Re: Is Paul Described as Having a 'Stopover' in Rome?
Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 8:41 pm
The discussion led me to want to find some relevant maps. Here's one:
There's a lot of overlap between port towns and well-known place names for early Christianity:
Antioch, Ephesus, Thessalonica, Corinth, Alexandria, and Carthage, for example.
Ostia was another important city in the second century, home to more than 50,000.
In later church tradition, Ostia held special importance:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Mark
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Cat ... e_of_Ostia
In one of the baths in Ostia, there are Christian symbols, perhaps late 3rd / early 4th century:
https://brewminate.com/the-rise-of-chri ... ent-ostia/
There is also a Mithraeum in Ostia dated to the reign of Alexander Severus (222 – 235 AD). It contained a statue of Mithras about to slay the bull dated to the second century.
There was another religious site from the third century with a statue created in the second century, this one for Attis:
The diversity on display here brings to mind the lament attributed to Tacitus:
"... a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular."
These superstitions were carried along the same routes that brought grain, goods, and correspondence -- and in the case of Rome, the path to the city ran through Ostia. So it is plausible that the city had some importance early on & that it was a center for Christians as early as Rome was.
There's a lot of overlap between port towns and well-known place names for early Christianity:
Antioch, Ephesus, Thessalonica, Corinth, Alexandria, and Carthage, for example.
Ostia was another important city in the second century, home to more than 50,000.
In later church tradition, Ostia held special importance:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Mark
And later, with the college of cardinals, the bishop of Ostia was the dean:According to the Liber Pontificalis, Pope Mark [in AD 336] issued a constitution investing the bishop of Ostia with a pallium and confirming his power to consecrate newly elected popes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Cat ... e_of_Ostia
In one of the baths in Ostia, there are Christian symbols, perhaps late 3rd / early 4th century:
https://brewminate.com/the-rise-of-chri ... ent-ostia/
These are Christian symbols, for which parallels are known. Becatti suggests that the mosaic may be dated to the second half of the third century or the first half of the fourth (“in un periodo in cui ancora non v’era stato un pieno riconoscimento ufficale della nuova religione, ma il cristianesimo era già profondamente infiltrato nella società romana”).
There is a mid-third century house with this mosaic:The Christian symbols in room 6 (not in their original position). / From SO IV, fig. 17.
Top row:
Grapes (a symbol of heaven).
An 8, the number M (the life cycle of the phoenix, referring to the resurrection).
Grapes (a symbol of heaven).
The Greek letter chi (initial of Christ).
A vessel below the letter I (initial of Christ).
Swastika with the Greek letter rho (symbol of the cross).
A schematic branch of a palm tree.
A heart-shaped leaf.
Bottom row:
The word IESVS, four times.
The Greek letter chi (initial of Christ).
A cross and the Greek letter chi (initial of Christ).
The Greek letters iota and chi (initials of Jesus Christ), a heart-shaped leaf, two black ovals (the number M, the life cycle of the phoenix), the letter R (of resurrectio), a phoenix (referring to the resurrection).
The letters RE and LE.
There is also a Mithraeum in Ostia dated to the reign of Alexander Severus (222 – 235 AD). It contained a statue of Mithras about to slay the bull dated to the second century.
There was another religious site from the third century with a statue created in the second century, this one for Attis:
There is also another shrine to Mars, which was associated with the imperial cult.In the apse is a plaster cast (the original is in the Vatican Museums) of a statue of a reclining Attis, after the emasculation. In his left hand is a shepherd’s crook, in his right hand a pomegranate. His head is crowned with bronze rays of the sun and on his Phrygian cap is a crescent moon. This suggests astrological aspects: Attis was regarded as a solar deity and identified with the moon-god Men.
The diversity on display here brings to mind the lament attributed to Tacitus:
"... a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular."
These superstitions were carried along the same routes that brought grain, goods, and correspondence -- and in the case of Rome, the path to the city ran through Ostia. So it is plausible that the city had some importance early on & that it was a center for Christians as early as Rome was.