Rome, this voyage reports details that could have been used elsewhere in the book if their sole purpose was dramatic effect.

65. Hemer, Acts in History, 329. On Luke’s details and their correspondence with extrinsic sources, see esp. and more recently Reynier, Recherches, an important work (also noting the emphasis that Acts’ structure gives to this final voyage).

66. Nock, Essays, 823 (citing also several Acts scholars agreeing with his position).

67. Witherington, Acts, 755–56, emphasizing Hellenistic αὐτοψία. Luke could offer this only toward the end of his work, where he participated and can compensate for the less detailed descriptions of earlier parts of the book (ibid., 756).

68. Cf., e.g., Dion. Hal. Lysias 7; Fronto Ad Ant. imp. 2.6.4–15 (on Sallust).

69. With Witherington, Acts, 757, Luke keeps the story “germane to the plot”—namely, the gospel’s progress from Jerusalem to Rome—while holding the reader’s interest along the way.

70. Cf., e.g., the attention to details in Gen 22:1–19 (in contrast with the summary action of much of the surrounding narrative), meant to heighten pathos.

71. Robbins, “We-Passages and Sea Voyages”; idem, “Land and Sea.” Worse, MacDonald, “Shipwrecks,” thinks that Luke uses the third person to indicate the real world and the first to narrate folktales. Cf. discussion of various positions in Seul, Rettung, 340–46 (addressing arguments for “we” as indicating a written source), 347–48 (arguments treating the voyage reports as integral parts of the itinerary), 349–51 (treating the historical reliability of the voyage reports); he concludes that Luke himself inserted the “we” (527).

72. E.g., Praeder, “First Person Narration,” 210–14; Rapske, “Travel and Trade,” 1249; Hemer, “First Person Narrative”; idem, Acts in History, 317–19; Witherington, Acts, 640–41; Porter, Paul in Acts, 20–24. Robbins does note, however, supporters (Robbins, Beyond, 83–84) and cites Eduard Norden’s work before his own (64).

73. Keener, Acts, 3:2350–74.

74. Porter, “‘We’ Passages,” 554.

75. Ibid., 552.

76. See esp. Robbins, Beyond, 82–113.

77. Ibid., 84–85.

78. See, e.g., Praeder, “First Person Narration,” 216.

79. Robbins, Beyond, 104.

80. Ibid. Plümacher, Geschichte, 85–108, notes that Luke’s use of “we” would appeal to historians’ valuing direct knowledge (with sea voyages being important for this).

81. Porter, “‘We’ Passages,” 557. Gnuse, “Vita apologetica,” rightly notes that Life is an apologetic biography, resembling Luke’s portrayal of Paul. But within this genre, Josephus normally exploits and adapts experiences that he did have instead of fabricating them.

82. See Praeder, “First Person Narration,” 215.

83. Ibid., 217–18. Thus, Praeder argues, ancient literary conventions shed no light on Luke’s use of first-person narration (218). Against the convention in ancient historiography in general, see Nock, Essays, 828 (widely cited).

84. With, e.g., Hemer, “First Person Narrative”; Dunn, Acts, 335. Given the many volumes of ancient historiography surviving, I do not rule out the possibility of any exceptions; but the rule normally observed among ancient histories is certainly that the writer uses the first person within the narrative only when present (and historical writers normally were not distinct from narrators). See full discussion of the meaning of “we” at Acts 16:10 (Keener, Acts, 3:2350–74, esp. 2361–62, 2367–69, 2371–73).

85. Porter, “‘We’ Passages,” 557.

86. Hemer, Acts in History, 319.

87. Burkitt, Sources, 16.

88. For many events in antiquity, many of our sources may ultimately depend on a single source, so accepting in any source only the events that can be verified “independently” would leave very little room for textually based historical reconstruction. Of course, the biases of subsequent generations often determine what is preserved, though even the dictum that history is always written by the winners is overstated (cf., e.g., Xenophon, Thucydides, and Josephus).

89. Smith, Voyage, passim (first published in 1848; cited already by Lightfoot, Acts, 59, 215, 262, 277, 306, yet still in use in recent studies of Mediterranean navigation, such as Davis, “Navigation,” e.g., 228, 338). Bruce, Documents, 89–90, also cites Holtzmann, Synoptiker-Apostelgeschichte, 421. Smith’s experiences will not provide exact figures for the voyage depicted in this chapter, but they do offer approximations close enough to dismiss the view that the voyage so depicted was coincidentally composed by imagination.

90. Barrett, Acts, 1178 (in view of Smith’s work).

91. Johnson, Acts, 451 (citing Thucyd. 8.24.34; Ael. Arist. Sacr. 2.68, on the timing fitting storms); Hemer, “First Person Narrative.”

92. Hemer, Acts in History, 331; see comment on Acts 27:16.

93. Hemer, Acts in History, 329. Gilchrist, “Shipwreck,” argues that Luke’s account stems from an eyewitness (including the “we” material and the location where the ship ran aground).

94. Most often cited are Dibelius, Studies in Acts, 107, 204–5, 213–14; Haenchen, Acts, 709; Schneider, Apostelgeschichte, 2:387; Conzelmann, Acts, 216–21; Conzelmann and Lindemann, Interpreting, 241. Others rightly regard this solution as implausible (e.g., Jervell, Apostelgeschichte, 612–14; followed by Schnabel, “Reading Acts,” 255–56n35).

95. Witherington, Acts, 757 (also complaining that removing Paul material sometimes interrupts larger sentences, e.g., Acts 27:43–44).

96. See also Witherington, Acts, 757–58.

97. Cf. Haenchen, Acts, 709–11. For challenges of Haenchen’s skepticism, see, e.g., Hemer, Acts in History, 138–39n110.

98. See, e.g., Porter, Paul in Acts, 26; Witherington, Acts, 757–58; Barrett, Acts, 1178–80. Barrett, Acts, 1180, thinks that Paul and his companions probably experienced the storm, with some details being added from traditional shipwreck stories (though we might well wonder whether traditional shipwreck stories included such details because they often accompanied shipwrecks). One creative and extensively argued approach that differs from most scholars is that of Seul, Rettung: he accepts 27:1–8 and 28:11–16 as authentic reports of Paul’s journey to Rome but Paul’s captivity and the “we” material as Luke’s creation. I have already argued extensively, however, for Paul’s Roman custody before he reached Rome.

99. Hanson, “Journey of Nikias,” 318 (as summarized in Hemer, Acts in History, 330).

100. Hanson, “Journey of Nikias,” 319 (as summarized in Hemer, Acts in History, 330).

101. See esp. Tannehill, Acts, 330–33 (with Paul intervening in the drama at strategic moments, 331–33). For literary variation in terminology for sailing, see Parsons, Acts, 353.

102. That is, such an inconsistent suspicion should itself be methodologically suspect, as I maintain throughout this commentary.

103. Tannehill, Acts, 338–39, sees Luke applying it to political salvation, requiring that the voice of Christians like Paul be heeded. Cf. Spangenberg and Gwalther in Chung-Kim and Hains, Acts, 350.

104. Johnson, Acts, 458. Stilling storms by prayer appears in Jewish sources (Theissen, Miracle Stories, 65, citing Jonah 1:14; b. B. Meṣiʿa 59b; y. Ber. 9:1; see also Ps 107:28–29). For nature miracle reports in more recent times, see, e.g., Yung, “Integrity,” 174; Eskridge, Family, 32, 80–81; McGee, “Regions Beyond,” 70; idem, “Miracles,” 253; Ising, Blumhardt, 215; Heim, Transformation, 195–98; Koschorke, Ludwig, and Delgado, History, 223–24; Sanneh, West African Christianity, 181–83; Kinnear, Tide, 60–62, 92–96; Anderson, Pelendo, 43–47; Peckham, Sounds, 106–7, 113, 225; Koch, Revival, 143–44, 155–58, 208–17; idem, Gifts, 106–7; idem, Zulus, 151, 158, 238, 243, 278, 288–96; Crawford, Miracles, 75; Tari, Wind, 24–25, 32–33, 44–49, 78–84, 100–101; idem, Breeze, 6, 16–17, 42–43, 85, 91, 97–98, 117–18, 154–56; Wiyono, “Timor Revival,” 285–86; Laurentin, Miracles, 4–5, 49, 95–97, 110–12; Wilson, “Miracle Events,” 276–77; Crump, Knocking, 13; Dunkerley, Healing Evangelism, 112; Castleberry, “Impact,” 111–12; King, Mountains, 16, 20, 38, 42, 46; Chavda, Miracle, 9–10, 128–29; Numbere, Vision, 130, 206–7, 213, 266; Pytches, Come, 108–9; Khai, “Pentecostalism,” 268–69; Bush and Pegues, Move, 54–55, 59, 64, 192; McClenon, Events, 144; see Keener, Miracles, 579–99.

105. Cf. Johnson, Acts, 459. The assumption that the centurion evokes memory of the Aeneid specifically (cf. Shea, “Pieces of Epic”), rather than Rome in general, is excessive, despite parallels with Virgil elsewhere.

106. Trans. Hicks, LCL, 1:89.

107. Aune, Environment, 130. For divine vindication here, see also Talbert and Hayes, “Theology of Sea Storms”; Talbert, Mediterranean Milieu, 175–95 (comparing Jesus’s facing the storm in Luke 8:22–25). For impiety leading to a fleet’s destruction, see, e.g., Val. Max. 1.1.ext. 1; see further comment at Acts 28:4. Cf. Satan accusing people during dangerous times, such as sea travel, Eccl. Rab. 3:2, §2.

108. See Ladouceur, “Shipwreck and Pollution,” pointing to Andocides Myst. 137–39 (which he regards as more explicit than Antiph. Her. 82–83).

109. See Quesnel, “Naufrage”; Walaskay, Came to Rome, 60.

110. Talbert, Acts, 212–13, lists (1) those with divine causes and outcomes (Jonah 1:3–17; Hom. Od. 4.499–511; 5.291–453; Aeschylus Ag. 647–66; Hdt. 7.188–92; Eurip. Tro. 77–86; Iph. Taur. 1391–1489; Ap. Rhod. 2.1093–1121; Virg. Aen. 1.122–252; Sen. Y. Ag. 456–578; Statius Theb. 5.360–421; Val. Flac. 1.614–58; Sil. It. 17.244–90; Char. Chaer. 3.3); (2) those with divine causes but outcomes reflecting human choices (Eurip. Hel. 400–413; Plaut. Rud. 62–78); (3) those with natural causes but divine outcomes (Herpyllis; Virg. Aen. 3.253–75; Ovid Tristia 1.2.1–110; Jos. Life 13–16; Ael. Arist. Sacr. 2.12–14; Lucian Posts 1–2; Ship 7–9; Ach. Tat. 1.1; 3.1–5; Test. Naph. 6:1–10); (4) those with natural causes and natural (or human) outcomes (Ap. Rhod. 4.1228–47; Polyb. 1.37; Nin. Rom. C; Virg. Aen. 5.14–43; Ovid Metam. 11.472–574; Phaedrus 4.23; Lucan C.W. 5.560–677; 9.319–47; Petron. Sat. 114; Jos. War 1.279–80; Quint. Curt. 4.3.16–18; Dio Chrys. Or. 7.2–7; Tac. Ann. 2.23–24; Ael. Arist. Sacr. 2.64–68; Lucian Tox. 19–21; True Story 1.5–6; 2.47; Xen. Eph. Anthia 2.11; 3.2, 12; Apoll. K. Tyre 11–12; Heliod. Eth. 1.22; 5.27).

111. So rightly Talbert, Acts, 215.

112. Hence the twin figures of Isis on her namesake ship in Lucian Ship 5 (Casson, Travel, 159).

113. Cf. 1 En. 97:8–10; Exod. Rab. 52:3; see further comment on God’s sovereignty in the excursus at Acts 2:23 (Keener, Acts, 1:933–38).

114. E.g., Sen. Y. Ep. Lucil. 70.2–4; 96.5; Philo Flight 27; cf. figurative storms in, e.g., 1QHa III, 8; XV, 7–8.

115. E.g., Sen. Y. Ben. 7.1.3 (using Demetrius the Cynic; see Grant, Paul, 49); Max. Tyre 11.10–11; 25.5; Philost. Vit. Apoll. 3.35; 4.9; Philo Agr. 89; cf. Sen. Y. Ep. Lucil. 104.27; Sir 33:2 [36:2]; 4 Macc 15:32. Storms also could represent war (Heracl. Hom. Prob. 5.3–4) or tyranny (5.5–6, 8).

116. E.g., Sen. Y. Ep. Lucil. 88.7; Max. Tyre 7.5; 10.7; 11.6; 21.8.

117. E.g., Xen. Anab. 5.8.20; Ovid Pont. 1.5.39; Dio Chrys. Or. 40.12; Plut. Themist. 2.6; Or. Delphi 21, Mor. 404E (one depiction of inspiration); Table 1.4.3, Mor. 622B (drinking parties facing shipwreck); Apul. Flor. 23.1–5 (for health); Philost. Hrk. 34.5 (playing on sea voyage imagery from the Odyssey); 53.2–3 (but the dialogue partner is a ship captain); Wis 5:10; Test. Job 18:7; storms in Vell. Paterc. 2.72.5; Quint. Decl. 321.14.

118. E.g., Dio Chrys. Or. 34.16, 32; Men. Rhet. 2.3, 379.28–29; cf. Dio Chrys. Or. 77/78.7.

119. E.g., Soph. Antig. 993–94; Xen. Mem. 1.2.9; Cic. Sest. 9.20; Inv. 1.3.4; Off. 1.22.77; military leaders in Xen. Anab. 5.8.20; Quint. Curt. 5.9.3; kings in Dio Chrys. Or. 1.29; Israel’s leaders (such as Moses, Joshua, and Samuel) in Pesiq. Rab. 47:4.

120. E.g., Sen. Y. Ep. Lucil. 108.37 (cf. 85.35–37; comments by Lang, “Self,” 172); Mus. Ruf. 2, p. 36.29–32; 5, p. 50.10–14; 16, p. 104.7; Max. Tyre 15.2, 8; 16.3; 30.1–2; a Stoic argues that philosophers make the best pilots and navigators for the state (Lucian Hermot. 29).

121. E.g., Dio Chrys. Or. 12.38; Pliny Ep. 9.26.4.

122. Plut. Plat. Q. 9.1, Mor. 1008A; Max. Tyre 13.7; Philo Cher. 36; 4 Macc 7:1; cf. the soul in Iambl. Soul 3.16, §371; 6.33, §382.

123. Max. Tyre 4.9; Let. Aris. 251; Philo Creation 46. Lucian Indictment 2 also compares Zeus with a κυβερνήτης; cf. Pindar Pyth. 5.122–23; the first god in Dio Chrys. Or. 40.36. Noting the religious uses of κυβέρνησις, Roberts, “Seers,” views it in 1 Cor 12:28 as a subtype of prophecy.

124. Pliny Ep. 6.23.10; Fronto Ad Ant. imp. 1.2.3.

125. Dion. Hal. Ant. rom. 11.9.1. Medieval sources continued the use of a ship as an allegory for the state (Evans, Wycliffe, 234); for the church, see Spangenberg in Chung-Kim and Hains, Acts, 358.

126. Cic. Mil. 2.5 (trans. Watts, LCL, 14:11); cf. Dio Chrys. Or. 34.37; other trials to the state in Dion. Hal. Ant. rom. 11.9.1. Cf. the shipwreck of the state in Cic. Sest. 6.15.

127. Cf. also the importance of the concord of κυβερνήτης and sailors as an illustration for the state (Dio Chrys. Or. 39.6).

128. Val. Max. 3.6.praef. (naufragia). Independently, Pervo, Acts, 649–51, cites examples of ancient nautical symbolism; he treats them as more relevant to Acts 27 than most scholars (including myself) think plausible (most concrete, lengthy narratives such as Acts 27 made only limited use of symbolism). But his symbolic link with Jesus’s passion (648–53; complaining about Luke’s historiography, idem, “Dying”) does make sense; many commentators do see Acts 27 as parallel to Jesus’s passion in the Gospel (see Wright, People of God, 375; Goulder, Type and History, 61; Horton, Death, 56–59 [noting, e.g., Acts 27:20 with Luke 23:44–45 and citing as still more extensive Radl, Paulus, 227–49]; brief discussion in Keener, Acts, 1:560–61, 565). At the same time, Luke narrates neither Paul’s literal death nor (obviously) his raising (cf. discussion in Schnabel, “Reading Acts,” 274–75, against the symbolic reading). Acts 28 is not easily construed as resurrection and proves much briefer than Luke 24. Where parallelism occurs in ancient sources, it need not imply lack of historical information; see discussion in Keener, Acts, 1:564–74.

129. Keener, “Apology”; idem, Acts, 1:223–24, 441–50.

130. This is not to rule out any value in personal fulfillment (some NT writers certainly emphasize personal transformation at least) but to say that Luke, like most other NT writers, would find a self-focus utterly astonishing as the priority for people who call Christ their “Lord.” His narrative is, of course, about the spread of the gospel, and so he tells us about private aspects of spiritual formation only a bit more than he tells us about the apostles’ diet (though he undoubtedly takes for granted the necessity of both).

131. God does not stop the contrary winds (Chrys. Hom. Acts 53); escaping the court, Paul faces storm and shipwreck (John Chrysostom in Cat. Act. 27.4–5 [Martin, Acts, 300]).

132. Western readers for whom Hume’s definition of miracles as violations of nature obtains might balk, but most believers in God’s activity would see God’s work in preserving 276 people in an ancient shipwreck even without the stilling of a storm.

133. See Campbell, “Centurio,” 127; idem, Army, 47. Soldiers borrowed from their original unit could be returned to it after fulfilling their assignment (cf. Campbell, “Equites,” 5, for temporary use in elite units).

134. See, e.g., Pliny Ep. 10.21.1 (ten soldiers); 10.27–28 (six additional soldiers); 10.77.1 (a legionary centurion; but this is exceptional, 10.78.1–2). A special assignment could include one centurion, two horsemen, and ten elite soldiers (10.21.1). For mere guard duty, however, as few soldiers as possible would be used (10.19.1–2; 10.20.1–2).

135. Longenecker, Acts, 353–54 (citing, for their date under Trajan, Aurelius Victor Liber de Caesaribus 13.5–6); Witherington, Acts, 760.

136. Longenecker, Acts, 354.

137. Thompson, “Military,” 995.

138. Rapske, Custody, 269. Auxiliary recruits might take a Roman name when enlisting, but at retirement they took the emperor’s nomen (Jeffers, World, 203–4). But Julius is in active duty, not retired; Tiberius (whose name included “Julius”) died in 16 C.E.; Gaius Caligula (also Julius) died in 41. Pervo, Acts, 655, suggests that Luke’s “use of a single name is characteristic of popular literature”; this may often be correct, but in the East, even a more elite historian such as Josephus normally called mere centurions by single names: “Antonius” (War 3.333), “Arius” (Ant. 17.282; War 2.63, 71), “Capito” (War 2.298), “Fabius” and “Furius” (Ant. 14.69), “Gallus” (War 4.37), “Julian” (War 6.81), “Liberalius” (War 6.282), and “Priscus” (War 6.175). The double name in Ant. 19.307 appears in an official decree, not ordinary narrative.

139. Rapske, Custody, 270.

140. Hemer, Acts in History, 180.

141. Jeffers, World, 204, 206. Roman citizen soldiers used each other’s nomens “well into the first century” (206); regular use of cognomens in the army stems only from the time of Claudius, much later than in the general population (202–3).

142. Southern, Army, 143.

143. Ibid., 130.

144. Ibid.

145. Campbell, personal correspondence, June 19, 2006.

146. Le Bohec, “Ensigns,” 993–95.

147. On these, see Stevenson, “Army,” 218–28.

148. See Rapske, Custody, 268–69.

149. For the Legio II Augusta, see Campbell, “Legio,” 363 (noting its uses in Europe, e.g., from Tac. Hist. 3.44); and for the Legio VIII Augusta, 366 (used in the Balkans and Moesia and helping Vespasian in 69 C.E.).

150. Le Bohec, “Ensigns,” 993–94.

151. Campbell, “Auxilia,” 420.

152. E.g., Bruce, Commentary, 500; Conzelmann, Acts, 215; Johnson, Acts, 445; Witherington, Acts, 758; Dunn, Acts, 337.

153. E.g., Bruce, Commentary, 500n9; Munck, Acts, 249; Conzelmann, Acts, 215; Johnson, Acts, 445; Witherington, Acts, 758; Rapske, Custody, 269. Rabbi Isaac (second century C.E.) spoke of an Augustan legion (Gen. Rab. 94:9).

154. Rapske, Custody, 269.

155. Cf. Johnson, Acts, 445; Witherington, Acts, 758 (not preferring this explanation).

156. Even if the term referred to an “Augustan cohort,” this could be relevant only if these were Roman troops at Agrippa I’s disposal; Agrippa died in 44 C.E., and Julius is a Roman under the governor’s authority.

157. Rapske, Custody, 9, 28 (citing Dig. 48.3.12, 14; 48.22.7.1; and esp. 48.3.1).

158. Rapske, Custody, 29–30.

159. Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 397; followed by Witherington, Acts, 758n17 (via Keener, Background Commentary, 400). On the venationes, see, e.g., Suet. Claud. 34.1–2; Nero 12.1; further comment at Acts 19:29.

160. Rapske, Custody, 279–80; he suggests the possibility that women could be among the prisoners here (281). We cannot be sure, since we do not know how many prisoners are involved, and women were capital prisoners less often than men.

161. The later Ignatius, seeking martyrdom, was an exception.

162. Hengel, “Geography of Palestine,” 77 (though, curiously, he does believe that Luke accompanied Paul to Rome, p. 78).

163. See Luke 1:3. Because Luke’s geographic knowledge is most precise in Jerusalem and along the coast, we may suspect that he traveled in these areas, which makes the best sense for a Greek-speaking Gentile accustomed to cities and coastal areas. Informants could supply his other information without his travel to each location. But he probably spent more time, and gathered more information from older disciples, in Caesarea.

164. Dunn, Acts, 337, suggests that he was simply occupied with other business, while remaining on hand.

165. Others also note these texts (Conzelmann, Acts, 215; Hemer, Acts in History, 188; Dunn, Acts, 337).

166. So Rapske, Custody, 372–73.

167. Aristarchus was also apparently Jewish; see Col 4:10–11.

168. On the latter point, cf. Pliny Ep. 6.5.1–2.

169. Casson, Mariners, 193. The six hundred passengers on Josephus’s ship slept on deck, perhaps because it was a grain ship (Hirschfeld, “Ship of Paul,” 28).

170. Ramsay, Letters, 33; idem, Traveller and Citizen, 316.

171. See also Rapske, Custody, 374, though he is more optimistic that the servants might have been allowed to accompany the senator.

172. With Rapske, Custody, 378. Shame was associated with custody (298), and so they valued Paul more than status.

173. If the narrator was a physician (Col 4:14), he might be allowed to accompany Paul if the latter suffered any chronic ailments (of which Acts would hardly inform us; but cf. Gal 4:13); a physician would have been welcome on board, in any event (cf., e.g., the scalpels found in a shipwreck, likely indicating a doctor who was a passenger, Casson, Mariners, 173).

174. See Dunn, Acts, 337.

175. Casson, Mariners, 192–93 (noting [193] that ships did provide “water, which was stored in a large wooden tank in the hold”); Adkins and Adkins, Life, 188; Branch and Schoville, “Ships,” 195. The hold included “a large wooden tank” for drinking water (Adkins and Adkins, Life, 188); after any length of time, however, drinking water aboard the ship would not be fresh (Libanius Comparison 4.10). Apparently most people slept on deck (Libanius Maxim 1.13; 2.8), a practice perhaps deterred later in this voyage by the storm (even before, some slept in the hold, Maxim 1.13).

176. Rapske, Custody, 272. On requisition to transport persons, see esp. Llewelyn, Documents, 7:58–92, §4 (“The Provision of Transport for Persons”); governors had to check abuses in this system (80–85).

177. Rapske, Custody, 273. A general could impress horses (Val. Max. 7.3.3; cf. 1 Sam 11:7).

178. To supplement what tax revenues could not cover, soldiers could requisition what they needed (Lewis, Life, 172–73; Dig. 50.4.18.4; 50.5.10.2–3; 50.5.11; Cod. theod. 8 passim in Rapske, “Travel and Shipwreck,” 14; Sall. Jug. 75.4; cf. Lintott, Romans, 8–9; the tax in D’Andrea, “Hospitium militum”) and require local inhabitants to supply forced labor (Mark 15:1). (On the Roman administration’s use of local transport services, see, e.g., the kanon in Horsley, Documents, 1:36–45; most fully, Llewelyn, Documents, 7:58–92.) Soldiers were known to sometimes abuse this privilege, often annoying the senate as well as local residents (Livy 43.7.11; 43.8.1–10; Apul. Metam. 9.39; Hdn. 2.3.4; 2.5.1; Sherk, Empire, 89, 136 [citing P.Lond. 3.1171; IGLS 5.1998 = SEG 17.755]; PSI 446; Jones, Empire, 197; Llewelyn, Documents, 7:80–85; cf. P.Hal. 1.166–85); later rabbis told of Romans forcing Jews to carry burdens on the Sabbath (y. Ḥag. 2:1, §8). I borrow this information from Keener, Matthew, 199 (on Matt 5:41). Requisition for a few travelers was not comparable to securing supplies for a legion, the feeding of which could require the equivalent of an acre of produce every week (Southern, Army, 220–21).

179. Rapske, “Prison,” 829.

180. Stambaugh and Balch, Environment, 39.

181. Rapske, Custody, 223–24 (noting that this was also true of prisoners in general; see comment on Acts 24:23; and also suggesting that some ships may have provided catering for people of means); Casson, Mariners, 193 (for passengers in general).

182. Casson, Mariners, 175. The seventh-century C.E. ship in question was about “70 feet (20.52 meters) long and 17 feet (5.22 meters)” across; the cooking area on this ship was “11 feet by 4 feet and 6 feet high, covered by a tiled roof; it housed an ample firebox of tiles surmounted by an iron grill.” If I understand Casson correctly, the cooking area would thus take up more than 15 percent of the deck’s surface on that ship.

183. Davis, “Navigation,” 204 (following Swiny and Katzev, “Shipwreck,” 345), noting such items as “plates, bowls, saucers, drinking cups and wooden spoons.”

184. Rapske, Custody, 219.

185. McRay, Archaeology, 140 (also noting [140, 142] massive vaults for trade there; see comment on Acts 12:19–20).

186. Such monuments were common in ancient harbors; see Höckmann, “Harbours,” 1138.

187. Agreeing with Haenchen, Acts, 698.

188. The Gulf of Adramyttium was also near Ida (Strabo 13.1.6).

189. Hemer, “Alexandria Troas,” 92 (citing Leaf’s work on Strabo 13.1.65).

190. Mitchell, “Archaeology,” 142–43. On Adramyttium, see further Schnabel, Mission, 1147, and resources that he cites.

191. Witherington, Acts, 759; Branch and Schoville, “Ships,” 195.

192. Cary and Haarhoff, Life, 135. Private coastal traders owned such vessels (known as orariae naves, Rapske, Custody, 375).

193. Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 380 (noting Dio Chrys. Or. 34.36).

194. Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 380.

195. Hemer, Acts in History, 133. For the proximity of Lycia to Rhodes, see, e.g., Menander Aspis 37, 79–80; for their historic relationship, see comment on Acts 21:1.

196. Marshall, Acts, 404. Hirschfeld, “Ship of Paul,” 28, points out that “texts and representations indicate grain was loaded or unloaded by means of sacks carried by porters.”

197. Stoics felt that nature provided a sense of common humanity among people (Cic. Fin. 3.19.63). If some scholars argue that Luke writes an apologetic for Rome (so Walaskay), an apologetic for some good in non-Christians (against an apocalyptic dualism such as one might construe from some Johannine language) is not impossible (though reconstructing a particular redactional background for it would be speculative).

198. Men. Rhet. 2.11, 420.22; see fuller discussion at Acts 28:2.

199. Dio Chrys. Or. 40.15; 45.2–3; Men. Rhet. 2.1–2, 375.10; 2.13, 423.7; cf. Mus. Ruf. 8, p. 66.11 (on the ideal); Dio Chrys. Or. 4.24–25 (on ideal rulers); Paus. 1.23.1 (rulers).

200. With, e.g., Barrett, Acts, 1183. Spencer, Acts, 232, portrays the centurion as Paul’s patron (undoubtedly in the broadest sense). For noble models of Romans, see, e.g., Jos. Ant. 18.282, 305.

201. With, e.g., Witherington, Acts, 759; more generally in Acts, Lentz, Luke’s Portrait.

202. A public slave, sent to kill a renowned old man, refused to do so (Val. Max. 2.10.6).

203. Bruce, Acts1, 453, notes its “double harbour” from Ach. Tat. 1.1. Sometimes Alexandrian ships attempting to move north toward Cyprus could also be driven east toward Sidon by a strong wind from the west (Davis, “Navigation,” 218, citing the Isis in Lucian Ship 7).

204. Marshall, Acts, 404; cf. Bruce, Commentary, 453; Conzelmann, Acts, 215. Progress was normally very slow on a ship’s first day from Alexandria (Davis, “Navigation,” 216), but those sailing the open sea could often reach Cyprus after several days (218).

205. Fitzmyer, Acts, 770.

206. Hom. Il. 6.289–91; Strabo 1.2.33; 16.2.24. For astronomy and mathematics, see Strabo 16.2.24. For glass manufacture, see Pliny E. N.H. 5.17.76; also brief notice in Schoville, “Glass,” 212. In this period, glass had become a geographically wide industry, including in Jerusalem (Kahn, “Herodian Innovation”).

207. Khalifeh, “Sidon,” 40.

208. See Stern, “Diaspora,” 142 (citing Jos. Ant. 17.324; War 2.479).

209. Sarepta (Zarephath), which both Luke 4:26 and 1 Kgs 17:9–10 LXX specify, was also well known (Khalifeh, “Sarepta”).

210. Material from Mark (Mark 3:8) and Q (Matt 11:21–22).

211. Tyre, Sidon, and Aradus formed a three-city unity, hence Tripolis (Strabo 16.2.15); Tyre was less than 30 mi. to the south. Tyre and Sidon rivaled each other in fame and size (16.2.22).

212. Rightly emphasized here by Bock, Acts, 732, as significant in antiquity. On friendship in antiquity, see discussion at Acts 19:31; also Fitzgerald, Friendship; Gehrke, “Friendship”; Reibnitz, “Friendship”; Keener, “Friendship”; idem, John, 1004–15.

213. Cf., e.g., Hom. Il. 18.81–82; Plato Laws 8.837AB; Arist. E.E. 7.9.1, 1241b; Diog. Laert. 5.31; Iambl. V.P. 29.162; 30.167; Let. Aris. 228; Thom, “Equality”; Keener, “Friendship,” 382.

214. Witherington, Acts, 761.

215. Cf. esp. Epicureans, in Diog. Laert. 10.1.10; Culpepper, School, 101; Stowers, Letter Writing, 66; Meeks, Moral World, 57; Stambaugh and Balch, Environment, 143. See further discussion on friendship groups at Acts 2:44–45. Some, comparing 3 John 15, thus see “the friends” here as a title (Arrington, Acts, 255), although it could also mean “his friends” (cf. Malherbe, Social Aspects, 112).

216. An ideal among Pythagoreans, Jewish travelers, and others, which Luke portrays as widely realized among early Christians.

217. See more fully Rapske, “Prison,” 829; comment on Acts 24:23.

218. Winter, Welfare, 95.

219. See, e.g., Diod. Sic. 10.4.4–6; Val. Max. 2.6.11; 4.7 passim; Mus. Ruf. 7, p. 58.23; Epict. Diatr. 2.7.3; Keener, “Friendship,” 383–84.

220. They appear in historical works and even in novels (Char. Chaer. 1.11).

221. See White, “Meteorological Appraisal” (a former professional meteorologist, p. 407), supplying more details on weather patterns in Acts 27:5–26.

222. Casson, Mariners, 164, 196, 207; in ancient literature, see, e.g., Cic. Att. 5.12; Caesar C.W. 3.107; Pliny Ep. 10.15.1; 10.17A.1. Problems with winds here may foreshadow the narrative’s coming gale (Green, “Acts,” 766).

223. Toner, Culture, 48, reasoning from the proportion of oracular responses. Although such extrapolations are tenuous, they offer one of our few concrete ways of estimating at least order of magnitude. For fear of weather delays, cf. also Symm. Ep. 1.9.

224. Rapske, “Travel and Shipwreck,” 35. Many commentators mention “summer” winds here, but it is quite late in the season, since delays due to the winds have them leaving Crete in September or October (perhaps past Oct. 5; see comment on Acts 27:9).

225. Bruce, Acts1, 453; Hemer, Acts in History, 133; Witherington, Acts, 761. Most nautical sources here follow Smith, Voyage, 67–68; but some helpfully add Sailing Directions for the Mediterranean (U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office Nr 154A, 1942), 32–33 (Conzelmann, Acts, 215n5).

226. Cicero appreciated the “Etesian winds,” which moved ships and cooled the summer heat (Nat. d. 2.53.131).

227. Casson, Mariners, 196.

228. Ibid., 164.

229. Cf. Conzelmann, Acts, 215. Davis, “Navigation,” 78–81, notes that ships did not have to hug the coasts in eastern Mediterranean sailing, though he recognizes (78) that Luke’s ship did so. Alexandrian grain ships headed for Rome would often depend on diurnal, offshore winds when they lacked the rarer southeast wind, later called a khamsin (208).

230. Lake and Cadbury, Commentary, 327, noting that this Adramyttian ship may have also been coming north from Alexandria. (It was probably too small, however, to be a grain vessel headed for Rome; see Acts 27:6.)

231. United by one article because Luke views them from the standpoint of the voyage (a single coast) rather than provincially (Hemer, Acts in History, 133). For coasting along Lycia and Pamphylia, see also, e.g., Tac. Ann. 2.79. Some ancients thought the Pamphylians descended from Trojans (Strabo 14.4.1), including Herodotus (Strabo 14.4.3, citing Hdt. 7.91). On Pamphylia, see further Martini, “Pamphylia”; comment on Acts 13:13.

232. Hemer, Acts in History, 133; Bruce, Commentary, 502; idem, Acts1, 453. Mark Wilson (correspondence, Nov. 25, 2011) estimates a voyage of 657 mi. (1060 km.) from Caesarea to Myra.

233. So BDAG. Moulton and Milligan, Vocabulary, cite Philost. Imag. p. 365.1 (ed. Kayser) from Herwerden, Lexicon.

234. Bruce, Commentary, 502; idem, Acts1, 453; Conzelmann, Acts, 215; Hemer, Acts in History, 133. Dependence on offshore breezes was unreliable (Dio Chrys. Or. 34.37); Pliny E. N.H. 2.48.127 says that Etesian winds stopped at night. Davis, “Navigation,” 219, notes that during warmer seasons “onshore winds from the southerly quarter govern in the morning and afternoon” along the western leg of Asia Minor’s southern coast, “then shift offshore as northerlies in the late afternoon and evening. These conditions permitted sailing ships to push westward with the current on a prolonged series of tacks lasting from a half to a full day.” Yet shipwrecks along the rocky coast indicate the dangers here (see ibid., following Parker, Shipwrecks, map 1).

235. Casson, Mariners, 208; see also Le Cornu, Acts, 1450.

236. Witherington, Acts, 761n39; D. Williams, Acts, 428; Arnold, “Acts,” 469.

237. Pliny E. N.H. 2.47.123–24. He writes that south winds dominated the summer, after May 10 (2.47.123), especially from August 19 until about forty days before the autumnal equinox (2.47.124). Cf. waiting for these winds in summer in Galen Grief 23a (with 21).

238. Pliny E. N.H. 2.48.127.

239. Finegan, Apostles, 189.

240. See Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 380; also many commentaries, e.g., Bruce, Commentary, 502. On Myra, see further Fant and Reddish, Sites, 254–59. It is known for, among other things, its sea necropolis and river necropolis (Fant and Reddish, Sites, 257).

241. Bruce, Commentary, 502; Witherington, Acts, 761; Zimmermann, “Myra,” 412 (5 km.).

242. Mitchell, “Myra,” noting also that “a civic ferry service linked the city with Limyra to the east (OGI [OGIS] 572).”

243. Finegan, Apostles, 189.

244. Mitchell, “Myra.” The city is attested by the fifth century B.C.E. (Zimmermann, “Myra,” 412).

245. Harrill, “Asia Minor,” 132–33.

246. Ibid., 133.

247. Strabo 14.2.1. On the Cibyratic Convention, see Lightfoot, Colossians, 6–7.

248. On their proximity, see further Pliny E. N.H. 5.27.97; Quint. Curt. 3.1.1 (in Alexander’s day); Tac. Ann. 2.79. Sometime in the reign of Claudius (Levick, Roman Colonies, 163) or Nero (pp. 227–28) or Vespasian (74 C.E.; Zimmermann, “Lycia”), Pamphylia was administratively joined to Lycia; but either Nero or Galba may have rejoined Pamphylia to Galatia (so Levick, Roman Colonies, 164), and so it is difficult to determine the status of administrative links at the time of Paul’s voyage. For further treatment of Lycia, see, e.g., Pliny E. N.H. 5.28.100–102 (including on its cities and rivers; on nearby Caria, N.H. 5.29.103–9); briefly Carroll, “Lycia”; Zimmermann, “Lycia”; Schnabel, Mission, 1090–91; for summary of 1990s archaeological work on “the Cibyratis and Lycia,” see Mitchell, “Archaeology,” 164–70.

249. Pliny E. N.H. 5.23.94; 5.26.96.

250. For a near shipwreck there, see Jos. War 1.280; Ant. 14.377.

251. Hom. Il. 2.876–77; possibly a Lycia closer to Troy in 5.105, 173. Their heroes in the legendary Trojan War were remembered centuries later (Philost. Hrk. 39.1).

252. Some also claimed that Trojan Cilicians settled in Pamphylia (Strabo 14.4.1).

253. Bryce, “Lycia,” 386–87. This league continued in imperial times (Behrwald, “Lycian League”).

254. Mitchell, “Lycia,” 895; on its hellenization, see also Mitchell, Anatolia, 1:85. Greek supplanted the local language (on which see Melchert, “Lycian Language”) in the late fourth century B.C.E. (so Mitchell, “Lycia,” 895; it had vanished, at least in written form, by the second century B.C.E., idem, Anatolia, 1:172).

255. Bryce, “Lycia,” 386.

256. Mitchell, “Myra.”

257. See Stern, “Diaspora,” 148 (for Caria, 148–49). Lycia is also among the sample regions listed for divine judgment in Sib. Or. 3.514.

258. Luke might mention sailing past Cilicia for pathos, remembering Paul’s homeland (Acts 9:11, 30; 21:39), but far more likely includes it as part of his emphasis on geographic horizons of interest to his audience.

259. Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 385.

260. Foakes-Jackson, Acts, 229.

261. See Conzelmann, Acts, 215–16.

262. Hemer, Acts in History, 134.

263. Casson, Travel, 150. Of several different routes (the others including land travel), this was the swiftest (Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 377–78).

264. Keener, Acts, 3:2801–5.

265. Shelton, Romans, 133; see also Suet. Aug. 40.2; 42.1–3; Dio Cass. 62.18.5; discussion of urban poverty at Acts 3:2. Further on Rome’s grain trade, see Sallares, “Grain Trade,” 979–81.

266. Casson, Mariners, 207. Some estimate that only a small percentage of Rome’s population received the dole (Robinson, Criminal Law, 89).

267. Garnsey and Saller, Empire, 84 (including all sources); on the higher end, Kraybill, Cult and Commerce, 107; Eckey, Apostelgeschichte, 559. For a lower estimate of 150,000 tons, see Garnsey, “Grain,” 118; for 135,000, see Casson, Mariners, 207. For the transport of grain in the empire, see Llewelyn, Documents, 7:112–27, §6; for the grain fleet, Hirschfeld, “Ship of Paul.” Scheidel and Friesen, “Size,” estimate the gross income of the empire at fifty million tons of wheat annually (roughly twenty billion sesterces).

268. Garnsey and Saller, Empire, 98–99; cf. Bauckham, Climax, 362–63.

269. E.g., Appian Bell. civ. 5.8.67; Tac. Ann. 6.13; 12.43; Stambaugh, City, 143. Toner, Culture, 169, views protest, most frequently involving food, as a form of popular resistance against “elite misrule.” The population could also riot when deprived of theater entertainment (because of the strike of a low-paid actor; Dio Cass. 56.47.2).

270. Rapske, “Travel,” 25; cf. wheat and millet in Stambaugh, City, 144. See further discussion of wheat in Sallares, “Grain,” 966–67; on food access, see now Wilson, Hungry.

271. Stambaugh, City, 146 (citing Pliny E. N.H. 19.53).

272. E.g., Polyb. 9.11a.1–4; Max. Tyre 23.5. For the Egypt-Rome grain trade in the empire, see Charlesworth, Trade Routes, 16–34.

273. Lewis, Life, 165. Casson, Travel, 129, estimates 150,000 tons; but in idem, Mariners, 207, he estimates 135,000 tons. Most bread eaten in Rome used grain from Egypt or North Africa (198).

274. Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 378. Italy produced inadequate wheat and could not compete economically with imported wheat (378). For Libyan grain, see, e.g., Martial Epig. 13.12.

275. Garnsey, “Grain,” 120.

276. Robinson, Criminal Law, 89.

277. Tac. Ann. 2.59; Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 378.

278. For concern over Italy’s vulnerability based on dependence for outside food supplies, see Tac. Ann. 3.54.

279. Thus Helena sent her servants to buy grain there during famine in Judea (Jos. Ant. 20.51).

280. Cadbury, Acts in History, 28. Before Rome’s conquest of the East, Alexandria and Rhodes monopolized the grain trade (Casson, Mariners, 164).

281. E.g., P.Giss. 11 (118 C.E., a letter from an intra-Egypt transporter of government grain); P.Col. 1, recto 4, col. 1 (155 C.E., a receipt from the government grain trade).

282. Lewis, Life, 142 (noting also larger vessels’ square sails for moving north and oars for moving south against the current).

283. Ibid., 143.

284. Pharos was “close to the mainland, and forms with it a harbour with two mouths,” but Caesar devastated the island in his war with Alexandria (Strabo 17.1.6 [trans. Jones and Sterrett, LCL, 8:23]). It had the best weather in Egypt (17.1.7). The island lighthouse continued to stand during the empire (Pliny E. N.H. 5.34.128; Lucian Hist. 62).

285. Friedländer, Life, 1:352; Purcell, “Lighthouses.” This wonder appears only in some lists (Brodersen, “Seven Wonders”); “lamps portraying Isis of Pharos” celebrated this lighthouse (Frankfurter, Religion in Egypt, 54; on the lighthouse further, see also Davis, “Navigation,” 214–16). Alexandrian documents concerned with mercantile economies are naturally also concerned about ships (e.g., Tr. Shem 4:5; cf. 6:16; 11:6).

286. Friedländer, Life, 1:351.

287. During the empire, even Roman warships (which carried Roman soldiers) often used foreign crews (Burckhardt, “Epibatai”).

288. E.g., Bruce, Commentary, 503; more cautiously, Cadbury, Acts in History, 59 (Rome “controlled, if it did not actually own, the merchant marine”). On the Roman commercial marine, see Friedländer, Life, 1:189–90.

289. Cf. Dunn, Acts, 337–38 (hoping he could “combine his escort duty with that of supervising a grain shipment”).

290. Rapske, “Travel,” 26; Stambaugh, City, 145; Conzelmann, Acts, 217; Witherington, Acts, 760; Andreau, “Negotiator,” 613; on grain ships, see also Seul, Rettung, 46–49. The Alexandrian fleet continued to supply Rome until the completion of Constantinople in 330; after this time, Egypt supplied the eastern capital while North Africa fed those still in Rome (Casson, Mariners, 212).

291. Casson, Mariners, 212.

292. Ibid., 209. Thus, although Vespasian could have taken any naval vessel, he chose one from this fleet (Jos. War 7.21; cf. Philo Flacc. 26).

293. Rapske, “Travel,” 27; Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 379 (citing Sen. Y. Ep. 77.1); Hirschfeld, “Ship of Paul,” 26.

294. Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 379.

295. Lucian Ship 13–14, esp. 14.

296. The harvest ended in May; threshed grain would presumably remain ready to ship out at profit. On administrative delays, see, e.g., Hirschfeld, “Ship of Paul,” 29.

297. Davis, “Navigation,” 208, argues that most ships would have attempted a second trip in late summer, advancing “as far as possible before the fierce depressions of autumn began”; he offers “Paul’s ship and Lucian’s Isis” as examples that had to seek winter havens along the way.

298. Casson, Mariners, 210–11 (explicitly mentioning the example of Paul’s ship). That ships had a sort of insurance urged some to more risky behavior for profit (cf. Philost. Vit. Apoll. 4.32, accusing some of deliberately wrecking unprofitable ships).

299. Rapske, “Travel,” 28.

300. Pleket, “Elites and Business,” 137–38.

301. See MacMullen, Social Relations, 100.

302. Rapske, “Travel,” 36; Casson, Mariners, 207; cf. Davis, “Navigation,” 80.

303. Rapske, “Travel,” 36; Casson, Travel, 151–52; cf. Moore, “Life,” 229 (with shorter minimum and longer maximum estimates).

304. Riesner, Early Period, 315; Casson, Mariners, 208.

305. Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 381. The estimate to Myra seems low (perhaps from the west of Cyprus), and to Rhodes too long.

306. E.g., Casson, Travel, 151–52; Stambaugh and Balch, Environment, 39.

307. Rapske, “Travel,” 35–36; Casson, Mariners, 196.

308. Using the slightly differing figures of Friedländer, Life, 1:351; Casson, Travel, 158–59; the comparison with the Isis is old (e.g., Abbott, Acts, 247). Lucian’s figures are 120 cubits long and a maximum of 29 deep (Ship 5); but Lucian notes that this ship was exceptionally large, so that some came to Athens just to see it (Ship 1).

309. Friedländer, Life, 1:351. Estimates of the Isis’s cargo capacity range from 1,000 to 3,500 tons (Rapske, “Travel,” 31); Casson, Mariners, 209, probably most realistically suggests 1,000–1,300 tons.

310. See Fitzgerald, “Ship of Paul,” 32–38.

311. Rapske, “Travel,” 31.

312. Adkins and Adkins, Life, 188.

313. Ibid., 187, giving a range of 150 to 350 long tons.

314. Later 340 tons or fleets with ships each carrying at least 68 tons (Rapske, “Travel,” 31).

315. White, “Meteorological Appraisal,” 404.

316. Ibid.

317. With, e.g., Hemer, Acts in History, 134; Bruce, Commentary, 503 (following Smith, Voyage, 75–76); Dunn, Acts, 338.

318. A common port along the eastern part of the Alexandria-to-Rome route (Casson, Mariners, 208; Davis, “Navigation,” 220–22).

319. See Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 380. Literary itineraries often mention sailing by Cnidus in the vicinity of Cos and Rhodes (e.g., Xen. Eph. Anthia 1.11; cf. Pliny E. N.H. 5.36.133); Rhodes was apparently stronger than Cnidus (Polyb. 31.5.1–5).

320. Bruce, Commentary, 503–4.

321. Hanson, Acts, 244–45.

322. Strabo 14.2.15; cf. Bruce, Commentary, 503. Wilson (correspondence, Nov. 25, 2011) estimates that Cnidus was 130 mi. (210 km.) past Myra (Acts 27:5).

323. Bruce, Acts1, 454; idem, Commentary, 503; Johnson, Acts, 446; Witherington, Acts, 761; Parsons, Acts, 354; for Egyptian cults there, see Koester, Paul and World, 148.

324. Pliny E. N.H. 2.112.245, placing Cnidus 86.5 mi. from Rhodes and 25 mi. from Cos.

325. Strabo 17.1.6; Pliny E. N.H. 36.18.83; Lucian Hist. 62.

326. Pliny E. N.H. 36.12.18; Lucian Hist. 62; Hipp. 2; Affairs 11. For the writer Ctesias, see Lucian Lover of Lies 2.

327. Souza, “Harbours,” 667.

328. As in Rhodes, Halicarnassus, and Cos (Strabo 14.2.6). Archaeologists have found both Doric and Ionic temple structures (Finegan, Apostles, 191).

329. Strabo 14.1.15; Pliny E. N.H. 5.29.104.

330. Strabo 14.1.15; see also Cook and Sherwin-White, “Cnidus.”

331. Lucian Portr. 6; Portr. D. 8; 18; 22–23; Affairs 11. Affairs 13 claims that it was of Parian marble; Z. Rants 10 has Pentelic marble. Philost. Vit. Apoll. 6.40 tells the story of a passion-crazed youth sacrificing to the statue in hopes of securing marriage to it. On Aphrodite of Cnidus, see further Havelock, Aphrodite; Lesswing, “Aphrodite.”

332. Lucian Affairs 12.

333. Finegan, Apostles, 191.

334. Strabo 10.4.2; Pliny E. N.H. 4.12.58; Stad. 318, 355 (Conzelmann, Acts, 216; Johnson, Acts, 446; Davis, “Navigation,” 222; contrast the different Salmone in Eurip. Aeolus frg. 14). It was presumably modern Cape Sidero (Cochrane, “Salmone,” 285; H. Rackham in Pliny: Natural History, LCL, 2:161 n. a; though Lake and Cadbury, Commentary, 327, were uncertain), Ákra Sídheros. Cf. the Samonium shrine in northeast Crete (Sanders, Crete, 138).

335. Hemer, Acts in History, 135–36.

336. Bruce, Acts1, 454 (following Smith, Voyage, 454); Hemer, Acts in History, 134–35. But it seems to be later than late summer by this point (see Acts 27:9; 28:11).

337. Conzelmann, Acts, 216; Hemer, Acts in History, 134. A ship moving north from Egypt to Sidon and beyond (Lucian Ship 7) would head toward Lycia (Ship 8–9; especially in contrary winds) before sailing west; if keeping south of Crete, the ship could have reached Malea instead of Athens (Ship 9).

338. Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 380.

339. Ibid. (contrasting the Adriatic).

340. Casson, Mariners, 211; cf. Davis, “Navigation,” 222. Alexandrian grain ships usually sailed west from Rhodes to the south of Crete, then sought to remain on westward course to Syracuse (Casson, Mariners, 208).

341. E.g., Heliod. Eth. 5.22.7 (in Johnson, Acts, 446).

342. Its boundaries appear somewhat ambiguous (see Strabo 2.5.21; 7.7.4; 10.5.13).

343. On the Minoans, cf., e.g., Bennet, “Minoan Civilization”; Hiesel, “Minoan Culture”; and sources there. For Late Bronze and Early Iron archaeology there, see Betancourt, “Crete,” 71–72.

344. Sanders, Crete, 35. For the economy in Roman Crete in general, see 32–35.

345. See Sonnabend, “Crete,” 937 (citing Plut. Pomp. 29); nevertheless, Cyrene exerted little cultural influence on Crete (Sanders, Crete, 133). For Roman urban life, see Sanders, Crete, 13–15; for settlement patterns in this period, 16–31; for art, 47–56; for architecture, 57–88; for Rome’s subjugation of Crete, Vell. Paterc. 2.34.1; for some key cities, see concisely Schnabel, Mission, 1284–85. Gortyna was 9 mi. (15 km.) east on the main road from Phaistos, which was 7.5 mi. (12 km.) due north of Fair Havens (Finegan, Apostles, 192).

346. For Dionysiac rites connected with this, see Strabo 10.3.11–15. Some believed that ancient Cretans accepted homosexual practice more than did others (Sext. Emp. Pyr. 3.199–200).

347. On Zeus being reared in Crete, see Hesiod Theog. 479–80; Eurip. Hyps. frg. 752g.23; Apollod. Bib. 1.1.6; Lucian Sacr. 5, 10; Philost. Vit. Apoll. 4.34; harmonizing, Diod. Sic. 3.61.1–3 claims that it was a different Zeus; Arcadians, who claimed Zeus’s birthplace for themselves, referred to a local “Crete” instead of the island (Paus. 8.38.2). (For the cave where he was supposed to have been born, see Sonnabend, “Ida”; cf. Max. Tyre 10.1.) Cretans also claimed his tomb there; so Callim. Hymns 1 (to Zeus), line 9; Philost. Vit. soph. 2.4.569. For this, Callim. Hymns 1.8 calls them liars; others mock the story (Lucian Parl. G. 6; Tim. 4; Z. Rants 45; Lover of Lies 3; Sacr. 10), even as late as the Byzantine Lucian Patriot 10. Most outsiders took the tomb tradition no more seriously than non-Corinthians took the Corinthian claim that Corinth’s eponymous founder was a son of Zeus (cf. Paus. 2.1.1), but it was useful for Euhemerus (Sacr. Hist. 6, in Grant, Religions, 76) and for Jewish polemic (Sib. Or. 8.45–49).

348. Sanders, Crete, 36–37. Isis proved less popular than Serapis, perhaps because she was too distinct from the indigenous mother goddess to be assimilated to her (37). The imperial cult was apparently quite popular (37–38); for Cretan religion in this period in general, see 36–46. Tac. Ann. 3.63 probably also suggests devotion to the imperial cult.

349. Sanders, Crete, 37.

350. Kearns, “Talos.”

351. E.g., Lucian Z. Cat. 18; Men. 11–13; see further detail at Acts 10:42.

352. Sanders, Crete, 43 (noting Bandy, Inscriptions of Crete, appendix, 140; IC 4.211 and perhaps 2.13.8); Laidlaw, Nixon, and Price, “Crete,” 409. Some Diaspora Jews also expected divine judgment on Crete (Sib. Or. 3.504–5), among many other places; we also have some evidence of trade with Herodian Caesarea (Sussman, “Oil-Lamp”).

353. Sanders, Crete, 43 (following Bandy, Inscriptions of Crete, B3).

354. Noted also in Schnabel, Missionary, 121.

355. Caesar accepted their losses as sufficient punishment for following a false king (Jos. Ant. 17.338).

356. Sanders, Crete, 43, citing, for the last, Socrates Ecclesiasticus 38 (and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for that year).

357. Would the earlier unplanned visit depicted in Acts 27 have stirred Paul to reach Crete later?

358. Sonnabend, “Crete,” 937; more relevant sources, but later and less reliable, are Euseb. H.E. 3.4 and Acts of Titus (Finegan, Apostles, 192). Finegan (192) points out that the 6 mi. (10 km.) from Fair Havens to Lebena, and then the main road to Gortyna, was not a great distance. But while Paul was there for a period of time (Acts 27:9), he was a prisoner.

359. It should, however, be noted that if Titus did remain with them through Acts 27:8, Luke’s omission of the fact would fit his apparent omission of Titus’s role elsewhere, despite his prominence in Paul’s writings. The omission may be deliberate, though we can only speculate concerning the reason.

360. Sanders, Crete, 43, 45. For significant evidence over the next few centuries, see p. 45. Knossos was traditionally known for the minotaur (Philost. Vit. Apoll. 4.34); in this period it was becoming increasingly cosmopolitan (see Sweetman, “Knossos”).

361. Hemer, Acts in History, 135. Even the southern coast of Crete experienced turbulence in July through October (Davis, “Navigation,” 223).

362. Bruce, Commentary, 504.

363. Hemer, Acts in History, 136; Riesner, Early Period, 224.

364. Hemer, Acts in History, 136; Bruce, Commentary, 504. (The denial in Johnson, Acts, 446–47, may stem from the difference in name.)

365. White, “Meteorological Appraisal,” 404; cf. Finegan, Apostles, 195. White (405) argues that the problem was not the harbor but that the sailors (and probably soldiers) would prefer a livelier urban area to winter in over a “quiet fishing village.” On the undesirability of wintering at most sites on Crete’s southern coast, see Davis, “Navigation,” 223 (though it “was probably safe” there, 226).

366. Finegan, Apostles, 192 (noting that the largest is ironically called Megalonisi; another is “St. Paul’s Island”).

367. Ibid. On the Platanos Valley and the mountains and their role in the narrative’s weather conditions, see White, “Meteorological Appraisal,” 406.

368. Sanders, Crete, 160. The site includes both St. Paul’s chapel and a cave where legend claims (probably fictitiously) that Paul stayed (Fant and Reddish, Sites, 76).

369. Fant and Reddish, Sites, 74.

370. E.g., Ps 107:30; 1 Esd 5:55; 1 Macc 14:5; 2 Macc 12:6, 9; 14:1.

371. Limenia (Λιμενία) was a city in the interior of Cyprus (Strabo 14.6.3).

372. Tannehill, Acts, 331 (noting that this and the explicit comment of Acts 27:9 inform the reader of the value of Paul’s advice [27:10], although participants in the story world do not recognize it).

373. Bruce, Commentary, 504; Hemer, Acts in History, 136. See the map in Sanders, Crete, fig. 64. The purpose of harbors, whether natural or artificial, was precisely to protect ships from stormy weather (Vitruv. Arch. 5.12.1–2).

374. Hemer, Acts in History, 136; Bruce, Commentary, 507, following Smith, Voyage, 85n.

375. Hemer, Acts in History, 136.

376. Sanders, Crete, 159–60; Lebena was one of Gortyna’s two ports (Finegan, Apostles, 192). On this cult at Lissos, see Sanders, Crete, 84. A famous sanctuary of Asclepius lay on Mount Ida (Philost. Vit. Apoll. 4.34).

377. Finegan, Apostles, 192.

378. Sanders, Crete, 160.

379. Finegan, Apostles, 192.

380. Ibid.

381. Sanders, Crete, 114.

382. Rapske, Custody, 205.

383. Casson, Travel, 156.

384. Ibid., 157.

385. Rapske, Custody, 205 (citing, on the chains, Livy 29.15.5; 29.21.12; Jos. Ant. 20.131; War 7.449). Rapske thinks that Paul may have been chained to the centurion; but this is not clear (though it would explain Paul’s presence at a council in Acts 27:9–12 if he was present), and in 27:3 at least, it seems more likely that he was chained to another guard.

386. Praeder, “Acts 27:1–28:16,” 691n18, citing Ael. Arist. Or. 50.32–37; Cic. Fam. 16.9.4. Even in some earlier Greek military settings, everyone could express their views (Xen. Anab. 1.3.13).

387. He had spoken eloquently before Agrippa, and Agrippa’s favor toward him had probably dictated the orders that Festus issued for the centurion.

388. This might be the case especially if the captain was a slave (see this possibility in Casson, Mariners, 195–96). But in any case it is nautical expertise that concerns the centurion, and Paul’s many voyages would count with him less than the captain’s profession.

389. Conzelmann, Acts, 216.

390. Rapske, Custody, 205.

391. Foakes-Jackson, Acts, 230; Witherington, Acts, 763; cf. Schnabel, “Reading Acts,” 255.

392. See Rapske, Custody, 377.

393. Witherington, Acts, 754 (adding the figures in Haenchen, Acts, 702–3).

394. See also Riesner, Early Period, 308–9.

395. Conzelmann, Acts, 216.

396. Later he warns his disciple Damis to travel by land, and a storm destroys some ships and scatters others (Philost. Vit. Apoll. 7.41); in 5.18, Apollonius told his companions that it was better to change ships but did not warn others aboard; the ship that they left sank.

397. Theissen, Miracle Stories, 102. Schnabel, Acts, 1038, views Paul’s words not “as a prophecy or a prediction” but as an expression of “common sense”; this could be correct, but others who knew his words would probably view them as divine prediction after the fact. Paul later suggests that they should have “obeyed” him (27:21), though God has now granted him the lives of the others aboard (27:24), despite the warning of 27:10. We may debate whether Paul’s initial concern was misplaced or an initial divine warning was conditional and changed in answer to Paul’s prayer, but many apparently did see prophecies as conditional (21:4, 12).

398. E.g., Hermog. Issues 68.10–69.21, esp. 69.15–17.

399. That Paul, rather than Peter with his nautical experience on the lake of Galilee, is the hero here may be instructive but probably simply reflects the character of Luke’s information; Peter, who relocates to Jerusalem in Acts, is never associated with fishing in Acts (at most, some scholars suggest a sail allusion in Acts 10:11).

400. As often noted, e.g., Hock, Social Context, 78 (noting Ps.-Chion Ep. 12 [p. 62.21–22 Düring]; Char. Chaer. 3.5.1; Lucian Dem. 35; also noting Dio Chrys. Or. 36.1 for preferring summer travel); for avoiding winter travel, see also Symm. Ep. 1.20.3. Even for nontravelers, death declarations became increasingly more common through autumn and winter, reaching a peak in February, followed by a decline in March; but this is in warmer Egypt, and the reasons are uncertain (Scheidel, “Death Declarations”; though cf. Wiesehöfer, “Mortality,” 214: in Egypt, mortality doubled during summer). In North Africa, winter may have been easier for local travel due to desert heat (see Apul. Apol. 72). In some locations the climate has changed (e.g., Masada was apparently cooler and more humid two millennia ago; Issar and Yakir, “Isotopes”).

401. E.g., Sen. Y. Ep. Lucil. 107.7; cf. the brazier in Jer 36:22 and shelter in John 10:23. Winter was harder on health (Symm. Ep. 1.100) and difficult for those with hardships (4Q179 1 I, 6; Matt 24:19–20).

402. Men. Rhet. 1.2, 348.4–7; cf. 347.31–33; 351.2, 10–11.

403. Hesiod W.D. 450; Theophr. Caus. plant. 2.2.1; 3.4.3; 3.23.2; Pindar Pyth. 5.10; Pliny E. N.H. 17.2.17; Song 2:11; cf. stormy winds in autumn in Pindar Pyth. 5.120. The cold winter rains often made land travel more difficult (cf., e.g., Num. Rab. 3:6). More positively, rains watered plants (late autumn, in Philost. Hrk. 3.2). For winter as the rainy season in Greece, see also Rackham, “Greece (Geography).”

404. Tac. Hist. 3.50; cf. Paus. 9.43.3; Zech 14:8. They also flooded in spring with the melting of mountain snows (e.g., Arrian Alex. 7.21.2–3; cf. Hdn. 8.4.2–3).

405. Hesiod W.D. 494; cf. 504–5 (late January and early February).

406. Men. Rhet. 2.7, 408.19–23. For warmer winter garments, see Croom, Clothing, 24 (citing Juv. Sat. 14.185–88; P.Oxy. 16, 1901; m. Ketub. 5:8).

407. E.g., m. Taʿan. 1:3; Jeremias, Jerusalem, 58.

408. Cf. Hom. Il. 5.87–88; 13.137; Od. 19.205–7; Ap. Rhod. 1.9; Livy 44.8.6–7; Appian Hist. rom. 12.11.76; Hdn. 3.3.7.

409. Alciph. Farm. 27 (Ampelion to Euergus), 3.30, ¶1; Paus. 4.72.5; cf. Longus 3.3; Babr. 45.2–3.

410. Cic. Fam. 2.14.1; 12.5.1.

411. E.g., Dion. Hal. Ant. rom. 9.25.1; Livy 43.18.1; 44.1.1; Arrian Alex. 4.21.10; but some proved disastrous (Hdn. 6.6.3). Augustus traveled north in winter to mourn over Drusus’s death (Tac. Ann. 3.5).

412. 2 Sam 11:1 (with also comment in Long, “2 Samuel,” 457); Suppiluliuma 1.74 (tablet 7, frg. 28, KBo 5.6, A.1.40); Xen. Cyr. 6.1.14; Polyb. 10.40; Diod. Sic. 14.17.12; 15.73.4; 20.113.3; 29.2.1; Livy 5.2.1; 21.58.1–2; 22.22.21; 23.18.9–10; 25.11.20; 32.4.7; 32.32.1; 37.39.2; 38.27.9; 38.32.2; 43.7.11; 43.9.3; 44.16.2; 45.8.8; 45.9.1; Sall. Jug. 61.2; 97.3; Corn. Nep. 14 (Datames), 6.1; 17 (Agesilaus), 3.4; 18 (Eumenes), 5.7; 8.1, 4; Lucan C.W. 2.648; Appian Hist. rom. 7.7.43; 11.3.16; 12.15.101; Heracl. Hom. Prob. 9.10–11; Arrian Alex. 3.6.1; Tac. Ann. 13.35–36; Suet. Jul. 35.1; Aug. 24.1; Hdn. 5.5.3; BGU 696.3; Jos. War 4.442; Ant. 18.262; Dio Cass. 55.24.2. Winter might invite an armistice (Diod. Sic. 15.73.4).

413. Mountain snow in Persia made passage difficult in Quint. Curt. 5.4.18.

414. E.g., Arrian Alex. 4.21.10. Quint. Curt. 8.4.1 says that Alexander started a winter march prematurely and the army was caught in a terrible storm (8.4.3–8); the members of his army warmed themselves with bonfires (8.4.11–12), but two thousand died from the storm (8.4.13). In one region, terrible snow and cold (7.3.11–12) killed some, blinding others and causing frostbite (7.3.13). Some lay down, but others forced them on, since moving forward was the only solution (7.3.14).

415. Hdn. 6.6.3. This was reported to happen even for some working around the camp during a freezing winter (Tac. Ann. 13.35). Winter made the Alps nearly impassible (Vell. Paterc. 2.105.3).

416. Quint. Curt. 3.8.8 (supply lines over the mountains being problematic).

417. E.g., Cic. Fam. 7.17.3; see discussion in Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 377. Novels imitated reality here (Ach. Tat. 8.19.3). Shepherds also preferred lowlands for grazing (Cary and Haarhoff, Life, 110) and used sheep pens (Virg. Georg. 3.295–96; Ap. Rhod. 2.123–25) during winter (for heavy snows delaying spring pasturing, see Longus 3.3); families with fewer sheep might admit them to the home in inclement weather (Bailey, “Shepherd Poems,” 5–6).

418. Corn. Nep. 17 (Agesilaus), 3.4; 18 (Eumenes), 5.7; 8.1, 4; Caesar Gall. W. 5.26; Plut. Alex. 37.3; Suet. Aug. 17.3; Philost. Vit. soph. 2.1.562.

419. In one of the rarer “historical” novels, see Ps.-Callisth. Alex. 2.17.

420. E.g., Polyb. 2.64.1; 2.65.1; 3.92.9; 3.99.9; 3.100.1; 5.57.1; 5.66.3, 5; 10.40; 14.6.7; 27.18.1; Diod. Sic. 20.113.3; 29.2.1; Sall. Jug. 61.2; 97.3; Livy 22.22.21; 23.18.9–10; 25.11.20; 32.4.7; 32.32.1; 37.39.2; 38.27.9; 45.8.8; Appian Hist. rom. 7.7.43; 11.3.16; 12.15.101; Tac. Ann. 2.57, 79; 15.8, 17; Vell. Paterc. 2.110.1; 2.111.4; 2.113.3; 2.114.5; 2.120.2; Dio Cass. 55.24.2; Hdn. 5.5.3. For documentary sources, e.g., BGU 696.3 (156 C.E.).

421. Livy 43.9.3; cf. in various cities in Livy 45.9.1. It was offensive, however, to stay beyond winter (Livy 43.7.11), and bad generals sometimes plundered some of the goods of cities where they stayed (Caesar C.W. 3.31).

422. Livy 5.2.1; Plut. Cam. 2.5; cf. such winter fortresses in 22 C.E. in Tac. Ann. 3.74. Others also could send troops home for winter (e.g., Philip in Polyb. 4.87.13, also early). Roman winter forts were constructed of wood (Jeffers, World, 172).

423. Xen. Cyr. 6.1.15; Livy 44.16.2; more generally, cf. Prov 6:8. It was especially hard to fight in winter without provisions (Suet. Jul. 35.1).

424. Caesar Gall. W. 5.1.

425. Arrian Alex. 3.6.1; 2 Sam 11:1.

426. Dupont, Life, 199.

427. Cf., e.g., Paus. 1.6.6, where people sail for war in the spring.

428. Dion. Hal. Ant. rom. 9.25.1; Livy 43.18.1; 44.1.1; Arrian Alex. 1.24.5. Cf. Xen. Hell. 1.2.16, where armies staying in one place for winter (1.2.15) could sally out on nearby expeditions.

429. E.g., Marcus Aurelius in Fronto Ad M. Caes. 2.10.3.

430. Pindar Partheneion 2.16–20.

431. E.g., Virgil [Ciris] 480; Longus 2.19, 21. Rain was troublesome for sea voyagers (Song Rab. 8:6, §3).

432. Dion. Hal. Ant. rom. 7.2.1; Livy 38.41.15; Tac. Agr. 10; Macrob. Sat. 1.12.14 (in van der Horst, “Macrobius,” 227); Ach. Tat. 8.19.3; Apul. Metam. 11.5; Hdn. 5.5.3; Jos. War 1.279–80; 2.203; 4.499; Eccl. Rab. 3:2, §2; 2 Tim 4:21; Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 376–79; Cary and Haarhoff, Life, 136; Charlesworth, Trade Routes, 226 (and sources there). For limitations on travel in antiquity, see, e.g., Liefeld, “Preacher,” 11–16.

433. E.g., Livy 38.41.15; Appian Bell. civ. 5.8.76 (Marc Antony’s fleet).

434. Casson, Mariners, 40.

435. Lucian Dem. 35.

436. E.g., Apul. Metam. 11.5.

437. Cf. also Cadbury, Acts in History, 60 (in 83n3 noting Claudius’s promise of citizenship to shipbuilders, Gaius Inst. 1.32c); Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 376; Johnson, Acts, 446; Schnabel, Acts, 1035. Would Rome also pay better for grain in the off-season?

438. Rathbone, “Navicularii”; cf. Suet. Claud. 19. Petronius portrays the freedman Trimalchio as having gained wealth through his ships (Petronius mocks Trimalchio’s pretension and low-class background throughout chs. 26–78 of his Satyricon).

439. See Rapske, “Travel,” 4–6, 22–29, on exceptions; more widely in pre-Roman sources, apart from coastal travel, Tammuz, “Mare clausum?”; cf. Virg. Aen. 4.309. In the late republic, pirates apparently remained active during winter (Suet. Jul. 4). Pliny the Elder wryly observes that pirates first compelled winter travel but avarice has now replaced pirates as the cause (N.H. 2.47.125).

440. Davis, “Navigation,” 65–76, argues that winter commercial navigation was not even exceptional but routine. Although winter clearly curtailed much travel, as Davis acknowledges, he is able to adduce various cases of such travel (esp. 69–76), most notably (on 70) P.CairoZenon 59029; P.Mich.Zenon 10; P.Lond. 1979.

441. E.g., Cic. Verr. 2.2.38.95.

442. In Jos. War 1.279–80, some are nearly shipwrecked off Pamphylia; cf. Tac. Ann. 15.46.

443. Dio Chrys. Or. 32.11 (for a brief voyage); cf. Hesiod W.D. 618–30.

444. Scholars (Rapske, “Travel,” 3, 22; Lake and Cadbury, Commentary, 328; Bruce, Commentary, 506; Fitzmyer, Acts, 175; cf. Lohse, Environment, 211) cite Veg. Mil. 4.39; Pliny E. N.H. 2.47.122 (on winter, see esp. 2.47.125); Tac. Hist. 4.81; cf. Hesiod Theog. 616–21, 663–82. For slightly different calculations from these sources, see Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 376 (May 26 to September 14; March 11 to May 26; September 15 to November 10), but it is doubtful that everyone observed the dates exactly from one year to another. Weather could vary and was not determined by dates (cf. Pliny E. N.H. 18.56.205).

445. Davis, “Navigation,” 71–72, on Pliny E. N.H. 2.47.122–25.

446. Praeder, “Acts 27:1–28:16,” 689 (citing numerous sources, including Polyb. 1.37.4; Callim. Epig. 18; Lucan C.W. 5.539–59). In addition, Aratus lists the constellation Altar as a sign of coming storms (Phaen. 410); clouds clearing in the Manger foretell storms abating (994–96); and early-flying cranes portend early winters (1077–79).

447. Jewett, Chronology, 52; Bruce, Commentary, 506; Hemer, Acts in History, 137–38; Witherington, Acts, 762; Riesner, Early Period, 225. Most scholars credit Workman, “Date.”

448. Jewett, Chronology, 51–52.

449. Bruce, Commentary, 506 (following Ramsay, Traveller and Citizen, 322); Rapske, “Travel,” 23; Riesner, Early Period, 225. The rabbinic sources usually cited are Gen. Rab. 6:5, 44–45; see also Song Rab. 7:2, §2; Eccl. Rab. 3:2, §2 (noting that travelers risk death after Sukkoth and then even prayers will not help!). On Tabernacles, see, e.g., m. Sukkah passim; Safrai, “Temple,” 866–67, 894–95; Keener, John, 703–4, 722–24.

450. With Bruce, Commentary, 506.

451. Conzelmann, Acts, 216.

452. Paul’s chronological reckoning by festivals is not controversial even among those who tend to stress the Greek setting more (e.g., Deissmann, Paul, 97).

453. Cf. Sandmel, Judaism, 480n57, who thinks that Paul meant to leave this impression.

454. The Qumran sect also celebrated it with more remorse than did the Pharisees (Baumgarten, “Yom Kippur”); for the Qumranites’ augmented emphasis on self-affliction, see Körting, “Theology of Atonement”; for some prayers for that day, see 1Q34 + 1Q34bis 1–2 6; 4Q508 2 3.

455. See Safrai, “Religion,” 812, and sources there. On the Day of Atonement, see further m. Yoma passim; Safrai, “Temple,” 897–98; Wright, “Day of Atonement” (esp. 75–76, on early Jewish sources, including 11QT XXV, 10–XXVII, 10); in the OT, Hartley, “Atonement.” Some pagans considered Jewish concern for the timing of their fast superstitious (Fronto Ad M. Caes. 2.7).

456. Countering the notion of fate here, Ammonius in Cat. Act. 27.10 (Martin, Acts, 301) attributes Paul’s prediction to his being a prophet.

457. For suspense as a rhetorical technique, see Dion. Hal. Lysias 13; Cic. Verr. 2.5.5.10–11; Sen. E. Controv. 4.pref. 1.

458. Although this present text is not a prophecy, Paul certainly positioned himself as in continuity with the prophets as recently as Acts 26:16–19, 27. Divinely guided wisdom might better express how Luke’s audience would understand Paul’s counsel here.

459. Pliny E. N.H. 18.85.359. For some accurate meteorological understanding in early Jewish sources, see Alpert and Neumann, “Correlation.” Cf. Luke 12:54–55; the variant reading in Matt 16:2–3.

460. In Philost. Vit. Apoll. 6.11, Apollonius could discern people’s hearts and know the future because he had great wisdom.

461. Casson, Travel, 155; cf. further 156. See further Hübner, “Weather Portents.”

462. E.g., Tac. Hist. 2.4; Toner, Culture, 48. Other cultures have also used fortune-telling before voyages; see, e.g., King, Believer, 48.

463. Whereas fools gave way to fear, sages preferred caution (Aug. City 14.8, first paragraph, on Stoic views).

464. Alciph. Fish. 10 (Cephalus to Pontius), 1.10; they also allegedly checked shores for corpses from wrecked ships afterward, to bury them as a good deed (1.10, paragraph 4).

465. Romans usually started journeys with sacrifice or prayer; Rüpke, “Religion,” 5.

466. Trans. Oldfather, LCL, 2:127. Lucian mocks the idea of prayer in which some sailors pray for a north wind while others pray for the south (Icar. 25; cf. 26).

467. E.g., Jub. 12:4, 18; Pss. Sol. 5:11/9; 2 Bar. 21:7–8; later rabbis affirmed that God alone holds the “key” of rain (b. Sanh. 113a; Taʿan. 2a; Gen. Rab. 73:4; Pesiq. Rab. 42:7; Tg. Neof. 1 on Gen 30:22; Tg. Ps.-J. on Deut 28:12). As a sign of God’s beneficence, see Jub. 20:9; b. Ber. 33a; Taʿan. 2ab, 7a; y. Taʿan. 1:1, §2; Lev. Rab. 35:8; Flusser, Judaism, 482; God could also withhold rains for judgment (e.g., 1 En. 101:2).

468. E.g., 1 Sam 12:17–18; Ps 107:29; Jonah 1:4; 1 En. 41:3; Sib. Or. 1.32; 2.15; 4.113; 5.302–3. Greeks called Zeus “the high-thunderer” (e.g., Hom. Od. 5.4; Paus. 10.9.11; Pindar Ol. 8.44), who produced thunder and lightning (Hom. Il. 7.443, 454; 8.2–3, 75–77, 133; 9.236–37; 10.5; 13.624; Aristoph. Lys. 773; Ap. Rhod. 1.510–11, 730–31; Paus. 5.22.5; 5.24.9; Apollod. Bib. 1.2.1; Pindar Pyth. 4.23; 6.24; Ol. 4.1; 9.7; 13.77; Plut. Alex. 28.2; Sil. It. 17.474–78; differently, Paus. 8.29.1; Pliny E. N.H. 2.18.82). Greeks and Romans shared with Jews the conception of the highest deity ruling storms (Brown, “Elements”). See further discussion in Keener, John, 877.

469. Although Pythagoras was very early, many of the miracle claims about him come, admittedly, from a post-NT era hailing divine men, a factor to be taken into account (see Keener, John, 268–70; Kee, Miracle, 37). Blackburn, “ΑΝΔΡΕΣ,” 192, notes that traditions report Pythagoras and Apollonius preserving ships by their presence, not miraculously saving them from storms as in Mark 4:35–41.

470. Pesiq. Rab Kah. 18:5; Pesiq. Rab. 32:3/4. These are not the same as stories about a miracle worker, but Jewish sources do claim God’s stilling storms in answer to prayer (cf. Theissen, Miracle Stories, 65, citing Jonah 1:14; b. B. Meṣiʿa 59b; y. Ber. 9:1; on Jewish miracle workers producing and stopping rain, see, e.g., Jos. Ant. 14.22; m. Taʿan. 3:8; b. Taʿan. 19b–20a; 23ab; y. Taʿan. 3:9, §§6–8; Vermes, Jesus the Jew, 70, 76; Moore, Judaism, 1:377–78). On God’s sparing others for one’s sake, see Gen 18:26 (Bruce, Acts1, 462); 2 Macc 3:33.

471. Both prophets (1 Kgs 17:14; 2 Kgs 2:21–22; 4:3–4, 41) and later semidivine heroes (Philost. Hrk. 4.10) could offer divinely given wisdom concerning matters of nature.

472. Luke has an incomparably higher value for people than for possessions (e.g., Acts 2:44–45; Luke 3:11; 10:4; 17:31–32).

473. Whether anyone would have made good the loss, as in Claudius’s reign, is less certain.

474. Praeder, “Acts 27:1–28:16,” 690. Some go to sea against all sense, despite predictions (p. 690, citing Ael. Arist. Or. 50.32–37; Hom. Od. 3.139).

475. With Praeder, “Acts 27:1–28:16,” 690.

476. Robinson, Criminal Law, 89.

477. Hermog. Issues 65.17–22 (hypothetical). The accused might object that he intended the warning to apply only to sailing at dangerous times (67.6–8), an argument hard to refute both in that case and here in Luke’s narrative (Acts 27:9).

478. Praeder, “Acts 27:1–28:16,” 690, mentions Chion of Heraclea (mocked by sailors on his vessel), Roman fleet pilots, Calchas, etc. (citing Ps.-Chion Ep. 4.1; Herpyllis 7–11; Lucan C.W. 5.539–93; Philost. Vit. Apoll. 5.18; Polyb. 1.37.3–6; Quintus of Smyrna Posthomerica 14.360–69).

479. Since Pliny the Younger has many details of his uncle’s final days, presumably the scene is based on recollections from others present (it sounds as if many of them did escape) and not simply on the author’s inference. Pliny Ep. 9.13.6 warned against asking advice if one would not consider what was given.

480. Trans. W. G. Williams, LCL, 27:337. Citing the same text, Praeder, “Acts 27:1–28:16,” 690–91, notes that it was prudent to sail with someone who could restrain his haste.

481. White, “Meteorological Appraisal,” 405. Sailors usually spent most of the winter at home in taverns (Libanius Comparison 4.9, though from an anti-sailing perspective). Local entertainments and the availability of sexual encounters may have been among the considerations, given reports about some young sailors in antiquity (cf., e.g., Corinth in Dio Chrys. Or. 8.5; Mart. Epig. 10.70.11–12). Although women in pre-Christian Crete may have been less segregated than in some other parts of the Greek world (cf. Westgate, “House”; for women’s same-gender social ties in modern Crete, see, e.g., Pizzuto-Pomaco, “Shame,” 42), most girls in a traditional fishing village would not be “available” whereas mercantile centers could offer more activity.

482. With Finegan, Apostles, 195–96.

483. Other nonelites who were land based also could have little understanding of, hence little sympathy for, mariners.

484. Stambaugh and Balch, Environment, 69 (citing Trimalchio in Petronius Satyricon); Bauckham, Climax, 373; see also Philod. On Death 33.25–36 (with sources noted by Henry, including Jocelyn, “Lucretius,” 50).

485. Jeffers, World, 184. For traders as greedy, see, e.g., Sall. Jug. 64.6; Libanius Comparison 4.6–7; Sir 26:29–27:2. They might need to either escape the ship naked or sink with their wealth (Libanius Comparison 4.12).

486. Jeffers, World, 184.

487. On shepherds’ being despised, see, e.g., Appian Hist. rom. 1.2 (fragments); Livy 39.29.9; Xen. Eph. Anthia 3.12; b. Sanh. 25b; MacMullen, Social Relations, 2; Koester, Symbolism, 17; Tooley, “Shepherd,” 23; Malina and Rohrbaugh, John, 118; Keener, John, 799–800.

488. So, e.g., NRSV; Hanson, Acts, 245; Bruce, Commentary, 507.

489. Applebaum, “Economic Life,” 688–89, citing other evidence.

490. So BDAG.

491. Barrett, Acts, 1190 (citing, for the steersman, Plato Rep. 1.341CD). One often found such shipowners (Latin navicularii) buying and selling at the ports (Bauckham, Climax, 373); on their offices in Ostia, see Caird, Revelation, 226.

492. Haenchen, Acts, 700; Bruce, Commentary, 507. In practice this meant that merchants often sailed (Libanius Anecdote 3.24). Although most effective ownership belonged to the wealthy, boats could also be effectively sold in the form of a long lease (e.g., P.Lond. 1164, from 212 C.E.; SPap 1:112–17).

493. Though this was the case with the even larger Isis (Lucian Ship 14); the owner staked everything on the single ship. Starting in the first century B.C.E., ναύκληροι united in “corporations to ship larger quantities of grain and to share the risks” (Schmitz, “Naukleros”).

494. BDAG (s.v. κυβερνήτης).

495. Conzelmann, Acts, 216, reads Plut. Statecraft 13, Mor. 807b, as the captain choosing the pilot (κυβερνήτης) and the pilot choosing the sailors. He controls the ship in Libanius Anecdote 3.24, but no distinction is offered between captains and owners (except that someone different owns the merchandise).

496. Schmitz, “Naukleros.”

497. Ibid.

498. Cf. Dio Chrys. Or. 34.16; Johnson, Acts, 447, cites Plut. Dinner 18, Mor. 162A; Jos. Ant. 9.209 (comparing also Petron. Sat. 101). Josephus is again ambiguous.

499. Casson, Mariners, 195–96; cf. Davis, “Navigation,” 201. The captain and mates were the likeliest to belong to the shipowner, since he could rent the other slave crew members (Casson, Mariners, 196). That the pilot here belongs to the decision-making process need not mean that he is not a slave, given managerial roles for many ancient slaves, but on the whole, it could seem likelier that he was not.

500. Casson, Mariners, 86.

501. Lucian Alex. 56 (the κυβερνήτης in this case being sixty years old); cf. Libanius Anecdote 2.19.

502. See also Libanius Maxim 1.13; 2.8. On a pilot needing help after days without sleep (perhaps a hypothetical situation), see Dio Chrys. Or. 77/78.7; on a κυβερνήτης not being able to sleep or get drunk like others aboard, see Lucian Indictment 2.

503. Davis, “Navigation,” 204 (see more fully 202–4, tracing usage from the classical era).

504. Casson, Mariners, 192.

505. Ibid., 212.

506. Ibid., 188–89.

507. In addition, the old man controlling the rudders is said to have curly hair (Lucian Ship 6), though his ethnicity is not specified.

508. Philost. Vit. Apoll. 3.23 (referring to an earlier period).

509. E.g., Haenchen, Acts, 700.

510. As in, e.g., Ramsay, “Roads and Travel,” 379; idem, Traveller and Citizen, 324. In Egyptian villages, where a visiting centurion might be the highest representative of the Roman government available (cf. also CIJ 2:132, §920; Sipre Deut. 309.1.1; Lewis, Life, 22, 24), a centurion might even take some functions as a magistrate, but he would not take command of a ship (the soldiers take emergency action in 27:31–32 not because of rank but because they are armed).

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