Roman Altar to an Unknown God
When Paul was at Athens, he infamously made mention of “an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD'” (Acts 17:23). A number of altars to “unknown” Greco-Roman deities have been discovered at Palmyra, an active trade hub in the Roman east (located in modern Syria). An example can be seen here. No such altar has yet been uncovered at Athens, but there is a contemporary example from ancient Rome. This altar to an unknown god was discovered on Palatine Hill in Rome in the 1820’s. Palatine Hill was the location of......
A Sabbath Day’s Journey
Acts 1:12 mentions that the distance traveled by the disciples from the place of the Ascension to Jerusalem was about “a Sabbath day’s journey.” How far was this? The setting of Acts 1:12 has the disciples returning to Jerusalem after the Ascension of Jesus. Although Jesus and the disciples had been in or near Bethany (Luke 24:50), which is about a mile and a half east of Jerusalem, the Ascension appears to have taken place somewhere on the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:12). There is no reference to a “Sabbath day’s journey”......
“He appeared to them for forty days”
According to Acts 1:3, Jesus appeared to various people for a period of “forty days,” beginning at his resurrection. The end of the forty days, by logical deduction, would be marked by his ascension into heaven. To whom did he appear during this time, and when did these events take place? Calendar dates. The year of the crucifixion can most likely be taken as AD 33. Passover on that year took place in very early April, and the resurrection would have taken place on Sunday, April 5. Jesus appeared to several people......
Was Caiaphas a Descendant of Aaron?
I received a question recently about whether or not Caiaphas, the high priest who presided at the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin, was actually qualified to be a priest. More specifically, was he of the line of priests who were descended from Aaron and thus able to serve as a priest? The question is relevant for two reasons. The first is that good genealogical records for the priests of the 1st century have not been preserved. The second is that the office of high priest became politicized in the Maccabean period,......
Ring of Pontius Pilate Discovered
A ring that once belonged to Pontius Pilate has been discovered at Herodium in southern Judaea. We know it belonged to him because it has his name inscribed on it. The Greek letters read “ΠΙΛΑΤΟ”, “Pilate.” The first two letters are on the right, the last four are on the left, bottom to top (meant to be read around the frame). This find is interesting for several reasons. One is that, outside of the Bible, very little is known of Pilate. He is mentioned several times by the contemporary historian Josephus, and......
Paul’s Centurion, Julius
Acts 27:1 names the centurion who was placed in charge of Paul for his voyage to Rome as “Julius.” Perhaps the fact that he is named is an indicator that he was a follower of Jesus. At any rate, an interesting inscription, pictured above, was discovered at Caesarea, the port from which Paul and Julius set sail for Rome. What makes it interesting is that it has four similarities to the centurion mentioned in Acts 27:1. 1) The personal name is the same. In Latin, it is spelled “IVLIVS,” the exact equivalent......
Siglum for a Centurion
Latin inscriptions from ancient Rome often used abbreviations. For example, many Roman coins were minted with the inscription “S C” emblazoned on them. This stood for the Latin phrase Senatus Consulto, indicating that the coin had been minted with the approval of the Roman Senate. Names and titles were also commonly abbreviated. The phrase “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus,” which in Latin would be Tiberius Caesar divi Augustus Filius, might be abbreviated TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F. One must be familiar with both Latin and abbreviations to decipher such obscure......
Julius the Centurion?
In Acts 27:1-3, Luke gives an account of the first leg of Paul’s voyage to Rome. Twice in these verses he mentions the centurion who was put in charge of taking Paul to Rome. Interestingly, he calls him by name, “Julius.” This is in contrast to the centurion and the tribune (of even higher rank) mentioned in Acts 22:25-28, both of whom remain anonymous. Why does Luke give the name of the centurion in Acts 27? In his book Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, Richard Bauckham suggests that typically the reason why some......
