Employing Numismatic Evidence in Discussions of Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley

Employing Numismatic Evidence in Discussions of Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley:

A Case Study from Laodicea Michael P. Theophilos 1. Introduction This paper offers an analysis of the significance of numismatic material for our understanding of early Christianity in the Lycus Valley. Attention will also be given to methodological issues pertaining to employing numismatic evidence in linguistic, historical, and theological perspectives in Asia Minor. Cognizant that the geographical demarcation of the Lycus

Valley is a modern and relatively artificial boundary and that trade, commercial relations, and other interactions were more geographically fluid, we will investigate a case study related to Laodicea. This study could easily, and methodologically more plausibly, be expanded to include coinage of the immediate locale (Cibyra, Colossae, Laodicea, Hierapolis, Hydrela) and the broader region of Phrygia (Cadi, Aezani, Synaus, Ancyra, Dionysopolis, Apamea, Fulvia/Eumenea, Sebaste, Eucarpia, Sibilia, Acmonea,

Synnada, Iulia, Prymnessus, Docimeum, Appia, Cotiaeum, Midaeum, Amorium, Philomelium). Konrad Kraft, for example, has identified connections between so-called coin workshops through a network of obverse die-links throughout Asia Minor.1 Kraft estimates that there were approximately twelve workshops servicing over two hundred cities minting coins

1. Konrad Kraft, Das System der kaiserzeitlichen Münzprägung in Kleinasien:

Materialien und Entwürfe (Berlin: Mann, 1972); Ann Johnston, "Die Sharing in Asia

Minor: The View from Sardis," Israel Numismatic Journal 6–7 (1982–1983): 59–78; Johnston, "Greek Imperial Statistics: A Commentary," Review Numismatique 26

(1984): 240–57.

Michael P. Theophilos pre-Septimius (193 CE), that one workshop could service more than ten cities simultaneously, and that the variety and output of new types seem linked to the availability of an engraver (in Phrygia, for example, the Apameia workshop in 200–205 CE and the Sardis workshop in 242–247 CE).2

2. Previous Research First-century CE Roman provincial coinage of Asia Minor, as a distinct area of study, has regularly drawn attention from classical and Roman historians.3 On the basis of Hans von Aulock's index volume, Wolfgang

Leschhorn provided an analysis of the numismatic evidence in his article entitled, "Le monnayage impérial d'Asie Mineure et la statistique," in which he detailed the distribution pattern of coinage in Asia Minor from Augustus to Tacitus (276 CE), focusing especially on numbers of cities issuing coins.4 Ann Johnson, however, highlights one important methodological difficulty in this process by noting that true frequency is obscured

"because we do not know how many issues per reign there were, or when precisely they were struck; we can only note the existence or absence of coins for a given emperor."5 Indeed, the variation in length of rule of individual emperors further obscures, or perhaps, should nuance, any analysis

2. Kraft, Das System, 6, 13.

3. Clemens Bosch, "Kleinasiatischen Münzen der römischen Kaiserzeit," Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 46 (1931): 424–56; Tom B. Jones, "A Numismatic Riddle: The So-Called Greek Imperials," Proceedings of the American

Philosophical Society 107 (1963): 308–47; Jones, "Greek Imperial Coins," The Voice of the Turtle: North American Journal of Numismatics 4 (1965): 295–308; Ursula Kampmann, "Homonoia Politics in Asia Minor: The Example of Pergamon," in Pergamon,

Citadel of the Gods: Archaeological Record, Literary Description, and Religious Development, ed. Helmut Koester (Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1998), 373–93; V.

M. da Costa, "Five Roman Empresses: Chronology and Style in the Roman Provincial

Coin Issues of Asia Minor," in Notes of the First International Numismatic Symposium of the Turkish Numismatic Society (Istanbul: Turkish Numismatic Society, 1999), 1–27;

Ann Johnston, Greek Imperial Denominations, ca. 200–275: A Study of Roman Provincial Bronze Coinages of Asia Minor (London: Royal Numismatic Society, 2007).

4. Peter R. Franke and Wolfgang Leschhorn, Index to Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum Deutschland: Sammlung H. von Aulock (Berlin: Mann, 1981); Wolfgang

Leschhorn, "Le monnayage impérial d'Asie Mineure et la statistique" PACT: Revue de groupe européen d'études sur les techniques physiques, chimiques et mathematiques appliquées à l'archéologie 5 (1981): 252–66.

5. Johnston, "Greek Imperial Statistics," 241.

A Case Study from Laodicea

of the distribution of coinage and mints in first century Asia Minor.6 Furthermore, Michael Grant notes the additional factor of coin types being struck posthumously, a figure that he places at more than one hundred types for Augustus.7 Many of the cities in Asia Minor had been producing civic issues during the Roman Republic, so it is not surprising that they continued to do so during the reign of Augustus. That being said, perhaps one sustainable observation from Leschhorn's analysis is the distinct increase in the number of cities issuing coins in first-century Asia Minor, a figure which effectively doubles from Augustus (ca. one hundred cities) to Trajan (ca. two hundred cities).8

Regional differences within Asia Minor are also apparent.9 Coinage in Phrygia was not limited to main cities but is also attested in population centers that more closely resemble a village. Victor Schultze's three volume, four-part, work on Christianity in Asia Minor devotes a total of eighty-one pages to Phrygia and forty-one pages to the cities of the Lycus

Valley.10 Despite regular reference to the numismatic material (more than forty times), Schultze typically engages the material in a tangential and relatively superficial manner. Similarly, William Ramsay, renowned for his pioneering work on the Lycus Valley, included both the epigraphic sources and close attention to considerations of historical geography11 but rarely incorporated relevant numismatic material. Ramsay does however acknowledge that his incorporation of all relevant sources for the Lycus

6. As noted by Johnston, "Greek Imperial Statistics," 242, if one does plot the length of reigns alongside Leschhorn's "mints in operation," the two are in almost perfect synchronization.

7. Michael Grant, From Imperium to Auctoritas (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1946), appendix 7.

8. Leschhorn, "Le monnayage," 256.

9. William E. Metcalf, "Regionalism in the Coinage of Asia Minor," in Regionalism in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor, ed. Hugh Elton and Gary Reger (Pessac:

Ausonius, 2007), 147–59.

10. Victor Schultze, Konstantinopel, vol. 1 of Altchristliche Städte und Landschaften (Leipzig: Gütersloh, 1913); Schultze, Kleinasien, vol. 2 of Altchristliche Städte und Landschaften, 2 parts (Leipzig: Gütersloh, 1922–1926); Schultze, Antiocheia, vol.

3 of Altchristliche Städte und Landschaften (Leipzig: Gütersloh, 1930). For Phrygia, see

Kleinasien, 1:397–477. For the Lycus Valley, see Kleinasien 1:410–50.

11. William M. Ramsay, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia and Their Place in the Plan of the Apocalypse (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1904), 413–30; Ramsay,

The Lycos Valley and South-Western Phrygia, vol. 1 of The Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia (Oxford: Clarendon, 1895).

Michael P. Theophilos Valley was "the least satisfactory and the least complete."12 While Ramsay's work in historical geography was furthered by his student J. G. C. Anderson and the epigraphic survey of the region was carried further by W. M.

Calder and W. H. Buckler, "who consciously followed in the tradition of Ramsay," little attention has been paid to the numismatic material in its relation to early Christianity.13

3. Methodological Considerations The incorporation of coins as a distinct form of evidence for understanding nascent Christianity in the Roman world raises a range of methodological questions. This section will address a selection of the most important issues including, (1) the propagandistic nature of coinage and whether coins are a valid source of evidence given this potential bias? (2) addressing the question of whether coinage, both image and inscription, was noticed by the populace? and (3) does the (elite) social origin of coinage lessen its importance, impact, or relevance for the question under discussion? This, by no means, is an exhaustive analysis of the full range of concerns that may be relevant to our enquiry. We will not, for example, closely examine the methodological issues of applying visual phenomena in hermeneutics, although it is readily acknowledged that coin iconography and coin inscription are to be mutually interpreted.14

12. William M. Ramsay, Impressions of Turkey during Twelve Years' Wanderings (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1897), 88.

13. J. G. C. Anderson, "A Summer in Phrygia I," JHS 17 (1897): 396–424; Anderson, "A Summer in Phrygia II," JHS 18 (1898): 81–128, 340–44; Ulrich Huttner, Early

Christianity in the Lycus Valley, trans. David Green, AJEC 85, Early Christianity in Asia Minor 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 9. There are some notable exceptions to the dearth of numismatic investigation, which will be engaged with and acknowledged below.

14. For a discussion of this issue Annette Weissenrieder and Friederike Wendt, "Images as Communication: The Methods of Iconography," in Picturing the New Testament: Studies in Ancient Visual Images, ed. Annette Weissenrieder, Friederike Wendt, and P. von Gemünden (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005), 3–49. Erika Manders (Coining Images of Power: Patterns in the Representation of Roman Emperors on Imperial

Coinage, AD 193–284 [Leiden: Brill, 2012], 30) notes, "on many coins the image either presents a visualization of the legend or the legend forms a textual rendering of the image. This cooperation between text and image facilitated not only illiterates' understanding of the messages present on coins, it also reduced the various possibilities of how Romans could interpret a message." The Lexicon Iconographicum Numismatica is an effort to categorize visual types into a systematized catalogue, including the "cre-

A Case Study from Laodicea

The first consideration is whether coinage is a legitimate source of historical information given its propagandistic tendencies. Harold Mattingly has noted the relationship of coins and forms of propaganda in the Roman world: "coin types are constantly changing, and constantly emphasising definite events and policies, and, as they change move in close agreement with the political changes of the time."15 He continues by stating, "the possible influence of such coinage on public opinion could not possibly be overlooked or minimized by the Emperor. He must … have censored, if not inspired it."16 In similar regard, Warren Carter states that "coins demonstrated Roman sovereignty … [and] symbolized Roman accomplishments and the blessings of the gods which the emperor mediated to the people.

There was no escaping Roman presence even in daily transactions."17 In first-century Mediterranean village life, K. Dyer suggests that the circulation of coinage operated as one of the most efficient and concrete forms of communication.18

The various media available in this effort of persuasion in the ancient Roman world reinforced Roman ideals. Everything from architecture and inscriptions to the provision of "conveniences" (commoda) such as public leisure (baths), mass entertainment (chariot racing, gladiatorial games), and processions (triumphi), contributed to a well-defined Roman cultural narrative. Coins distinctly contribute to our understanding of these phenomena due to their ubiquity, distribution, and continuous use. J. Rufas ation of a coin iconographic lexicon. See related DIANA project website here: http:// ww2.unime.it/diana/, and further M. Caccamo Caltabiano, L. Campagna, and A.

Pinzone, eds., Nuove prospsettive della ricerca sulla Sicilia del III sec. a.C.: Archeologia, numismatica, storia (Messina: Dipartimento di Scienze dell' Antichita dell'Università degli Studi di Messina, 2004); Marianna Spinelli, "The 'Soma' of the God: Subtypes as Qualification of the Corporal Gestures of the Main Subject on the Kaulonia Coins," in Identity and Connectivity: Proceedings of the Sixteenth Symposium on Mediterranean

Archaeology, ed. Luca Bombardieriet al. (Oxford: Aracheopress, 2013), 793.

15. Harold Mattingly, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, 6 vols.

(London: British Museum, 1936), 3:xlv.

16. Mattingly, Coins of the Roman Empire, 3:xlv.

17. Warren Carter, Matthew and the Margins (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 2000), 38.

18. K. D. Dyer, "'But Concerning that Day …' (Mark 13:32): 'Prophetic' and 'Apocalyptic' Eschatology in Mark 13," in Society of Biblical Literature 1999 Seminar

Papers, SBLSP 38 (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1999), 112; see also Michael

H. Crawford, "Money and Exchange in the Roman World," JRS 60 (1970): 40–46.

Michael P. Theophilos Fears suggests that the numismatic material is preferable to any other evidence in the discernment of imperial ideology,

The literary sources are secondary sources; at their best, they are idiosyncratic, and at their worst they consciously distort the deeds and intentions of individual emperors. Thus, we will never know much of what 'really' transpired under Trajan, and nothing at all of his actual intentions. Through the coinage, however, we know an inordinate amount about what the Roman government wanted its citizens and subjects to believe happened and how it wished the person and deeds of Trajan to be perceived by those citizens and subjects. The coinage was a medium of propaganda. Its purpose was the creation and propagation of a belie£ It is the medium by which we can best approach the ideology of the imperial system.19

Although literary sources may never reveal the historical intentions of the ruling elite, be they in Rome or in the provinces, coinage reveals, at a minimum, an objective perspective of how rulers wanted their subjects to perceive their political activity. Edwin A. Judge alludes to a similar phenomenon of the treatment of history by ancient writers: "in the case of Roman history, we typically mean by 'documents' the coins, inscriptions, and papyri that survive directly from the time, as distinct from the treatment of the history by ancient writers."20 While ancient coins were certainly not ideologically neutral, they do accurately depict a real picture of how the emperor wanted to be perceived. In this respect, the image and text can profitably be employed for historical purposes, be they linguistic, iconographic, or social and cultural windows into the Roman world.21 But did people pay attention or notice the inscribed imagery of coinage?

19. J. Rufus Fears, "The Cult of Virtues and Roman Imperial Ideology," ANRW 17.2:945.

20. Edwin A. Judge, "Setting the Record Straight: Alternative Documents of a Protest in the Roman Army of Egypt," in The First Christians in the Roman World:

Augustan and New Testament Essays, ed. James R. Harrison (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck,

2008), 378.

21. Peter Brennan, Michael Turner, and Nicholas L. Wright's comment resonate deeply at this point: the coins "are a true reflection of their time—of a 'face of power's' perception of what he had done, what he was going to do, what he was going to get others to do, or what others were going to get him or her to do." Peter Brennan, Michael Turner, and Nicholas L. Wright, Faces of Power: Imperial Portraiture on Roman Coins (Sydney: Nicholson Museum, 2007), 5.

A Case Study from Laodicea

The second methodological question emerges out of a pragmatic concern for the effectiveness of the so-called propaganda noted above. Literary and other evidence suggests that ancient people did pay attention to and were aware of the images, symbols, and inscriptions on the coinage that was handled on a daily basis. The Stoic philosopher Epictetus, writing toward the end of the first century or beginning of the second century

CE, notes that, "the imprints which he brought with him in his mind, such as we look for also upon coins, and, if we find them, we accept the coins, but if we do not find them, we throw the coins away. 'Whose imprint does this sestertius bear? Trajan's? Give it to me. Nero's? Throw it out, it will not pass, it is rotten'" (τοὺς χαρακτῆρας, οὓς ἔχων ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐλήλυθεν, οἵους καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν νομισμάτων ζητοῦντες, ἂν μὲν εὕρωμεν, δοκιμάζομεν, ἂν δὲ μὴ εὕρωμεν, ῥιπτοῦμεν. τίνος ἔχει τὸν χαρακτῆρα τοῦτο τὸ τετράσσαρον;

4.5.16–17).22 While the images and symbols on the coins were the most noticeable and prominent features, coin inscriptions were often used to explain or clarify the potentially complex imagery that might then be further extended for a particular purpose.23 The famous incident concerning

Jesus in the temple when asked about paying taxes to Caesar also appeals to the hearers' knowledge of the imagery on a denarius, "Whose image is this? And whose inscription?" (τίνος ἡ εἰκὼν αὕτη καὶ ἡ ἐπιγραφή; Matt

22:20; see also Matt 22:15–22; Mark 12:13–17; Luke 20:20–26). These and 22. W. A. Oldfather, trans. Epictetus. Discourses, Books 3–4; Fragments; The Encheiridion, LCL (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1928), 336–37. An important distinction is to be acknowledged between Roman coins and their Greek predecessors.

Although "designs on Greek coins typically remained unchanged for decades or even centuries, varying only in style or detail over time" (Jonathan Williams, "Religion and Roman Coins," in A Companion to Roman Religion, ed. Jörg Rüpke [Oxford: Blackwell,

2007], 143), Roman coinage exhibited both continuity and discontinuity in its iconography stamped on coinage. It is true that "it was the usual practice in the ancient world to imitate existing types that were current locally, in order to secure greater confidence in and prestige for a new coin minted by a recently established authority" (Ya'akov

Meshorer, Jewish Coins of the Second Temple Period [Tel-Aviv: Am Hassefer, 1967],

58), but it is also apparent that Roman coinage was much more dynamic and adaptable to new images and environments.

23. Michael H. Crawford, "Roman Imperial Coin Types and the Formation of Public Opinion," in Studies in Numismatic Method Presented to Philip Grierson, ed. C.

Brooke, B. Steward, J. Pollard, and T. Volk (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

1983), 54–57; Christopher Howgego, Ancient History from Coins (London: Routledge,

1995), 75.

Michael P. Theophilos other incidents,24 in both the Republican and Imperial periods, provide some literary evidence that the images and inscriptions on coinage were noticed and often elicited a vivid response.

In addition to the literary evidence, Tonio Hölscher and Paul Zanker have developed a theory by which imperial imagery became embedded in private contexts from Augustus onwards.25 Zanker notes that numismatic imagery appears on "jewelry and utensils, furniture, textiles, walls and stuccoed ceilings, door jambs, clay facings, roof tiles, and even on tomb monuments and marble ash urns."26 It is thus evident that numismatic imagery was one way in which imperial symbols and ideas came to be present in private Roman life. This implies that people did not only notice what was on coinage, but they were demonstrably influenced by them in their personal lives, explicitly through active response and implicitly through culture adaptation.

The third specific methodological area of concern for the use of coinage is the social origin of the coins and the way in which this influences our historical or linguistic reconstruction. Historians have frequently noted that coins are issued by the narrow, upper stratum of society, and thus forming a historical picture based only on numismatic evidence is not only methodological suspicious but may in many circumstances be outright misleading. This admission of a limitation seems obvious. However, rather than one's response to be dismissal of numismatic evidence en toto, a more plausible solution is to simply acknowledge that the distillation of historical, social, and philological reconstruction on coinage does not represent the full spectrum of the contemporary social world.

However, this does not discount the potential for valid contribution of the evidence, albeit of a relatively narrow section of elite social life. This being said, there are several significant contributions that do pertain to the larger social milieu, as will be discussed in the various case studies below.

24. For further evidence that imagery on coins was noticed, especially in the eastern Roman Empire, see Linda-Marie Hans, "Der Kaiser mit dem Schwert," JNG 33

(1983): 57–66, esp. 63–64 and n. 21.

25. Paul Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus, trans. Alan Shapiro

(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1988), 265–95; T. Hölscher, Staatsdenkmal und Publikum: Vom Untergang der Republik bis zur Festigung des Kaisertums in Rom,

Konstanzer althistorische Vorträge und Forschungen 9 (Konstanz: Universitätsverlag

Konstanz, 1984), 20–32.

26. Zanker, Power of Images, 266.

A Case Study from Laodicea

Related to this is whether the extant numismatic record is representative, by ratio, of numbers of ancient coinage minted and circulated in antiquity. An illuminating study by Christopher Howgego found that the absolute number of coins retrieved from an archaeological site was heavily dependent on local factors.27 Elsewhere he notes that "the hoards left in the ground are the ones that were not recovered in antiquity. Concentrations of coin hoards tend to reflect not prosperity or heavily monetized contexts, but rather the insecurity (particularly warfare) which resulted in owners not recovering their treasure."28 Hoards, which mainly consist of the more precious metals, may then give a skewed picture of the circulation of coinage, excluding bronze coinage and lower denominations.29 It is also a relatively crude and obvious fact that we possess only a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of numismatic material that originally circulated in antiquity. Edwin Yamauchi astutely notes the severely limited view that archaeological excavation affords in this regard: only a fraction of what is made or what is written survives, only a fraction of that material is preserved in archaeological sites that have been surveyed, only a fraction of the surveyed sites have been excavated, only a fraction of any excavated site is actually examined, and only a fraction of materials are actually published.30 Numismatic material that is published generally consists of the large and prestigious museum collections, which naturally marginalizes poor-quality or illegible coins that do not find their way into those collections. There is also the problem of unprovenanced coins that appear in private collections and auction catalogues. Problems abound with inaccurate attribution or failure to recognize inauthentic examples, especially so in the older collections. These can and have misled scholars in the recent past on the very topic under consideration. We therefore will

27. Christopher Howgego, "The Supply and Use of Money in the Roman World 200 B.C. to A.D. 300," JRS 82 (1992): 1–31.

28. Howgego, Ancient History from Coins, 88. See also Richard Duncan-Jones, Money and Government in the Roman Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 1994), 85.

29. For example, Galba's silver and gold coinage focused on garnering provincial support while bronze coins focused on rallying the urban citizens and featured urban symbols. See Olivier Hekster, "Coins and Messages: Audience Targeting on Coins of Different Denominations?," in Representation and Perception of Roman Imperial

Power, ed. Paul Erdkamp et al. (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 26.

30. Edwin Yamauchi, The Stones and the Scriptures (New York: Holman, 1972), 146–54.

Michael P. Theophilos limit our discussion to those numismatic examples that have appeared in peer-reviewed publication outlets and carefully weigh, where necessary, questions of authenticity.

Despite these potential limitations, there are also several methodological strengths of numismatic evidence. First is the relative ubiquity of coinage in archaeological sites and throughout the Mediterranean.

The broad geographic distribution of evidence is particularly helpful for lexicography of the New Testament. The composition, dissemination, and reception of the New Testament is not confined to the Levant. Indeed, early

Christian missionary interactions span the entire scope of the Mediterranean world. The extant record of contemporaneous coinage that circulated in the geographical areas inhabited by the recipients of Paul's epistles, for example, provide ideal linguistic evidence for comparison. Coinage in these provincial areas of the Roman Empire varied in value, shape, and size as much as they did in type, depiction, and linguistic value. Paul's movement "from city to city and region to region from the years spanning the mid-30s to the mid-50s, exposed him to an extraordinary maze of small change,"31 examples of which are mostly accessible in the publication of numismatic holdings in main museum collections. This geographical specificity is invaluable for consideration of localized communication in the provinces or cities, particularly in relation to civic rivalries. Furthermore, unlike literary texts, coins can often be precisely dated or at the very least be assigned limited ranges, which allow a clear demarcation for their introduction and circulation.

4. Numismatic Evidence from Laodicea Phrygia already had a long history of minting coins by the first century

CE. Otto Mørkholm traces the silver cistophoros (κιστοφόρος) in Phrygia back into the early to mid-second century BCE, most probably introduced in the years between 175 and 160 BCE as a substitute for Seleucid coins and the tetradrachms of Philetairos.32 Peter Thonemann also notes that 31. Peter Lewis and Ron Bolden, The Pocket Guide to Saint Paul: Coins Encountered by the Apostle on His Travels (Kent Town: Wakefield Press, 2002), vii.

32. Otto Mørkholm, Early Hellenistic Coinage: From the Accession of Alexander to the Peace of Apamaea (336–188 BC) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 9–10.

See also Fred S. Kleiner and Sydney P. Noe, The Early Cistophoric (New York: The American Numismatic Society, 1977), 86–89.

A Case Study from Laodicea

the first half of the first century BCE witnessed "a sudden leap in the numbers of communities in Phrygia minting bronze coins in their own name."33

Leschhorn identifies at least twenty communities producing bronze and brass coinage in Phrygia by the middle of the first century BCE.34 Despite this apparent abundance, Stephen Mitchell has documented that there was, in fact, a significant shortage of coinage in Asia Minor from the first century BCE and that it was this shortage that catalyzed the allowance for payment of taxes in kind rather than cash.35 William Metcalf suggests that the increase in mint activities during this period "was clearly to put money into circulation … and to ensure the functioning of a cash economy."36 The manner in which this increased production of coinage enhanced the economic circumstances was through encouraging community trade through this so-called small-change monetization of Phrygia.37

The geographical positioning of the city contributed significantly to its prosperity. Laodicea was situated on a plateau of the Lycus River Valley at the junction of the north-south road from Pergamum to the Mediterranean and east-west road from Ephesus to the interior of an Asia Minor.

As many commentators have noted, the location of the city at a key intersection of major routes enhanced the trade and commercial opportunities of the city. Indeed, the thriving and prosperous city of Laodicea is amply demonstrated in both inscriptional and literary sources of the period. ILaodikeia 48 and 82.1 attest to both Greek and Roman inhabitants of Laodicea involved in business enterprises. Additionally, Strabo attributes the initial growth of Laodicea and its ability to recover after invasion or disaster to the fertility of the region and prosperity of the inhabitants and also notes that one of the benefactors, Polemon son of Zeno, was so impressive that he was appointed as a client king of the region by the Romans (Geogr.

12.8.16).38 In terms of specific business enterprises, Strabo notes the pro33. Peter Thonemann, "Phrygia: An Anarchist History, 950 BC–AD 100," in Roman Phrgia, ed. Peter Thonnemann (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

2013), 28.

34. Leschhorn, "Le monnayage," 254.

35. Stephen Mitchell, Anatolia: Land, Men and Gods in Asia Minor, 2 vols.

(Oxford: Clarendon, 1993), 1:247–50, 256–57.

36. Metcalf, "Regionalism in the Coinage of Asia Minor," 159.

37. Thonemann, "Phrygia," 28.

38. Strabo, Geogr. 12.8.16: "Laodiceia, though formerly small, grew large in our time and in that of our fathers, even though it had been damaged by siege in the time of Mithridates Eupator. However, it was the fertility of its territory and the prosper-

Michael P. Theophilos duction of the high-quality and desirable black wool, which was a very lucrative local enterprise (Strabo, Geogr. 12.8.16),39 a Laodicean characteristic echoed in both Vitruvius (Arch. 8.3.14) and Pliny the Elder (Nat.

8.73.190). The only perceived detriment of Laodicea that Strabo highlights is that the region is prone to earthquakes, a phenomenon he attributes to the subterranean rivers (Strabo, Geogr. 12.8.16).40 ity of certain of its citizens that made it great" (Ἡ δὲ Λαοδίκεια, μικρὰ πρότερον οὖσα, αὔξησιν ἔλαβεν ἐφ᾿ ἡμῶν καὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων πατέρων, καίτοι κακωθεῖσα ἐκ πολιορκίας ἐπὶ

Μιθριδάτου τοῦ Εὐπάτορος· ἀλλ᾿ ἡ τῆς χώρας ἀρετὴ καὶ τῶν πολιτῶν τινὲς εὐτυχήσαντες μεγάλην ἐποίησαν αὐτήν); "At first Hieron, who left to the people an inheritance of more than two thousand talents and adorned the city with many dedicated offerings, and later Zeno the rhetorician and his son Polemon, the latter of whom, because of his bravery and honesty, was thought worthy even of a kingdom, at first by Antony and later by Augustus" (Ἱέρων μὲν πρότερον, ὃς πλειόνων ἢ δισχιλίων ταλάντων κληρονομίαν κατέλιπε τῷ δήμῳ πολλοῖς τ᾿ ἀναθήμασιν ἐκόσμησε τὴν πόλιν, Ζήνων δὲ ὁ ῥήτωρ ὕστερον καὶ ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ Πολέμων, ὃς καὶ βασιλείας ἠξιώθη διὰ τὰς ἀνδραγαθίας ὑπ᾿ Ἀντωνίου μὲν πρότερον, ὑπὸ Καίσαρος δὲ τοῦ Σεβαστοῦ μετὰ ταῦτα). Translations from Strabo, Books

10–12, vol. 5 of Geography, trans. Horace Leonard Jones, LCL (Cambridge: Harvard

University Press, 1928), 510–11.

39. Strabo, Geogr. 12.8.16: "The country round Laodiceia produces sheep that are excellent, not only for the softness of their wool, in which they surpass even the Milesian wool, but also for its raven-black colour, so that the Laodiceians derive splendid revenue from it, as do also the neighbouring Colosseni from the colour which bears the same name" (φέρει δ᾿ ὁ περὶ τὴν Λαοδίκειαν τόπος προβάτων ἀρετὰς οὐκ εἰς μαλακότητα μόνον τῶν ἐρίων, ᾗ καὶ τῶν Μιλησίων διαφέρει, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς τὴν κοραξὴν χρόαν, ὥστε καὶ προσοδεύονται λαμπρῶς ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν· ὥσπερ καὶ οἱ Κολοσσηνοὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ὁμωνύμου χρώματος πλησίον οἰκοῦντες; trans. Jones). See also ILaodikeia 50, which attests to the association of textile and garment industries.

40. Strabo, Geogr. 12.8.16: "And here the Caprus River joins the Maeander, as does also the Lycus, a river of good size, after which the city is called the 'Laodiceia near Lycus. Above the city lies Mt. Cadmus, whence the Lycus flows, as does also another river of the same name as the mountain. But the Lycus flows underground for the most part, and then, after emerging to the surface, unites with the other rivers, thus indicating that the country is full of holes and subject to earthquakes; for if any other country is subject to earthquakes, Laodiceia is, and so is Carura in the neighbouring country" (ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ ὁ Κάπρος καὶ ὁ Λύκος συμβάλλει τῷ Μαιάνδρῳ ποταμῷ, ποταμὸς εὐμεγέθης, ἀφ᾿ οὗ καὶ ἡ πρὸς τῷ Λύκῳ Λαοδίκεια λέγεται. ὑπέρκειται δὲ τῆς πόλεως ὄρος Κάδμος, ἐξ οὗ καὶ ὁ Λύκος ῥεῖ, καὶ ἄλλος ὁμώνυμος τῷ ὄρει. τὸ πλέον δ᾿ οὗτος ὑπὸ γῆς ῥυείς, εἶτ᾿ ἀνακύψας συνέπεσεν εἰς ταὐτὸ τοῖς ἄλλοις ποταμοῖς, ἐμφαίνων ἅμα καὶ τὸ πολύτρητον τῆς χώρας καὶ τὸ εὔσειστον· εἰ γάρ τις ἄλλη, καὶ ἡ Λαοδίκεια εὔσειστος, καὶ τῆς πλησιοχώρου δὲ Κάρουρα; trans. Jones). Strabo indicates in 12.8.18 that the city received Roman support for earthquake damage in 20 BCE (see Seuto-

A Case Study from Laodicea

The mint at Laodicea, both in the late Republican and early Imperial period, was notably active, producing coinage with imperial portraiture as well as pseudo-autonomous issues.41 There are at least 70 provincial coin types from first-century Laodicea presently attested in 538 extant specimens catalogued in Roman Provincial Coinage and its supplements.42

Adding to this diverse image is Andrew Burnett, Michel Amandry, and Ian Carradice's consideration of the possibility that Laodicea was the home base for a numismatic die engraver who serviced the upper Maeander valley and southern Phrygia.43 In sum, the picture, in Phrygia generally, and at Laodicea in particular, is that of a diverse and extensive program of minting and circulation. Our following case study analysis will seek to elucidate themes significantly informed by the numismatic record and relate these to concerns that are particularly relevant for New Testament studies.

Although a somewhat artificial division, we will pursue these concerns along the following lines: (1) Laodicea's relationship with Rome and its cultivation of imperial relations, (2) the polyvalent religious identities in nius, Tib. 8). Tacitus (Ann. 14.27) notes that on another occasion (60 CE) Laodicea declined Roman support for repairs preferring to recover through recourse to its own resources; remarkable attestation of the wealth of the city. For further discussion, see section 4.3 below.

41. Pseudo-autonomous is the typical nomenclature for provincial coins without the depiction of the emperor's portrait on the obverse.

42. Coinage produced under Augustus (RPC 1.2892, seven examples [Seitalkas]; RPC 1.2893–2895, forty-two examples [Zeuxis philalethes]; RPC 1.2896–2897, twenty-three examples [Sosthenes]; RPC 1.2898–2900, thirty-six examples [Anto Polemon philopatris]); Tiberius (RPC 1.2901–2005, fifty-five examples [Pythes Pythou];

RPC 1.2906–2907, thirty-seven examples [Dioskourides]; RPC 1.2908–2910, twentynine examples [Pythes Pythou II]; RPC 1.2911, thirteen examples [Dioskourides II]);

Claudius (RPC 1.2912–2916 [inclusive of 2912A in RPC Supp. 4, 37, and S-2913A in RPC Supp. 1–3, 127, details of which see below], sixty-three examples [Anto Polemon, son of Zenon, priest for the fourth time]); Nero (RPC 1.2917–2918, twenty-six examples [Gaios Postomos]; RPC 1.2919, nine examples [Krateros nomothetes]; RPC

1.2920–2925, sixty-nine examples [Ioulios Andronikos euergetes and Ioulia Zenonis];

RPC 1.2926–2927, twenty-five examples [Aineias]; RPC 1.2928, eighteen examples [Anto Zenon, son of Zenon]), Vespasian (RPC 2.1268, three examples [no personal name]; RPC 2.1269–1270, five examples [Ioulios Andronikos euergetes]; RPC 2.1271, four examples [Marcellus procus]); Titus (RPC 2.1272–1280, fifty-three examples

[Gaios Ioulios Kotys and Klaudia Zeonis]); Domitian, seventy-five examples (RPC 2.1281–1296 [Kornelios Dioskourides]), and three further types that are possibly late first century CE attested in fifteen examples (RPC 2.1297–1299).

43. RPC 1, p. 376, 475.

Michael P. Theophilos Laodicea, and (3) other local traditions and difficulties in distilling a clear view of the issues.

4.1. Laodicea's Relationship with Rome and Its Cultivation of Imperial Relations The mid-twentieth century witnessed the canvasing of a minority view that postulated that the expansion and development of the Roman Empire should be classified as defensive imperialism, accidental, and lacking any deliberate policy of expansion or intent by the Roman state.44 The same has also been suggested of Rome's cultural approach to conquered territory and the process of Romanization. Martin Millett, for example, proposed that the native elite were responsible for initiating the change and setting new fashions,45 which at very best obfuscates Rome's role in the cultivation of the elites' perpetuation of Roman ideals. Both these views of Roman passive expansion (Badien et al.) and passive Romanization (Millett et al.) have been tested throughout the last half of the twentieth century and been found to be wanting in several regards,46 not least in its omission of serious consideration of numismatic material.

44. Ernst Badian, Roman Imperialism in the Late Republic (Oxford: Blackwell, 1968), 29–43; M. Cary, A History of Rome down to the Reign of Constantine (London:

Macmillan, 1954), 143–45; Howard H. Scullard, A History of the Roman World, 753–

146 BC (London: Methuen, 1951), 141–45; Paul Veyne, "Y a-t-il eu un Impérialisme

Romain?," Mélanges de l'Ecole française de Rome 87 (1975): 793–855.

45. Martin Millett, The Romanization of Britain: An Essay in Archaeological Interpretation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 99–101.

46. On the former see Peter A. Brunt, review of Die Aussenpolitik des Augustus und die augusteische Dichtung, by H. G. Meyer, JRS 53 (1963): 170–76; William V.

Harris, War and Imperialism in Republican Rome, 327–70 B.C. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), 54–104; Benjamin Isaac, The Limits of Empire: The Roman Army in the East (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), 19–53, 372–418; C. R. Whittaker,

Frontiers of the Roman Empire (Baltimore: John Hopkins Press, 1994), 31–59. On the latter, see Francis H. Haverfield, The Romanization of Roman Britain (Oxford: Oxford

University Press, 1915), 11–14; Peter A. Brunt, "The Romanization of the Local Ruling

Classes in the Roman Empire," in Assimilation et résistance à la culture gréco-romaine dans le monde ancien: Travaux du VIe Congrès international d'études classiques, ed. D.

M. Pippidi (Paris: Belles Lettres, 1974), 161–73; Peter Garnsey and Richard P. Saller,

The Roman Empire: Economy, Society and Culture (Oakland: University of California

Press, 1987), 186–95.

A Case Study from Laodicea

Asia Minor is certainly no exception in this regard. Among others, Bruce W. Winter has argued that Asia Minor displays civic obligation that is more consistent with Roman rather than Greek traditions.47 Mitchell notes that the "diffusion of the cult of Augustus and of the other members of his family in Asia Minor and the Greek East from the beginning of the empire was rapid, indeed almost instantaneous."48 The aspirations and manner of governance of many cities in western Asia Minor in the first century CE were defined by interest in/and allegiance to Rome.49 This is demonstrably visible on multiple levels including governance where the Greek ideals of independent city-state had been supplanted by Roman civic obedience and duty. This commitment to and association with Rome included (both real and perceived) benefits to the local community. Barbara Levick has gone so far as to suggest that the wellbeing of the citizens in Asia Minor primarily depended on participating in the Roman system of imperial expectations and relations.50

Laodicea's aspiration to demonstrate her positive standing with Rome is celebrated on the so-called Ὁμόνοια (lit. "oneness of mind") coinage.

The Roman ideal of homonoia contrasts sharply with historic Greek civil unrest, from whence the term ὁμόνοια derived.51 A. R. R. Sheppard notes the central role Concordia performed in administering this dimension of Roman life during the Imperial period, and H. L. Wilson highlights the importance of the cult of Concordia in its relation to the imperial family.52 It is certainly unproblematic to document widespread attestation of this connection in both epigraphic (CIL 2.3349; 3.14195; 4.91–94;

47. Bruce W. Winter, Seek the Welfare of the City: Christians as Benefactors and Citizens (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 124–43.

48. Mitchell, Anatolia, 1:100.

49. Theodor Mommsen argues for the intensified Romanization of Phrygia during this period, see Theodor Mommsen, The Provinces of the Roman Empire: The European Provinces (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968).

50. Barbara Levick, Roman Colonies in Southern Asia Minor (Oxford: Clarendon, 1967), 104–5.

51. Peter Funke, Homonoia und Arche: Athen und die griechische Staatenwelt vom Ende des Peloponnesischen Krieges bis zum Königfrieden (404/3–287/6 v. Chr.) (Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1980); Andrés Rosler, Political Authority and Obligation in Aristotle

(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 210–14.

52. A. R. R. Sheppard, "Homonoia in the Greek Cities of the Roman Empire,"

Ancient Society 15–17 (1984–1986): 229–52; H. L. Wilson, "A New Collegium at Rome," American Journal of Archaeology 16.1 (1912): 94–96.

Michael P. Theophilos 8.15447) and numismatic (Augustus RIC 1.72; Tiberius 1.55; Nero 1.48;

Galba 1.35) evidence.

Turning to provincial coinage at Laodicea, we note the following.

RPC 1.2912 is an issue under Claudius (50–54 CE). The obverse reads ΔΗΜΟΣ ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΖΜΥΡΝΑΙΩΝ ("people of Laodicea and Smyrna") with the appropriate accompanying laureate head of the Demos of Laodicea facing the laureate head of the Demos of Smyrna. The obverse has ΕΠΙ ΙΕΡΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΩΝΙΟΥ ΠΟ ΥΙΟΥ ΖΗΝΩΝΟΣ ("at the time of the priest Antonios Polemon, son of Zenon")53 with a depiction of Zeus Laodiceus standing facing left with eagle and staff. A similar homonoia issue under Nero, RPC 1.2928 has ΝΕΡΩΝ ΣΕΒΑΣΤΟΣ

("Nero Augustus") with laureate head on the obverse facing right. The reverse depicts the Demoi of Laodicea and Smyrna clasping hands and holding scepters and inscribes the names of the two magistrates on the perimeter, ΑΝΤΩ[ΝΙΟΣ] ΖΗΝΩΝΟΣ ΖΗΝΩΝ ΥΙΟΣ

ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ ΖΜΥΡΝΑΙΩΝ ("Antonios, son of Zenon and Zenon"), with ΟΜΗΡΟΣ ("harmony") between the figures. A third example of homonoia coinage appears during the reign of Vespasian under the Magistrate Marcellus procos. RPC 2.1271 inscribes ΔΗΜΟ ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ

("people of Laodicea") with the laureate head of Demos facing right. The reverse has ΟΜΟΝΟΙΑ ΕΠΙ ΜΑΡΚΕΛΛΟΥ ΑΝΘΥ(ΠΑΤΟΣ) ("concord at the time of Marcellus, proconsul") in five lines in a laurel wreath.

In 70–73 CE Titus Clodius Eprius Marcellus held the proconsul, and it seems entirely probably that RPC 2.1271 was issued after a period of civil strife in Asia in order to ease tensions in the region.54

Peter R. Franke and D. A. O. Klose agree that there does not appear to be an overall explanation for the homonoia coinage, and Burnett et al. suggest that they are "a single manifestation of many different sets of circumstances (rivalry between cities, political or religious links, bound53. RPC 1.2914 indicates Antonios Polemon was priest for the fourth time during this period.

54. Peter J. Thonemann, The Menander Valley: A Historical Geography from Antiquity to Byzantium (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 152. For other homonoia coinage from the broader region during the reign of Domitian see

RPC 2.920 (Pergamum and Ephesus), RPC 2.1079–1093 (Ephesus and Smyrna), RPC 2.1332 (Philadelphia and Ephesus), RPC 2.1317 (Sardis and Smyrna), and RPC 2.1369

(Aezani and Cadi).

A Case Study from Laodicea

ary disputes)."55 Examples in the Julio-Claudian period (such as RPC 1.1553 [Thessalonica and Rome], RPC 1.2143 [Amisus and Rome stand facing], RPC 1.2988 [Pergamum and Sardis under Augustus], RPC 1.5445

[Hypaepa and Sardis under Tiberius], RPC 1.5446 [Hypaepa and Sardis], RPC 1.2912 [Laodicea and Smyrna under Claudius] noted above, RPC

1.2928 [Laodicea and Smyrna under Nero] noted above) indicate that alliance coinages had not yet been standardized. For instance, the word

OMONOIA does not always occur, rather two cities can simply be listed (RPC 1.1553, RPC 1.2143), joined by καί (1.2912), or even have a variant of OMONOIA, see also ΟΜΗΡΟΣ (1.2928)—which may refer to the person responsible for the issue rather than the relationship per se, but it is evident that the phraseology is not standardized. So much more is the case when one includes the "hundred different issues of homonoia ('concord') coinages, recording concord between two or more cities … [made] over seventy cities under the empire."56

Although there may not have been a homogenous catalyst for these homonoia issues, it was a distinct mechanism by which "the coin issues served as symbols that mediated the power within regional alliances, bolstered the prestige of the divine realm in human activity and provided the glue that bound together the political and the cosmic spheres."57 It is readily apparent that the pronouncement of harmonious relationships between two cities on coinage was a meaningful cultural symbol, which implemented a local structure and enhanced civic identity, and an opportunity for the urban elite to operate as a "cultural conveyor and construct of Roman imperialism,"58 precisely where the Roman ideal of pax was embodied and eagerly embraced.

55. Peter R. Franke, "Zu den Homonoia-Münzen Kleinasiens," in Stuttgarter Kolloquium zur Historische Geographie des Altertums I, 1980, ed. Eckart Olshausen

(Bonn: Habelt, 1987), 81–102; Dietrich O. A. Klose, Die Münzprägung von Smyrna in der römischen Kaiserzeit (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1987), 44–63; RPC 1, 48.

56. Simon R. F. Price, Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 126. On distribution and frequency see Dietmar Kienast, "Die Homonoiaverträge in der romischen Kaiserzeit," JNG 14

(1964): 51–64; Jean Pierre Callu, La Politique Monetaire Desempereurs Romains de 238 à 311 (Paris: de Boccard, 1969), 29–33.

57. Douglas R. Edwards, "Defining the Web of Power in Asia Minor: The Novelist Chariton and His City Aphrodisias," JAAR 63.3 (1994): 710.

58. C. R. Whittaker, "Imperialism and Culture: The Roman Initiative," in Dialogues in Roman Imperialism: Power, Discourse and Discrepant Experience in the

Michael P. Theophilos Laodicea, like the other cities mentioned in Rev 2–3, was deeply rooted in the Roman administrative, commercial, and religious systems represented by the homonoia coinage. The early Christian community in Asia Minor generally, and Laodicea in particular, would have been under considerable pressure to participate in and support notions of imperial identity. Arjan Zuiderhoek and Wouter Vanacker parse this identity as "belonging to, and identification with, the Imperium Romanum …

[namely,] ideological notions, ideas, institutions and practices produced by the centre of power and/or its representatives."59 In Laodicea the Imperium Romanum took many forms, including an impressive stadium (280 m x 70 m) dedicated by Titus in 79 CE, decorative city gates, two theaters

(the latter one built under Hadrian), baths, agora, temples, and a sophisticated sanitation system that was masterfully engineered.60 Several of these architectural features are accented in the iconography and inscriptions on first century Laodicean coinage.

According to the most up to date record of coinage from Laodicea,61 Domitian issued sixteen coin-types during his reign, preserved in seventyfive extant coins as published in RPC 2.1281–1296. Almost 40 percent of the Domitian types (six out of sixteen) variously depict, on the reverse, an imperial temple as either a tetrastyle (four column, RPC 2.1284, 2.1286,

2.1287, 2.1290), or hexastyle (six column, RPC 2.1281, 2.1291) façade rising above a flight of three or four steps.62 S. J. Friesen suggests that the Roman Empire, ed. David J. Mattingly (Ann Arbor: Cushing-Malloy, 1997), 145.

Whittaker also notes that the "instruments of power to realize this imperial ideology were the army and the city.… [The] ideology of cities coupled them to the moral order of society as a whole and to the securitas of empire" (144).

59. Arjan Zuiderhoek and Wouter Vanacker, "Introduction: Imperial Identities in the Roman World," in Imperial Identities in the Roman World, ed. Wouter Vanacker and Arjun Zuiderhoek (London: Routledge, 2017), 2. See further Andrew Lintott,

Imperium Romanum: Politics and Administration (London: Routledge, 1993).

60. Stadium: ILaodikeia 15; Gates: C. Şimşek, Laodikeia (Laodikeia ad Lycum) (Istanbul: Yayinlari, 2007), 92–102; Theatres: Şimşek, Laodikeia, 207–20; Baths: ILaodikeia 14; Agora: Şimşek, Laodikeia, 221–24. On temple, see further below; On sanitation: ILoad 13–14; Gerald L. Stevens, Revelation: The Past and Future of John's Apocalypse (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2014), 351.

61. RPC 1 and RPC 2, read together with supplementary material in RPC Supp.

1–3, RPC Supp. 4, and RPC Supp. 5.

62. Thus far the imperial sacral structure has not been located, presumably because only a limited area of the city has been excavated. 1991 was the first time modern methods of archaeology were applied to Laodicea. Attention was directed

A Case Study from Laodicea

omission of the two columns in tetrastyle depiction is deliberate in order to provide space for the engraver to include images of statues.63 However, this cannot be consistently applied to even this very short series of Domitian, as RPC 2.1290 and 2.1291 have only four columns and no depiction of figures between. Nonetheless, the obverses of the series depict Domitian

(RPC 2.1286, 2.1287), Domitia (2.1281, 2.1290, 2.1291), or both Domitian and Domitia (2.1284).

Of particular interest is RPC 2.1284, which in addition to the facing busts of the imperial couple, has the inscription ΔΟΜΙΤΙΑΝΟC KAICAP

CEBACTOC ΓEPMANIKOC ΔOMITIA CEBACTH ("Domitian Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Domitia Augusta"). The title Germanicus would imply that the coin was struck subsequent to Domitian's victory over the Chatti (83 CE), where he assumed that title.64 This is reinforced through other military themes that are evident on this particular coin, including the cuirassed bust of Domitian on the obverse, and the inscription

EΠΙNEIKIOC ("of victory" or "triumphal") on the architrave of the fourcolumn temple on the reverse. The male and female figures (Domitian and Domitia) are enclosed within the temple also support this military picture with a victory trophy of Nike held between them. Domitian is also cuirassed and holds a spear in his left hand, while Domitia holds a scepter in her right.

The obverse of RPC 2.1281 depicts the draped bust of Domitia facing right, with accompanying inscription ΔΟΜΙΤΙΑ CΕΒΑCΤΗ.

The reverse has the name of the magistrate, ΔΙΑ ΚΟΡ(ΝΕΛΙΟC) ΔΙΟCΚΟΥΡΙΔΟΥ, an ethnic identification, ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ, and the aforementioned impressive hexastyle imperial temple. Although the emperor cult was officially introduced to Asia Minor at Pergamum in 29

BCE through the construction of a temple to Roma and Augustus,65 it primarily toward the Severan-era nymphaeum, the results of which were published in Jean des Gagniers et al., Laodicée du Lycos: Le Nymphée, Campagnes 1961–1963 (Paris: de Boccard, 1969).

63. Steven J. Friesen, Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John: Reading Revelation in the Ruins (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 61–62.

64. Huttner, Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley, 180; Peter Kneissl, Die Siegestitulatur der römischen Kaiser (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1969), 43–48.

65. Christian Habicht, "Die augusteische Zeit und das erste Jahrhundert nach Christi Geburt," in Les Culte Des Souverains Dans L'Empire Romain: 7 Exposés Suivis de Discussions, ed. W. den Boer (Geneva: Fondation Hardt pour l'étude de l'antiquité classique, 1973), 55.

Michael P. Theophilos was eagerly embraced by cities of the Lycus Valley. Inscriptions and other sources from the region indicate that the influential Antonii Zenones/

Polemones family was a significant part of advancing the emperor cult at Laodicea and a role that Ulrich Huttner describes as introducing initiatives that "support … [the] cultic veneration of the imperial house."66

Allegiance to the imperial cult, as demonstrated on coinage of Laodicea surveyed above, is consistent with the epigraphic evidence. In an honorary inscription on a marble slab found at Attouda (MAMA 6.66), Livia, the wife of Augustus, is identified as Λιβίαν θεάν, γυν[αῖκα αὐτοκράτορος] |

A frequently overlooked dimension of this theme at Laodicea is the physical placement of the image of the emperor on a provincial coin.

Typical for a standard provincial Roman coin of Laodicea is to depict the emperor's bust on the obverse and an image of a deity (typically Zeus but other gods are also copiously attested) on the reverse. This phenomenon is clearly apparent in Laodicea under Augustus (e.g., RPC 1.2893, 2894),

Tiberius (e.g., RPC 1.2901, 2908), Claudius (e.g., RPC 1.2913, 2916), Nero (e.g., RPC 1.2917, 2919), Vespasian (e.g., RPC 2.1268, 1269), Titus

(e.g., RPC 2.1273), and Domitian (e.g., RPC 2.1282, 1283). This strategic positioning of portraits functioned on various levels to emphasize the connection between divinity and emperor. The obverse of coins, which hitherto had carried an image of the head of gods, now displayed a youthful Augustus and subsequently other emperors. Ramsay highlights the significance of the subtle but profound iconographic shift when he notes,

"there was nothing else to hold the province together in a unity except the enthusiastic loyalty which all felt to the Roman imperial government."68

This theme is particularly evident in RPC 2.1295, a coin from Laodicea under Domitian, which depicts a helmeted and draped bust of Roma with the ethnic inscription ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ on the obverse, and then, quite remarkably, depicts the celebrated image of Rome's founding of the wolf and twins on the reverse. RPC 2.1293 and 1294 have a similar bust

66. Huttner, Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley, 180. See also ILaodikeia 53;

Peter J. Thonemann, "Polemo, Son of Polemo (Dio, 59.12.2)," EA 37 (2004): 144–50.

67. Compare the dedication to Zeus Soter and the divine emperors (ΘΕΟΙ ΣΕΒΑΣΤΟΙ), Τ. Ritti, H. H. Baysal, E. Miranda, F. Guizzi, Catalogo delle iscrizioni latine e greche, Museo archeologico di Denizli-Pamukkale (Naples: Università degli

Studi, 2008), 94, §29.

68. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 84.

A Case Study from Laodicea

of Roma on the obverse. The composite picture at Laodicea is one of the aristocracy's imperial indebtedness, political commitment, and ideological allegiance to Rome.

In this light the narratives of the New Testament that intersect with the immediate region or city of Laodicea (Col 2:1; 4:13, 15, 16; Rev 1:11;

3:14) would have ostensibly been, at the very least, in ideological tension with the competing claims for allegiance between the Imperium Romanum, which demanded the loyalty of its subjects, and the distinct claims of the early Christians regarding the superiority of their κύριος over the imperial κύριος. This is distinctly highlighted in the broader context of the apocalyptic proclamation to Laodicea (cf. Rev 1:8; 22:21 [κύριος]; 3:14

[ἀμήν]; 19:16 [κύριος κυρίων]) and the rhetoric of empire in Colossians (Col 2:15 [τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς ἐξουσίας]), among many other examples that have been investigated.69

4.2. Polyvalent Religious Identities in Laodicea The imperial cult (noted above) was not the only expression of communal identity in Laodicea. Indeed, there were a great variety of temples and diversity of gods and goddesses in and around the city. No less than a dozen deities, a significant portion of the Greco-Roman pantheon, were current throughout the first century. This diversity of tradition and local interest is well represented on the coinage of the city and provides a distinct window into the religious, socioeconomic, and political matrix of Laodicea.

By far the most popular divinity at Laodicea was Zeus. The triple Syrian Gate dedicated by Vespasian in 79 CE has an inscription (84–85 CE) that associates Zeus and Domitian Διὶ Μεγίστωι Σωτῆρι καὶ Αὐτοκράτορι

[Δ̣ομιτιανῶ̣ι̣] Καίσαρι ("for Zeus the greatest saviour and Imperator Domitian").70 It is thus no surprise to see Zeus feature prominently on the iconography of coinage in Laodicea, including several examples under Augustus (RPC 1.2893, 2894, 2896, 3898), Tiberius (1.2901, 2906, 2908),

69. Among other good works are Richard A. Horsley, ed., Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society (Harrisburg: Trinity Press International),

1997, and Horsley, ed., In the Shadow of Empire: Reclaiming the Bible as a History of Faithful Resistance (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008).

70. ILaodikeia 24b. See des Gagniers's discussion of earlier traditions of Zeus in the region based on Pliny, Nat. 5.105 in Gagniers et al., Laodicée du Lycos, 1.

Michael P. Theophilos Claudius (1.2912, 2913, 2914), Nero (1.2917, 2919, 2920, 2921, 2922, 2923,

2926), Vespasian (2.1268, 1269, 1270), and Domitian (2.1282, 1288, 1292).

Just outside the urban center of Laodicea, on the road toward Carura, Strabo, Geogr. 12.8.20 records that "between Laodiceia and Carura is a temple of Mên Carus, as it is called, which is held in remarkable veneration. In my own time a great Herophileian school of medicine has been established by Zeuxis, and afterwards carried on by Alexander Philalethes" (Μεταξὺ δὲ τῆς Λαοδικείας καὶ τῶν Καρούρων ἱερόν ἐστι Μηνὸς Κάρου καλούμενον, τιμώμενον ἀξιολόγως. συνέστηκε δὲ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς διδασκαλεῖον

Ἡροφιλείων ἰατρῶν μέγα ὑπὸ Ζεύξιδος, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Φιλαλήθους; trans. Jones). Representations of the god Men wearing a Phrygian cap are fairly common for the period and are attested in Laodicea. RPC 1.2907 is a small bronze issue of Dioskourides under Tiberius which depicts a bust of Men, wearing a Phrygian cap facing right on the obverse with ethnic ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ. Similar iconography of Men with a cap occurs on RPC 1.2927, also from Laodicea, by Aineias under Nero.

Cognizant that Huttner cautions against automatically assuming syncretism with Asclepius, which E. Lane notes is rare in the ancient world,71 we note with cautious optimism that Zeuxis Philalethes, the director of the medical center under Augustus, also minted coins as magistrate at Laodicea in ca. 15 BC with the rod of Asclepius, the god of healing, on the reverse. RPC 1.2895 is a leaded bronze issue that has, on the obverse, a laureate head facing right with lituus (curved augural staff) in right field and ΣΕΒΑΣΤΟΣ inscribed in left. The obverse has ZEYΞΙΣ ΘΙΛΑΛΗΘΗΣ in two horizontal lines above a serpent-entwined staff, with ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ below. The connection with and interest in Asclepius, the god of healing, given Zeuxis's role is particularly appropriate.

Although there is no recorded oracle of Apollo in Laodicea, the appeal of Apollo was fervent. Louis Robert records a series of twenty-five inscriptions at the shrine of Apollo in Clarus (17 km northwest of Ephesus), which record a cultic delegation from Laodicea traveling over 200 km to consult the oracle of Apollo every year at its height.72 This interest in Apollo is also reflected in the coinage of Laodicea. RPC 1.2903 displays, on the obverse, the laureate bust of Apollo facing lyre to right, with ethnic inscription to 71. Huttner, Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley, 180; Eugene Lane, Interpretations and Testimonia, vol. 3 of Corpus Monumentorum Religionis dei Menis (Leiden:

Brill, 1976), 84.

72. Louis Robert, "Les inscriptions," in Gagniers et al., Laodicée du Lycos, 299–303.

A Case Study from Laodicea

left, ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ. The reverse has the name of the magistrate ΠΥΘΗΣ ΠΥΘΟΥ ("Pythes, son of Pythes") in two vertical lines upwards to left and right of a serpent-entwined altar, which is surmounted by headdress of Isis. RPC 1.2905 and 1.2909 similarly have, on the obverse, the laureate head of Apollo facing right, but RPC 1.2905 has lyre to left and monogram to right, whereas 1.2909 has lyre to the right and ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ to the left. Both RPC 1.2905 and 1.2909 depict the headdress of Isis on the reverse, but RPC 1.2909 has the headdress surmounted on an altar with the name of the magistrate ΠΥΘΗΣ ΠΥΘΟΥ ΔΙΣ ("Pythes, son of Pythes, the second"), rather than ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ as per RPC 1.2905.

The sustained interest in representing Apollo on the coinage of Laodicea throughout the breadth of the first century, including issues under Augustus (RPC 1.2903), Tiberius (1.2905, 1.2909), and Domitian (2.1294) is testament to the appeal of Apollo to the inhabitants of the city.

Depictions of and references to other gods are also evidenced on the first century coinage of Laodicea, albeit less regularly than those surveyed above. They are nonetheless important in providing a more accurate picture of the breadth of numismatic themes. Deities attested include

Aphrodite (RPC 1.2904, 1.2910, 1.2924, 1.2925), Isis (1.2903, 1.2905, 1.2909; 2.1278), Hera (2.1282), and Roma (2.1279, 2.1280, 2.1293, 2.1294,

2.1295, 2.1297).

4.3. Other Local Traditions and Comparative Statistics of Production There are several other motifs that emerge from the coinage of Laodicea throughout the first century, two of which warrant brief further comment.

First, a consistent theme in literary, epigraphic, and also numismatic sources is that of the abundant wealth of the city and region. As was highlighted in the survey of literary and epigraphic sources for the history and background of the city, the geographical positioning of the city contributed significantly to its prosperity (Strabo, Geogr. 12.8.16), as did its thriving economy (Vitruvius, Arch. 8.3.14; Pliny the Elder, Nat. 8.73.190).

This picture of economic prosperity in Laodicea, which even Cicero acknowledges and recommends as a place for financial services (Cicero,

Fam. 3.5.4, Att. 5.15.2), is celebrated in the iconography of the coinage.

RPC 1.2897, a leaded bronze minted by the magistrate Sosthenes under Augustus, depicts a capricorn with cornucopia on the obverse facing right, along with the inscription ΣΕΒΑΣΤΟΣ. The reverse has three ears of corn and accompanying ethnic and magistrate identification, ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ

Michael P. Theophilos ΣΩΣΘΕΝΗΣ. Similarly, an issue under Titus by Klaudia Zenonis has the helmeted bust of Roma facing right on the obverse and on the reverse has the ethnic and cornucopia. These symbols of abundance and nourishment, irrespective of its Greek or Roman aetiological account,73 provides a vivid symbol for a city to proclaim its prosperous status.

Similar displays of wealth and status are evident in the titles of Laodicean magistrates. RPC 1.2920 is a large bronze depicting a veiled bust of Boule facing the laureate head of Demos with accompanying inscription on the obverse, ΒΟΥΛΗ ΔΗΜΟΣ ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ. The reverse has

Zeus standing left with a staff and eagle with the name of the magistrate and title, ΙΟΥΛΙΟΣ ΑΝΔΡΟΝΙΚΟΣ ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΗΣ ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ

("Ioulios Andronikos, benefactor, of the Laodiceans"). It is significant that this issue accenting benefaction is dated to 62 CE, a period shortly following the earthquake of 60 CE and Laodicea's sufficiency to rebuild without Roman funds or monetary assistance. Tacitus records that "In the same year, Laodicea, one of the famous Asiatic cities, was laid in ruins by an earthquake, but recovered by its own resources, without assistance from ourselves" (Eodem anno ex inlustribus Asiae urbibus Laodicea tremore terrae prolapsa, nullo a nobis remedio, propriis opibus revaluit; Ann. 14.27).74

RPC 2.1269 has the laureate head of Vespasian facing right on the obverse with inscription ΟΥΕΣΠΑΣΙΑΝΟΣ ΚΑΙΣΑΡ ΣΕΒΑΣΤΟΣ, and Zeus standing facing left on the reverse, with the name and then title of the magistrate, ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΗΣ ("benefactor"), accompanied by the ethnic,

ΛΑΟΔΙΚΕΩΝ. These examples of numismatic displays of benefaction are not surprising, given the quantity and admiration of benefaction in the city in its recent past. Strabo, for instance, notes that an individual of extraordinary wealth gave 2,000 talents to the city of Laodicea in the first century BCE, in addition to the civic improvements donated for public benefit (Geogr. 12.8.16).

The second theme that relates to coinage that deserves further consideration is the volume of coinage minted by the city of Laodicea in the first century and how this might compare with other locales. We noted above (§2) Leschhorn's landmark study, nuanced by Ann Johnston's com73. Greek: David Leeming, The Oxford Companion to World Mythology (Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 2005), 13; Roman: Fears, "Cult of Virtues and Roman Imperial Ideology," 827–948.

74. Translation from Tacitus, Annals: Books 13–16, trans. John Jackson, LCL (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1937), 150–51.

A Case Study from Laodicea

ments, on the distribution and pattern of coinage in Asia Minor where his focus was primarily on the number of cities issuing coins.75 However, our question at this point is sharpened considerably. How does the output of coinage at Laodicea, in terms of the numerical volume of coins minted, as well as their great variety of type, compare with the volume and type in other cities in Asia Minor and beyond? There are several models of die estimation formulae, in both absolute and relative terms, that have been proposed and contested over the last thirty years.76 It is rare to have a full record of the output of ancient coinage and to be able to compare it directly with coin issues, such as with the Amphictionic coinage of Delphi.77 Preferably numismatists attempt to develop statistical methods to calculate output at a < 95 percent confidence interval. Typically this involves, (1) an estimate of the number of dies used through detailed die studies which catalogue and link the slight variations of letter forms or relative placement of features of the coin in the hand cut dies, multiplied by, (2) an estimate of how many coins were struck per die. The difficulty in this process is the potential for methodological issues such as sample size, random selection of samples, assumptions regarding the consistent number of coin-strikes per die, et cetera … any of which has the potential to render the estimation wildly inaccurate. Warren W. Esty has admirably attempted to preempt and minimize these biases in his own model, but no one model has emerged as the scholarly consensus among numismatists.78

Let us now return to the question of coinage in Asia Minor more broadly and Laodicea in particular. Although some preliminary work has been carried out on die studies of the cistophoric coinage of Asia Minor

75. Leschhorn, "Le monnayage"; see also Johnston, "Greek Imperial Statistics."

76. Christopher Howgego, "Coin Circulation and the Integration of the Roman Economy," JRA 7 (1994): 5–21; T. V. Buttrey, "Calculating Ancient Coin Production:

Facts and Fantasies," NumC 153 (1993): 338–45; Buttrey, "Calculating Ancient Coin

Production 2: Why It Cannot Be Done," NumC 154 (1999): 342–52; Buttrey, "The Content and Meaning of Coin Hoards," JRA 12 (1999): 526–32.

77. Philip Kinns, "The Amphictionic Coinage Reconsidered," NumC 143 (1983):

1–22.

78. Warren W. Esty, "Estimating the Size of a Coinage," NumC 144 (1984): 180– 83; Esty, "Estimation of the Size of a Coinage: A Survey and Comparison of Methods,"

NumC 146 (1986): 185–215. See the critique of Esty in C. S. S. Lyon, "Die Estimation:

Some Experiments with Simulated Samples of a Coinage," British Numismatic Journal

59 (1989): 1–12.

Michael P. Theophilos during the Republic,79 a detailed die study of the Laodicean coinage in conjunction with a comprehensive hoard analysis remains a desideratum for numismatic studies. In part, the difficulty is highlighted by William E.

Metcalf who notes that, "in theory, with a large enough sample, it would be possible to document the entire history of a coinage based on the history of its dies."80 But he willingly concedes that for many samples that are large, a "study by die is a practical impossibility."81 Therefore in the current absence of either a detailed die study or agreed upon formula for a "die to coin production ratio," we must appropriately nuance our view on the matter. However, if we were tempted to offer a crude summative statement on Laodicea's output, with the ready admission of its rudimentary and premature computation, one could note that within Asia Minor, Phrygia does seem to have the largest number of mints in operation during the first century,82 with an average of eleven mints per emperor from Augustus to Domitian. By similar analysis, most other regions of Asia Minor are dwarfed by Phrygia's activity.83 One could thus tentatively agree with Huttner, subject to the provisional nature of the impression that emerges, that, "during the imperial period … only a few cities in Asia Minor minted as much local money as Laodicea; the variety of coin types from Laodicea is extraordinary."84

5. Coins of Laodicea and New Testament Studies Laodicea is mentioned seven times in the New Testament, four times in relation to Colossae (Col 2:1; 4:15, 16 [2x]), once in relation to Hierapolis

(Col 4:13), and twice directly in reference to the Laodicean church in Revelation (Rev 1:11; 3:14). The significance of the Roman provincial coinage of Laodicea for helping understand elements of early Christianity in the 79. William E. Metcalf, The Silver Coinage of Cappadocia, Vespasian–Commodus

(New York: American Numismatic Society, 1996).

80. William E. Metcalf, introduction to The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage, ed. William E. Metcalf (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 5.

81. Metcalf, introduction, 5–6.

82. Leschhorn, "Le monnayage," 254.

83. Troas, two; Mysia, five; Ionia, seven; Lydia, nine; Caria, ten; Pontus, one;

Bithynia, five; Lycia, one. A similar picture emerges on the raw calculation of coin catalogue numbers representing coin types for each region as listed in RPC 1.2201–3248 and RPC 2.801–1425.

84. Huttner, Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley, 162.

A Case Study from Laodicea

Lycus Valley is at least fivefold. First, the homonoia coinage at Laodicea regarding their alliance with Smyrna under Claudius (RPC 1.2912), and again with Smyrna under Nero (1.2928), and a third example of concord at the time of Marcellus (2.1271) firmly establishes the eager willingness of the city to actively display loyalty to the program of Imperium Romanum.

Roman cultural assimilation of the church at Laodicea has caused complete misappropriation of allegiance and alliance so that the church can brashly declare, "I need nothing" ("οὐδὲν χρείαν ἔχω"; Rev 3:17) without any realization of their deprivation. Roman maintenance of power within the empire relied on mechanisms like the homonoia coinage to mediate power, especially so in the provinces, where Roman identity was harder for the empire to foster. It is this identity that Jesus, speaking to the church, seeks to redeem. Even now, despite the complete absence of any positive words to the church in Laodicea, there is hope offered to respond to the love of Jesus in repentance (Rev 3:19).

Second, the prominent display of the imperial temple on almost half of Domitian's coins, in either tetrastyle (RPC 2.1284, 1286, 1287, 1290) or hexastyle form (2.1281, 2.1291), highlights the genuine threat that the state religion posed to the young church in Laodicea. The posthumous deification of Julius Caesar in 42 BCE effectively set in motion the series of events which by the 80's CE saw Domitian issue demands to be referred to as "Lord and God" (Suetonius, Dom. 13). There are several indications throughout the book of Revelation that the early Christians were being pressured into emperor worship (Rev 13:4, 14–17; 14:9; 15:2; 16:2; 19:20;

20:4). The theme of the deified emperor in the coinage of Laodicea is seen in the placement of the emperor's image on the obverse and deity on the reverse, which serves to emphasize the connection between the two. There is a striking contrast between RPC 2.1284, with its militaristic titles (Germanicus, EΠΙNEIKIOC), dress (cuirass), and imagery (spear and victory trophy),85 and Jesus's promise to give a heavenly reward to the one who can resist the lure and threat of Rome in Laodicea, "I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne" (Ὁ νικῶν δώσω αὐτῷ καθίσαι μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ ἐν τῷ θρόνῳ μου; Rev 3:21).

Third, the thoroughly polytheistic context of the Lycus Valley is reflected in the coinage at Laodicea. That is not to say the inhabitants are presented with a generic one-size-fits-all version of the Greco-Roman gods. The indi85. See further Price, Rituals and Power, 183.

Michael P. Theophilos vidual gods are chosen, presented, and modified to suit the local Laodicean context. In a relief of Zeus (ILaodikeia 49), the god is shown wearing a sheep's skin coat, which is otherwise unknown. This was presumably motivated by a contextual connection to the thriving wool industry at Laodicea surveyed above. The adaptation of the gods is frequently detectable on coinage also.

Zeus becomes Zeus Laodiceus (RPC 1.2898, 1.2096), Tyche become Tyche of Laodicea with turreted bust (1.2925), and Laodicea is presented with turreted bust (2.1299). Amid this polytheistic context, two divinities stand out in light of the stated spirit of the church in Rev 3:17. The combination of the god Men and associated sanctuary (RPC 1.2907 and 1.2927), Asclepius

(1.2895), and Zeuxis Philalethes, the director of the medical center under Augustus, provides an illuminating and deeply ironic background to the accusation in 3:17, "blind" (τυφλὸς). The reference to being blind could also have the connotation of spiritual blindness and not understanding their true condition, hence the disjuncture between what they say, and what corresponds to reality.

Fourth, we briefly explored above the economic prosperity of the land and inhabitants of Laodicea. The overall picture we have of the inhabitants of the city is one of financial strength, agricultural stability, and a thriving economy. The threefold claim, "I am rich > I have prospered > I have no need" (Rev 3:17a) builds together as a climax, the first naming the fact, the second describing the process, and the third stating the result. Their prosperity was celebrated on coinage with symbols of abundance and nourishment (RPC 1.2897) as well as commemorating the regular benefaction that has defined the city's recent past (1.2920; 2.1269). However, despite the confidence of the church that they are self-sufficient (3:17a), they are informed of their true fivefold state (3:17b), "wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked" (ταλαίπωρος καὶ ἐλεεινὸς καὶ πτωχὸς καὶ τυφλὸς καὶ γυμνός).

Finally, Jesus invites the church at Laodicea to purchase from him "gold refined by fire" (χρυσίον πεπυρωμένον ἐκ πυρός). Importantly, the verb used, συμβουλεύω (Rev 3:18), connotes thoughtfulness, mutual participation, and considered advice rather that stern command. Although gold coinage had been introduced by Caesar from 46 BCE, it was relatively rare. Augustus only permitted gold for his own coinage issues, but no other gold coins were officially minted. There were some Bosporan gold coins minted, but they were exclusively for Bosporan kings (RPC 1.1842–

1863, 1.1937–1938), but there had not been any gold coins in Laodicea for centuries. Every coin produced by Laodicean mints in the first century was bronze. The reference to gold could have also brought back a

A Case Study from Laodicea

vivid recollection of the confiscation of twenty talents of gold from the sizeable Jewish community by L. Valerius Flaccus in 61–60 BCE (Cicero,

Flac. 28.68). Nonetheless, the emphasis of the biblical passage is that they require something that their wealth could never purchase. Herein lies the challenge to the ancient Christian church at Laodicea: they perceive their physical reality (wealth, security, and self-sufficiency) as reflective of their spiritual reality, yet they are spiritually destitute and are required to acknowledge that the very thing they lack or need, in this case gold, their city has never produced and is not available to them.

6. Conclusion Robert Grant's words are as valid today as when they were penned in 1968, where he advocated a tactile engagement with the material and upon the "concrete actuality of the ancient historians, of papyri, inscriptions, coins and other archaeological remains."86 Our analysis in this chapter has sought to illuminate aspects of the New Testament's interaction with Laodicea in light of the provincial numismatic record for the purposes of enhancing our understanding of nascent Christianity in the Lycus Valley. The above numismatic analysis sought (1) to offer a case study on Laodicea but suggest one could more plausibly expand subsequent studies to include coinages of the broader region, (2) to contextualize previous research on the use of coins for this purpose, (3) to clarify methodological considerations in the use of numismatic material, specifically addressing the question of why the propagandistic character, noticeability, and social origin of coinage does not disqualify the source material from inclusion in scholarly consideration, (4) to focus attention on significant numismatic themes at Laodicea, including representation of the city's relationship with Rome and active cultivation of the Imperium Romanum, the polyvalent religious identities in Laodicea, and assessment of the local realities which informed life in the city, and (5) in sum, to demonstrate that the numismatic evidence from Laodicea directly supports "the contention that the symbolism of the letters [Rev

2–3] was forcibly applicable to the original readers."87

86. Robert Grant, "American New Testament Study," JBL 87 (1968): 48.

87. Colin J. Hemer, The Letters of the Seven Churches of Asia in Their Local Setting

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