Paul was wealthy

[arnoldo]

FWIW, Caroline A. J. Skell (1872-1951) wrote a book entitled," Travel in the First Century after Christ" which apparently is in public domain and available in full at the link below;

http://www.archive.org/stream/travelinf ... t_djvu.txt

the following is a brief quotation;

OBJECTS OF TRAVEL.

IN the history of the early Church, as recorded in the New Testament, there are two features which seem especially worthy of remark : the rapidity in with which Christian communities were formed, and century the constant intercourse maintained amongst them. Within thirty years after the Resurrection of Our Lord the Christian faith had been preached not only in the regions immediately adjoining Palestine, but in Asia Minor and Macedonia, Achaia and Illyricum, and even in Rome itself. The life of St Paul after his conversion is the life of one who for years was a constant traveller by land and sea, who in early manhood preached the Gospel at Damascus, and when old age was approaching looked forward to a journey into Spain. St Peter addresses his First Epistle to the strangers scattered through five provinces of Asia Minor, and in the concluding chapter sends them a message from the church at Babylon. No less do Pagan writers bear witness to the rapid diffusion of Christianity 1 . Pliny's correspondence with Trajan 2 shows that by 1 Tac. Ann. xv. 44. 2 Plin. Epp. ad Trai. 96 (97). s. province so insignificant as Bithynia contained numerous Christians not only in. the cities but also in the villages and country... they sought to strengthen the ties which bound them and their converts together into one Church. The result is seen in the kindly feeling which prompted the Christians of Antioch to send help in time of famine to their brethren of Jerusalem, and the Christians of Philippi to supply the neces sities of St Paul. Hospitality is one of the duties expressly mentioned by St Paul in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus as incumbent on bishops, while St Peter and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews enjoin it on all Christians. This rapid diffusion of a faith which could count at first on little human aid, and this maintenance of intercourse between its adherents, imply that the means of communication in the first century after Christ had reached a high stage of development. It is the object of this essay to investigate the condiditions of travel during that period ; especially in Asia Minor, where Christianity made some of its earliest, though not most permanent conquests.

[steve43]

Agree totally.
The sophistication of Rome and travel in those days is underestimated.
Far from being a brutal empire, Rome made long-range travel vastly safer for those in Asia Minor.
This resulted in increased commerce and wealth- and the spread of ideas. This made for a general increase in the level of culture.
Sea travel was also very sophisticated, thanks to Roman ship building methods, and Rome clearing the Mediterranean of pirates. No crafts survive, being made of wood, but some were 6-700 feet long.

[PhilosopherJay]

Hi Arnoldo,

Thanks for the information.

The book provides evidence that the wealthy were the ones who traveled long distances in the First Century and no evidence that poor people traveled.

However the most interesting point was this:

Every year too the 'didrachma 4 '
was sent up by each Jew to the Temple, and the
conveyance of these sums from almost every part of
the known world led to a great amount of travel.
Thus Philo Judaeus writes of the Jews beyond the
Euphrates, " Every year the sacred messengers are
sent to convey large sums of gold and silver to the
Temple, which have been collected from all the
subordinate governments. They travel over rugged
and difficult and almost impassable roads, which
however they look upon as level and easy, inasmuch
as they serve to conduct them to piety 5 ."

It turns out that Philo is not talking about Roman roads here, but roads to the East of Jerusalem:

And the state of all the nations which lie beyond the Euphrates added to his alarm; for he was aware that Babylon and many others of the satrapies of the east were occupied by the Jews, knowing this not merely by report but likewise by personal experience; for every year sacred messengers are sent to convey large amounts of gold and silver to the temple, which has been collected from all the subordinate governments, travelling over rugged, and difficult, and almost impassable roads, which they look upon as level and easy inasmuch as they serve to conduct them to piety. (Embassy to Gaius)

Philo does say that the practice of Jews making contributions to Jerusalem happened in other places, for example:

XL. (311) "And though I might be able to establish this fact, and demonstrate to you the feelings of Augustus, your great grandfather, by an abundance of proofs, I will be content with two; for, in the first place, he sent commandments to all the governors of the different provinces throughout Asia, because he heard that the sacred first fruits were neglected, enjoining them to permit the Jews alone to assemble together in the synagogues, (312) for that these assemblies were not revels, which from drunkenness and intoxication proceeded to violence, so as to disturb the peaceful condition of the country, but were rather schools of temperance and justice, as the men who met in them were studiers of virtue, and contributed the first fruits every year, sending commissioners to convey the holy things to the temple in Jerusalem. (313) "And, in the next place, he commanded that no one should hinder the Jews, either on their way to the synagogues, or when bringing their contributions, or when proceeding in obedience to their national laws to Jerusalem, for these things were expressly enjoined, if not in so many words, at all events in effect

Philo then quotes a letter from a proconsul:

CAIUS NORBANUS FLACCUS, PROCONSUL, TO THE GOVERNORS OF THE

EPHESIANS, GREETING.

"'Caesar has written word to me, that the Jews, wherever they are, are accustomed to assemble together, in compliance with a peculiar ancient custom of their nation, to contribute money which they send to Jerusalem; and he does not choose that they should have any hindrance offered to them, to prevent them from doing this;

Philo also tells us again that Jews in Rome also made contributions to Jerusalem with the blessings of Augustus Caesar:

(154) And there is most undeniable proof that he was never influenced or puffed up by the excessive honours paid to him, in the fact that he did not approve of any one's addressing him as master or god, but if any one used such expressions he was angry; and we may see it too in his approbation of the Jews, who he well knew most religiously avoided all such language. (155) How then did he look upon the great division of Rome which is on the other side of the river Tiber, which he was well aware was occupied and inhabited by the Jews? And they were mostly Roman citizens, having been emancipated; for, having been brought as captives into Italy, they were manumitted by those who had bought them for slaves, without ever having been compelled to alter any of their hereditary or national observances. (156) Therefore, he knew that they had synagogues, and that they were in the habit of visiting them, and most especially on the sacred sabbath days, when they publicly cultivate their national philosophy. He knew also that they were in the habit of contributing sacred sums of money from their first fruits and sending them to Jerusalem by the hands of those who were to conduct the sacrifices.

It seems to me that we can suggest that the activities of Paul is based on the Sacred Messengers that the Jews sent to Jerusalem every year after collecting funds. The wealthy sacred messengers who could afford to travel to Jerusalem would have sent letters to nearby Jewish communities with house synagogues/churches asking them to have the collection ready when they came to pick it up. The fictitious letters of Paul may be based on such letters.

Warmly,

Jay Raskin

FWIW, Caroline A. J. Skell (1872-1951) wrote a book entitled," Travel in the First Century after Christ" which apparently is in public domain and available in full at the link below;

http://www.archive.org/stream/travelinf ... t_djvu.txt

the following is a brief quotation;

OBJECTS OF TRAVEL.

IN the history of the early Church, as recorded in the New Testament, there are two features which seem especially worthy of remark : the rapidity in with which Christian communities were formed, and century the constant intercourse maintained amongst them. Within thirty years after the Resurrection of Our Lord the Christian faith had been preached not only in the regions immediately adjoining Palestine, but in Asia Minor and Macedonia, Achaia and Illyricum, and even in Rome itself. The life of St Paul after his conversion is the life of one who for years was a constant traveller by land and sea, who in early manhood preached the Gospel at Damascus, and when old age was approaching looked forward to a journey into Spain. St Peter addresses his First Epistle to the strangers scattered through five provinces of Asia Minor, and in the concluding chapter sends them a message from the church at Babylon. No less do Pagan writers bear witness to the rapid diffusion of Christianity 1 . Pliny's correspondence with Trajan 2 shows that by 1 Tac. Ann. xv. 44. 2 Plin. Epp. ad Trai. 96 (97). s. province so insignificant as Bithynia contained numerous Christians not only in. the cities but also in the villages and country... they sought to strengthen the ties which bound them and their converts together into one Church. The result is seen in the kindly feeling which prompted the Christians of Antioch to send help in time of famine to their brethren of Jerusalem, and the Christians of Philippi to supply the neces sities of St Paul. Hospitality is one of the duties expressly mentioned by St Paul in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus as incumbent on bishops, while St Peter and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews enjoin it on all Christians. This rapid diffusion of a faith which could count at first on little human aid, and this maintenance of intercourse between its adherents, imply that the means of communication in the first century after Christ had reached a high stage of development. It is the object of this essay to investigate the condiditions of travel during that period ; especially in Asia Minor, where Christianity made some of its earliest, though not most permanent conquests.

[robert j]

Hi Jay,

I believe the ease of travel in Paul's day was somewhere in the middle --- between the relative safety of Yamauchi and the cut-throat world of Shaw. Yes, Yamauchi is an historian and a Christian apologist. The state of transportation in the ancient Roman world is a matter of history, not theology. But one might guess that Yamauchi --- perhaps trying to defend the ridiculously extensive travels of Paul described in the Acts of the Apostles which he cites --- might try to make a case for easy travel. However, if one appropriately discounts the mostly fictional tales in Acts, and sticks to the travels described in Paul's five authentic letters addressed to his communities --- an entirely reasonable travel itinerary emerges. I don't believe Paul went to Rome. Paul's communities, with the one exception of the Galatians, were located around the fringe of the Aegean Sea --- thus travel by foot or by ship were both options.

Just as Yamauchi may have tipped his interpretations and citations in the direction of safety, I wonder if Shaw --- writing an article titled "Bandits in the Roman Empire" --- may have tried too hard at times to find examples to fill-out his pages. In the section from Shaw's article that you cited, most all the examples involved travelers of high ranking, and consisted of disappearances not banditry. Certainly wealthy travelers would have been rewarding targets for bandits, but some of those disappearances of persons of high rank may have been the result of political assassination.

More common folk are implied in Shaw's "motley bands" that huddled near government convoys for safety. Unfortunately, Shaw's source for this incident described neither a real incident, nor apparently even a fictional story. I believe Shaw presented the source material in a misleading way. His source material consisted of a hypothetical example used to convey a point unrelated to the context of road safety. Shaw seems to present the material as a real incident "in the provinces" with "motley bands". Actually, the author of the source material was saying something like this (my paraphrasing and summarizing) --- "Just like a traveler, who heard there were bandits about, might seek safety on the road next to a government convoy, is it wise for one to attach themselves to a rich friend for safety? Or even to Caesar? Or to anyone other than God (Zeus)?"

Here is Shaw's passage from the article that you cited --- followed by the passage that Shaw footnoted as his source material (the later shortened by me to reduce space, not to eliminate critical phrases) ---

Bandits in the Roman Empire, by Brent D. Shaw ---- from page 10 ---

"Such dangers produced serio-comic scenes of travel in the provinces in which one of the few armed convoys that regularly toured the roads of a region, that of the governor and his staff, was accompanied by motley bands of people who hoped that they might escape the perils of the road by huddling close to the safety represented by "government on the move". 24

(Footnote) 24. For a description, see Epictetus, Discourses, 4.I.94 f

Epicetus, "Discources" 4.1. (about the 14th paragraph)

http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/disco ... .four.html

"Who, then, is still able to hinder me contrary to my own judgement, or to compel me? No more than he can hinder or compel Zeus.

Thus the more cautious of travelers also act. A traveler has heard that the road is infested by robbers; he does not venture to enter on it alone, but he waits for the companionship on the road either of an ambassador, or of a quaestor, or of a proconsul, and when he has attached himself to such persons he goes along the road safely. So in the world the wise man acts. There are many companies of robbers, tyrants, storms, difficulties, losses of that which is dearest. "Where is there any place of refuge? … to whom shall he attach himself? … to the rich man, to the man of consular rank? … But what if the fellow-companion himself turns against me and becomes my robber, what shall I do? I will be 'a friend of Caesar': when I am Caesar's companion no man will wrong me. …. And if Caesar from any circumstance becomes my enemy, where is it best for me to retire? Into a desert? … What shall be done then? Is it not possible to find a safe fellow traveler, a faithful one, strong, secure against all surprises?" Thus he considers and perceives that if he attaches himself to God, he will make his journey in safety."

If we listen to the news, most of us hear about robberies, assaults and murders in our own communities --- none-the-less, most of us venture out onto those streets. The wilderness areas of North America have bears and cougars --- some even with grizzlies and wolves --- yet hundreds of thousands venture into these areas every year with no protection, and sleep out in the open or in a flimsy tent --- and not because business demands it, but just for fun.

Paul claimed poverty to the stingy Corinthians, but the Philippians were providing him with funds. His business model was based on written correspondence to keep in contact with his congregations to maintain his authority and any hope of income. Sure there were dangers when traveling in Paul's day --- but I believe Paul sent his co-workers to deliver his letters along the roads, and on the open decks of cargo ships that were likely crowded with other passengers.

robert j.

[Bernard Muller]

Hi Jay,
According to that article (http://mises.org/daily/3663) dated 2009, from Joseph R. Peden, who taught history at Baruch College of the City University of New York. (a rather enigmatic fellow involved in anarcho-capitalism), the dinarius in the time of Diocletian (284 to 305) was almost worthless, at best a small fraction of its value during Paul's public life. Reminder: the costs of travelling from ORBIS are calculated from data during Diocletian's reign, not during Claudius & Nero's ones (about 250 years earlier).
Here is the relevant part of the article, with some comments (in []) and bolding of mine.

The basic coinage of the Roman Empire to this time — we're speaking now about 211 AD — was the silver denarius introduced by Augustus at about 95 percent silver at the end of the 1st century BC. The denarius continued for the better part of two centuries as the basic medium of exchange in the empire.

By the time of Trajan in 117 AD, the denarius was only about 85 percent silver, down from Augustus's 95 percent. By the age of Marcus Aurelius, in 180, it was down to about 75 percent silver. In Septimius's time it had dropped to 60 percent, and Caracalla evened it off at 50/50.

Caracalla was assassinated in 217. There then followed an age that historians refer to as the Age of the Barrack Emperors, because throughout the 3rd century all the emperors were soldiers and all of them came to their power by military coups of one sort or another.

There were about 26 legitimate emperors in this century and only one of them died a natural death. The rest either died in battle or were assassinated, which was totally unprecedented in Roman history — with two exceptions: Nero, a suicide, and Caligula, assassinated earlier.[What about Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Domitian, Commodus?]

Caracalla had also debased the gold coinage. Under Augustus this circulated at 45 coins to a pound of gold. Caracalla made it 50 to a pound of gold. Within 20 years after him it was circulating at 72 to a pound of gold, reduced to 60 at the end of the century by Diocletian, only to be raised again to 72 by Constantine. So even the gold coinage was in fact inflated — debased.

But the real crisis came after Caracalla, between 258 and 275, in a period of intense civil war and foreign invasions. The emperors simply abandoned, for all practical purposes, a silver coinage. By 268 there was only 0.5 percent silver in the denarius.

Prices in this period rose in most parts of the empire by nearly 1,000 percent. The only people who were getting paid in gold were the barbarian troops hired by the emperors. The barbarians were so barbarous [smart would be a more adequate word] that they would only accept gold in payment for their services.

The situation did not change until the accession of Diocletian in the year 284. Shortly after his accession he raised the weight of the gold coinage, the aureus, to 60 to the pound — this was from a low of 72.

But ten years later, he finally abandoned the silvered coinage, which by this time was simply a bronze coin dipped in silver rather quickly. He abandoned that completely and tried to issue a new silver coin, called the argenteus, struck at 96 coins to the pound of silver. The argenteus was fixed as equal to 50 of the denarii (the old coinage). It was designed to respond to the need for higher-tariffed coins in the marketplace, to reflect the inflation.

Diocletian also issued a new bronze coin tariffed at ten denarii, called the nummus. But less than a decade later, the nummus had gone from being tariffed at ten denarii to now equaling 20 denarii, and the argenteus had gone from 50 denarii to 100. In other words, despite Diocletian's efforts, the Empire suffered 100 percent inflation.

If you search on "inflation Roman empire" on Google, there are more websites on the topic but not as detailed.
Finally, from this website: http://shalomhabayit.blogspot.ca/2010/0 ... ation.html

That would explain the apparent extravagantly high cost of travelling in dinarii from the ORBIS website.

Cordially, Bernard

[arnoldo]

The lower cost of travel certainly increase the likelyhood that Flavius Zeuxis's claim to have sailed to Rome seventy-two times was economically feasable in the first century.

The merchants of the Empire had discovered the comparative cheapness of water-traffic, and the State and private individuals were not behind. Beyond doubt the transporting of soldiers was carried on as far as possible by water, and sea- voyages were for most men less fatiguing than land-journeys . During the short season of navigation the Mediterranean was crowded to such an extent that Juvenal can bid his readers 'look at the harbours and the sea covered with ships ; more men are now afloat than ashore .' Prof. Mayor in commenting on this passage points out that what is now done by letter or cable had then to be done by personal visits. The merchant of the first century well deserved to be called by Horace ' unwearied ' ; there were doubtless not a few who could, like Flavius Zeuxis, have it recorded on their tomb that they had sailed seventy -two times round Malea into Italy
Travel in the First Century After Christ

[steve43]

I don't see the point of equating Paul's extensive travels with him having wealth.

And he probably could have cashed out from the family business, if he wanted to.

But remember he was an evangelist. He had a core of Christian churches to visit, and in every major town he would preach and visit the synagogues to debate and challenge.

Even today people will recognize a true pilgrim, a man of God, and defer to him- invite him in for food and lodging, help him on his travels, give him money, refer him to friends in other cities.

This runs across all religions. If one identifies a true man of God, a "Holy Man" it is "bad karma" at the very least to make life tough for him.

Paul accepted donations, invited people to travel with him, and accepted all the help that would have been required for him to further his travels. Ship captains might have made room on their vessels to Paul gratis. Caravan leaders deferred to him, possibly.

Paul's travels being dangerous and over rough roads? A moot point. It was the Holy Spirit that was directing Paul, and causing the response of the people to him. And despite this, Paul did get beat up and hassled a lot.

Two sayings should be appreciated here. The first is that "God looks out for children and fools" and "God's fool is wiser than the wisest of men."

OT- Josephus is clear that Jews all over the known world were expected to come to the Second Temple for the Passover, or at least tithe every year. Every male Jew over 19 was expected to give a half shekel tithe to the Temple, giving it to someone from their town who was going to make the trip. Also, there was a first fruits requirement- a portion of the harvest was to be sent to the Temple as well. Nothing was restricted only to those Jews who lived east from Jerusalem.

[andrewcriddle]

Yamauchi apparently takes Octavian propaganda that the great Empire had made the world safe for travelers at face value.

Yamauchi Then writes, "By the time of Emperor Diocletian (c. A.D. 300), the Romans had built a marvelous network of over 53,000 miles of roads throughout the Empire, primarily for military purposes."
Citing the total number of miles of roads built until 300 C.E. does not mean much since many of these roads were built in the later part of the First century, and the Second, Third century. For example, a Roman road in Salonika (Thessaloniki) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/2 ... 25846.html was recently uncovered. Note this:

Viki Tzanakouli, an archaeologist working on the project, told The Associated Press the Roman road was about 1,800 years old, while remains of an older road built by the ancient Greeks 500 years earlier were found underneath it.

If Paul existed, he would not have walked on the Roman paved road to Thessaloniki, but he would have walked on a Greek dirt road that was already 350 years old by Paul's time. It had been built in the time of Alexander the Great or shortly thereafter. Here is a quote from Strabo, the Greek Geographer regarding Greek roads,""The Greeks are famous for their cities and in this they aimed at beauty. The Romans excelled in those things which the Greeks took little interest in such as the building of roads, aqueducts and sewers."

Imagining Paul walking on Roman roads through Asia Minor, Palestine and Greece that were non-existent in the First century helps nobody to understand history.

Hi Jay

I think it is your interpretation that the Greek road underlying the Roman road discovered during excavations in the city of Thessalonika was a Greek dirt road. The road would have been built by Alexander and/or his successors as part of the founding of Thessalonika. Remains of it survive and it was not upgraded by the Romans till the 2nd or 3rd century CE. It was likely of reasonably high quality.

If you are suggesting that the Via Egnatia did not properly function till after Paul's day, then there is a good deal of evidence, literary and archaeological, against this.

Andrew Criddle

[outhouse]

One thing can be said about the educated, they can survive easier then the illiterate peasant classes.

Paul was a educated writer, if one could heal and put on a show, one could earn a living bilking the ignorant saps. But one would have to travel extensively to keep out of prison, and or keep from being beat down.

Paul wore those shoes.

Wealthy sometimes he may have been, not always.

[PhilosopherJay]

Hi Arnoldo,

According to "The Ancient Lowly: A History of the the Ancient Working People" by Cyrenus Osborne Ward, Flavius Zeuxis was a sea captain and the inscription can be paraphrased this way:

Flavius Zeuxis, a man loving hard toil at his trade, engaged in the good bussiness of mariner, between Malea, the dangerous cape Mary, and Italy, having made in his lifetime seventy-two voyages, causes the erection of the memorial sepulchre

Cape Malea was considered dangerous as it was the place that Odysseus was first blown off-course in his return to Ithaca.
If Ward is correct, Zeuxis is simply saying that he made the trip between Cape Malea and Italy, approximately 800-900 kilometers or 500-600 miles, 72 times or 36 times roundtrip. We may assume that he made the roundtrip voyage twice a year for 18 years, or three times a year for 12 years. The fact that he would put this on his tombstone simply shows the enormous danger ships faced going across even a small open sea of 500-600 miles. The people circa 100 C.E. must have thought it a miracle that anybody could survive the sea voyage back and forth between Greece and Italy 36 times.
If ships were expected to be wrecked at least once in 36 voyages, this would give us about a 3% shipwreck average. We can imagine how this must have increased shipping costs. Imagine the cost of airplane travel if 3 out of every 100 flights crashed. One can easily imagine the price of a cross Atlantic plane ticket costing $10,000 in such a situation, putting such travel well out of the reach of all but the wealthiest people.

Warmly,

Jay Raskin

The lower cost of travel certainly increase the likelyhood that Flavius Zeuxis's claim to have sailed to Rome seventy-two times was economically feasable in the first century.

The merchants of the Empire had discovered the comparative cheapness of water-traffic, and the State and private individuals were not behind. Beyond doubt the transporting of soldiers was carried on as far as possible by water, and sea- voyages were for most men less fatiguing than land-journeys . During the short season of navigation the Mediterranean was crowded to such an extent that Juvenal can bid his readers 'look at the harbours and the sea covered with ships ; more men are now afloat than ashore .' Prof. Mayor in commenting on this passage points out that what is now done by letter or cable had then to be done by personal visits. The merchant of the first century well deserved to be called by Horace ' unwearied ' ; there were doubtless not a few who could, like Flavius Zeuxis, have it recorded on their tomb that they had sailed seventy -two times round Malea into Italy
Travel in the First Century After Christ