Notes
The Social Setting of the Ministry from its foundations.123 Sometimes the title άρχισυνάγωγος was given honorifically124 for services rendered,125 but we may assume that leadership and patronage went hand in hand, especially when a member's generosity extended to the gift of his home for communal use.
Summary This discussion suggests that the household played a central role in shaping
Graeco-Roman civilization — both in its political and social institutions and in the hopes and expectations of its members. Literary and archaeological evidence indicates that the ancient household was a major influence in the shaping of ancient groups. The householder's power over the affairs of his own home often extended to a wider sphere when he acted as patron and benefactor of groups broader than the household. The primary social universe in which the member of Graeco-Roman society lived was the household. The early church could not exist in such a milieu without something of that environment leaving its mark upon it.
Notes 1 These terms are used here only to help to identify the various elements constituting the household; they were not used consistently in the ancient world to define these respective social relationships; cf. Gaudemet, 1969, pp. 312f.
2 Finley, 1973, p. 18.
3 For example Jos. 24:15, where Π13. in "as for me and my house . . i s translated with οίκος in Codex A and οικία in Codex B.
4 For a discussion of the Old Testament evidence see Klauck, 1981, pp. 4f; Elliott,
1981, pp. 182-86.
5 This is a point Elliott, 1981, pp. 170-82, has not taken fully enough into account in his discussion of the household in Graeco-Roman times. See Gaudemet, 1969, pp. 286-358, for a more balanced discussion. For different uses of οίκος terminology see van Buren, 1937,2119-23.
6 Elliott, p. 173; see p, 244, n. 42, for further literature. For the Homeric period see
Finley, 1977, pp. 51-107; Lacey, 1968, Nilsson, 1940, pp. 65f.; Gaudemet, 1969, pp. 303-319.
7 For the state as modelled on the household in ancient Greece see Nilsson, 1940, p.
75; Lacey, 1986, pp. 125f argues that the cult of Vesta, goddess of the hearth, as part of official Roman state religion implies a similar modelling; cf. Ovid Fasti
6.308-318 for the connection ofVesta with the hearth.
8 For the moral responsibilities of the householder, see Oec. 2:5-7; for the proper relations between husbands and wives: 3:10-16; 7:3-43; 8:2-33; for the responsibilities of overseers: 12:1-15:1; cf. also Finley, 1973, p. 17.
9 Elliott, 1981, p. 174.
10 This is evinced by the many courtyard and portable household terracota altars excavated on the site of fifth to fourth-century B.C. Olynthus in Macedon. See
Robinson, 1938, p. 321 for courtyard altars, pp. 322-23 for portable ones; for pictures see plates 73, 81; idem, 1946, plates 40,169-173,39, 181-183,188. See Plato
Rep. 328C for a courtyard sacrifice. For further discussion of the Mediterranean housecult see Wachsmuth, 1980, pp. 34-75.
11 Gaudemet, 1969, p. 314. This is well illustrated by reference to the stone relief
The Household in the Ancient World
presented by Lacey, 1968, p. 17, where a mother, father, and child are seen before a household altar which is set before Zeus (the traditional god of the household cult); behind the family in miniature appear their ancestors, also facing Zeus; cf.
Aeschylus Pers. 609, 620; Coreph. 15. For a condemnation of house shrines see Plato Laws 909B, but for high regard for gods of the family and class see 729C. For traditional Greek household deities see Nilsson, 1940, pp. 65f. Dionysius Halicarnassus RA. 1:673 lists the Greek parallels to the Roman household gods (Penates).
For ancient Roman practice of propitiation of the spirits of the dead, which continued into the imperial period, see Livy 1:20; Ovid Fasti 535C» 541.
12 Stommel, 1969, p. 116.
13 Ibid., p. 119.
14 Betti, 1954, p. 16.
15 Gaudemet, 1969, p. 332.
16 Ibid., p. 328.
17 Finley, 1973, p. 19. This threefold division was theoretical and these spheres of power were subject to much development and change during the Republic and early Empire.
18 Nisbet, 1968, p. 206; Gaudemet, 1969, p. 320.
19 Nisbet, p. 210.
20 See ibid., pp. 208f. This lasted until 149 B.C., when Lex Calpurnia de Repetundis was established and the first Quaestia Perpetua — a permanent commission for the examination of public crimes. Before this, offences were dealt with by the Senate and execution of justice left to the familia. But traditional values may have lingered for some time: Aulus Gellius (Ν A. 10:23.4) cites Cato in support of the power of life and death of a husband over a wife who drinks too much wine and Seneca
(Ben. 3:11) describes the authority of a father as magistrates domesticus.
21 See Gaudemet, 1969, pp. 332f.
22 Judge, 1960b, p. 31. For a description of republican ideals see Cochrane, 1957, especially 1-113; Hammond, 1951. For the breakdown of republican ideals and a discussion of the mutual comfort of the household see Judge, op. cit., pp. 29f.
23 Ibid., p. 30. Even where they were pursued, traditional values asserted themselves, as may be seen in Cato's De Re Rustica and Columella's work of the same title.
24 Syme, 1939, pp. 10-27, summarily sketches the domestic and political mise en scène on the eve of the first triumvirate. See also Judge, 1960b, p. 32.
25 Judge, 1960a, pp. 6f.
26 Idem., 1960b, p. 30.
27 Hammond, 1951, pp. 89f.; Judge, 1960b, pp. 32f 28 For general discussion see Halliday, 1922, pp. 24-40; Ogilvie, 1986, pp. 100-105.
29 Nisbet, 1968, p. 209.
30 Loc. cit.
31 Satyncon 71:7; Stommel, 1969, p. 117 comments that the grave existed "als Behausung des Totes, in der sein Weiterleben gesichert werden soll unter
Verhältnissen, die im allgemeinen den irdischen Lebensbedürfnissen entsprechen."
32 Nisbet, 1968, p. 209.
33 Mantle, 1978, pp. 137ff.
34 Laws 2:10.19; cf. 2:19.48; De Domo Sua 41:109.
35 Rust 5:143.
36 Rust. 1:8.
37 Cato Rust. 5:143 describes such tasks.
38 Williams, 1978, p. 15.
The Social Setting of the Ministry 39 Ibid., pp. 8f. notes that this is suggested by continuing inscriptions to the genius of the paterfamilias: e.g., CIL 4, 1679. In Judaism, too, household religious festivities were led by the head of the family. Cf. RAC Haus II for further discussion.
40 Pelham, 1911, p. 109.
41 Satires of the period, which ridicule liberated women who cannot be kept silent at banquets, or who gad about neglecting their household tasks, testify to a period of social change (cf. Juvenal Sat. 6). Laudatio Turiae provides a more sober account of shifting family ideals: here a woman in the absence of her exiled husband proves herself more than able to protect the familia and provide for her husband's needs.
For discussion of shifting patterns see Rawson, 1986, pp. 1-57.
42 See Gaudemet, 1969, p. 335 for further discussion and Dio Cassius 56:10; examples of these laws are Lex Iuliae (de maritandis ordinibus or de adulteriis coercenàis; cf. Berger, PW 122, 2362f.) and Lex Papia Poppaea (cf. Schiller, PW Suppl. 6,
227-32).
43 Syme, 1985, p. 519; see pp. 509-24 (especially 520), 459-75 for the creation of ideology in Augustus* reign.
44 Elliott, p. 175.
45 For Augustus* use of family ideology, see his speech to married and unmarried men in the Forum in Dio Cassius 56:1-10.
46 Res Gestae Dim Augusti 35.
47 Judge, 1960b, p. 33.
48 See Tiberius' eulogy of Augustus in Dio Cassius 56:41.9f.
49 See Pliny's description of Trajan as a father in Lewis and Reinhold, 1966, p. 99.
50 See ibid., 20, pp. 85-88 for oaths of allegiance. Judge, 1960b, p. 34 provides an oath sworn by Paphlagonians and Roman businessmen to the house of Caesar.
51 For the state as a family see Lacey, 1986, pp. 125f.
52 Judge, 1960b, p, 33; political and household authority were similar even in Republican times: for the power of imperium as similar to patria potestas in the first century B.C. see Lacey, 1986, pp. 131 f.
53 Dill, 1904, p. 267, writing in the context of collegia but also applicable more generally.
54 Livy 4:30.
55 Livy 25:1.
56 Laws 2:10.25-26.
57 Cited by Nock, 1933, p. 74.
58 Ibid., pp. 116f.
59 Thus, e.g., Moore, 1920, pp. 236f.; Nock, 1964, pp. llf.
60 Though mythic the practice probably had some basis in fact; cf. Burkert, 1982, pp.
3f. for a discussion of wandering Orphic priests.
61 Origen Contra Celsum 6:24.; cf. 2 Tim. 3:6-7.
62 Papyri Graecae Magicae2 (ed. K. Preisedanz), I.84f. (Preisedanz 1,6). For evidence not later than A.D. 300: III.192 (1,40); IV.1859-1862 (1,130)
63 I.e. Villa Item, Casa Omerica in Pompei; Villa Farnesina in Rome; similarly, the so-called "House of the (Isiac) Mysteries at Antioch-on-the-Orontes," where there seems to be a portrayal of Isiac initiation, but there is no evidence for actual cultic activity. (See A.M.G. Little, Roman Bridal Drama at the Villa of the Mysteries,
1972.) 64 Text in Vogliano, 1933; English abstract, pp. 264-70 by Christine Alexander.
65 Among the more famous examples is the mithraeum under San Clemente at Rome, dating from the third century and consisting of a transformed private courtyard (for further discussion and literature see Snyder, 1985, p. 76), and that
The Household in the Ancient World
under S ta. Prisca, from the second century (see Vermaseren and van Essen, 1965, pp. 11 If. for the history of the mithraeum and MacMuIlen, 1984, pp. 39-40 and notes for further discussion and literature). MacMulIen's dating of the house church is unconvincing; Vermaseren and van Essen, p. 114, n. 3 place it in the third century).
66 Cited by White, 1982, p. 414.
67 Ibid., p. 420.
68 Vermaseren, 1960, Vol. I, nos. 216-23. For further literature and discussion see
MacMuIlen, 1981, pp. 118-19 and notes; White, 1982, pp. 423ff.
69 Vermaseren, 1960, Vol. I, nos. 34-70. For further discussion see Dura Report VIIVIII. An earlier mithraeum founded at the end of the first century may have met in the house of Epinicus and his son Alexander, successive priests of the cult; the absence of a temple in the area of the inscriptions may suggest a household cult.
See ibid., pp. 128ff. for inscriptions.
70 The Secret God, p. 56, cited by White, 1982, p. 421, n. 82.
71 Cf. Smith, 1977, pp. 212-16 for a sarapeum in a converted stoa-domicile.
72 For example SIG3 985.
73 IG 9:4, 1299; the inscription together with a commentary may be found in Osers,
1975.
74 For further discussion see White, 1982, pp. 380f.; Tinh, 1982, pp. llOf.
75 Sylt.3 3, 985.
76 Wiegand and Schräder, 1904, pp. 172-178.
77 Ibid., House XXII.
78 May this be an analogy for the curious description of Polycrates as eighth in a line of seven bishops who were also his relatives (Eusebius Historia Ecclesiastica 5:24.6)?
79 White suggests this reconstruction of the archaeological and inscriptional evidence. For further discussion see Dura Report VII-VIII, pp. 278ff., inscr. 907-8;
257f. and n. 31.; 398, n. 35 (for the family of Nasor and Hairan as prominent figures in the cult and the owners of a large house comprising part of the precinct).
80 Diogenes Laertius 6:2.23.
81 Wycherley, 1961, p. 155.
82 Diogenes Laertius 10:10.
83 Ibid., 10.17; for further comment see Wycherley, 1959, pp. 73-7; 1962, p. 15.
84 Seneca Ep. 76:1-5; Epictetus Diss. 4:1.177; Dio Orations 15:1; Lucian Nigr. 1-7;
Aulus Gellius AN. 2:2.1-2; 2:11.1.
85 Acts of Justin 3.
86 Dio Oral 4:12-13; 6:14; 8:4-5; 9:4; Diog. Laer. 6:22.
87 A.N. 9:2.1-11; cf. also Epictetus Diss. 3:22.10; Dio Oral 32:9; Lucian Runaways 14.
88 He was especially fond of ridiculing the mendicant Cynic who amassed fortunes from begging from the wealthy; cf. Timon 56-7; Fisherman 33-4; Runaways 17.
These were regarded as heroes in other circles: cf. Diog. Laer. 6:83,86,99; Plutarch
Cons, ad Ux. 609C describes the reception of wandering philosophers.
89 Diss. 4:11.35.
90 See the description of Paul of Antioch, presumably instructing disciples in the home of Origen's patroness (Eusebius H JE. 6:2.13-14); for further discussion see
"Scholars and Patrons: Christianity and High Society in Alexandria" by L.M.
White in Christian Teaching. Studies in Honor of Lemoine L. Lewis (ed. E. Ferguson),
Abilene, Texas, 1981, pp. 328-42, unavailable to me. Cf. also Contra Celsum 3:55.
91 Lucian's Career 15,18; similarly, Dio Orat. 77/78:34-35.
92 On Salaried Posts 1-4.
93 Lucian The Lover of Lies 14.
The Social Setting of the Ministry 94 For further comment see Hock, 1976, pp. 41-53; Malherbe, 1982, pp. 48-59.
95 Ep. 8; Diog. Laer. 3.9, passim; Dio Orat. 2:79; cf. also Philostratus Lives of the Sophists 600.
96 The titles of Graeco-Roman clubs were various; for further discussion see Poland,
1909, loc. cit.; Waltzing, Vol. 1,1895, pp. 32ff.
97 CIL 6, 9148,10261-63.
98 Waltzing, Vol. 1,1895, p. 215; cf. η. 2 and Vol. 3, 1899, pp. 342f. for inscriptions; cf. also Liebenam, 1890, pp. 272f.
99 See Ziebarth, 1896, pp. 6f.; Poland, 1909, pp. 87-88, passim, for further discussion.
100 CIC 2448; cf. Poland, p. 87 for further discussion.
101 Sytl2 734, cf. Poland, loc. cit. for further discussion; see also Syll2 641 for the family association of Poseidonius (third to second century B.C.; made up of the entire household community).
102 Ziebarth, 1896, p. 9.
103 Dill, 1911, p. 270.
104 Hands, 1968, pp. 52, passim; MacMuIlen, 1974, p. 76.
105 For the wealth required of a leader see Waltzing, Vol. 1, 1895, pp. 397f, 406f.
106 Müller, 1905, p. 185 cites an example of an official using his private funds to renovate the club's columbarium.
107 Poland, 1909, pp. 421, 498 for the treasurer as founder or well-to-do and re-elected several times; also Liebenam, 1890, pp. 217f.
108 MacMuIlen, 1974, p. 76 and notes.
109 Kornemann, 1901, p. 422.
110 Especially in the case of treasurers: cf. Poland, 1909, pp. 366,377f.
111 For further discussion see Waltzing, Vol. 1, 1895, pp. 425ff.; these patrons were often given titles of higher ranking club officials, but these were usually purely honorific.
112 Klauck, 1981, p. 93; for the importance of Jewish family life in the preservation of religious identity see Edersheim, 1985, pp. 86-181; for further general discussion of Diaspora Judaism see Meeks, 1983, pp. 32-39.
113 See Kraeling, 1956, for the Dura report.
114 Mistaken for a house church by Filson, 1939, p. 108; for archaeological discussion see Wiegand and Schräder, 1904, pp. 480f.; also, Klauck, 1981, p. 95.
115 Hengel, 1966, pp. 145-83.
116 Ibid., p. 161.
117 For Sardis and Ostia cf, Kraabel, 1981, pp. 79f.; White, 1982, pp. 440f.
118 For discussion see Gutmann, 1975, pp. xiif.; Kraabel, 1981, pp. 81 f.
119 Kraeling, 1956, pp. 33If.; 263-64; Tiles 23, 24, p. 277.
120 Ibid., p. 11.
121 CIJ I, 694.
122 See Theissen, 1982, pp. 74-5 for discussion and examples.
123 CIJ II, 744; cf. also CIJ 1,720,722,723; CIJ II, 1404 for other examples and White,
1982, p. 45If. for further discussion.
124 As was apparently the case with the title πρεσβύτερος (cf. Frey, 1936, pp. Ixxxvilxxxvii).
125 See CIJ II, 741, 756 for female άρχισυνάγωγαι probably given the title for patronage; further examples are cited by Meeks, 1983, p. 35 and notes.