• Even under the Delian confederacy It seems clear that the Eph. contribution of 6 to 7^ talents v>-as paid only under compulsion (Head, p. 18), and the Gr. spirit was nearly dead. Lysimachus called his new city Arsiuoe, aft«r his wife, but thi« name lasted onlv a few years.
t The Eph. Neocorate in the Imperial cultus is first men- tioned on coins of Nero ; probably the ref. is to the Auijutteum. a temple built in tiie precinct of Artemis to Romeand Augustus by the city E. (not by the Commune Agio;, see Asia, asiarcii) before B.c" 6 (\Vood. Appendix, L 1) ; Buchner, de Neocoria, p. 38, indeed considers that the reference is to a temple of Claudius, which he supposes to have been dedicated by the Cfimmune Agi£B, on account of aid given to the city by the emi^eror, MaJalas. p. 246, ed. Bonn ; out there is no evidence that such a temple ever existed. The second imperial neo- corate was granted under Hadrian, and the third under Cara- culla. A decree of the Senat* was required to grant this dis- tinction (08 Asia was a senatorial province).
I The phrase rirpaxic lu^xcpM on the later coinj refer* to this same fact.
g Artemis Ephesia wos worshipped more widely by private persons thiui any other deity known to Pausanias (iv. 3L 8 ; cl also Xen. Anab. v. 3. 4X
EPHESUS
EPHESUS
723
called Epiiesian Letters {'Etp^aia ypd^ifmra), liecnme famous:* the nirt<;:icians were naturallv soon arrnj'cti in oj>i>osition to the reli^j^ion wliieli freed the hninan mind from such superstitions ; but their disrouilituie (Ac 19'^-"*) would not directly and ininie<liately allcct the priests and the temple. As time passed and the new reli^non became more powerful, it began to allect the worsliippers, who aid not need so many artit^es for dedication (dm- ^;«ira), and ceased to purchase the small repre- •cntAtiou.s of the goddess in her shrine, which were produced in vast numbers and in various materials — gUver, marble, and terra-cotta, (see Diana). Thus several trades were seriously attected, and the associated trades (rot)? w€pl tA roiavra ^/rydras, Ac ly-^), under the leadersliip of one of their wealthy merchants (who dealt in silver * shrines,' and therefore needed more capital for his business in the precious metal), Demetrius, probably master of the guild for the year.t eager to defend their interests, raised a demonstration against the Christian preachers. It is clear that in the riot the Christians ran serious risk (Itf**). and that, even after (and also before) the riot, the passions and superstitions of the vulgar mob, having once been roused against the puritanic tendencies of the Chrwtians, continued to be a serious danger to St. Paul (1 Co 15=*^ W, 2 Co 1«-'").
The early stagt-s of the riot involve some reference to the topo- graphy of ki'h(.su8. It Is obvious that the in(Iammator>- speech of Demetrius w:ia deliverer! at a meetinj; of the associated trades, doubtUiis held in a buildinjr bt-Ion^riny to the guild {VJ'^^). The text of the Bczan Codc\ explicitly states (wha* obviously must have occurred) that the OiwemUed tradesmen and craftsmen then rushe^J out Into the street (vt t« ittt^do*), and at last con- gregmted in the theatre. The ruins of the theatre are on a lar^^e ■cafe ; and it has been calculated that the building could hold 24,000 people. It was situated on the western slope of Mount Pico, overfookinjr the city harbour (which is now a marsh).
It is an int4.-resting and iraporUint point that the Asiarchs wtn friendly to St. Paul, and intcr\eiicd to save him from wiventuring himself in the crowd. They doubtless pointed out to him that his presence would still further enrage the excited crowd ; that if the mob once proceetled to violence, they were more likely to extend their violence to his companions; and that the t>esl course therefore was for St. Paul not to show bini- telf at the moment. The attitude of the Asiarchs may be taken as a fair indication of the feeling entertained towards St. Paul by the eitucatcd and influential cla^ in the city, and also of the attitude of the imperial administration, for they were othcials of the province, not of the city ; they were part of the Horn. Imperial machinery. It is perhaps implied In Ac 1931 that they were present as a body or council in the city : this may be accounted (or either by a festival which was in progress aW>ut the same time, or by the natural apjiroprtateness of a provincial bo<Jy orcoun'ril meeting in the capital of the province. A council of the Asiarchs is probably referred to in an Apamean Inscription (Ramsay, VUif^ aiul liuhoprics of J'hrygia, ii. No. 290).
In the narrative (Ac 191^*1) allusions occur to the government o( E., and also of the whole province of Asia. The Town-Clerk, or ' Secretary of the City ' (ypxfM.aMTiCt), appears as an otHcial of rreatauUiority ; the assembly of the citizens (isaXtjri'a) is men- tioned as the highest munici^ authority ; and the Roman oourt« (lonventus, mi my*pti7ot, i.e. i.yofi»i lixCt) and proconsuls are declared to be the final Judicial authority in case of any complaint a^inst Individuals. Tlie government of the nitmi- cipalityof E.. like that of the other great A»ian cities, was lodged in Uie haiidM of two deliberative bodies, the Senate (^«f Af) and the Assembly (U«>-r^.«), and of certain boanls of magistrates, notably the .Strategoi (rrflxryry*!). All power ultimately resided In the Assenibly of the citizens; and m the old free Or. city- constitution the Awtenitily had really held the reins of {K>wer, and •xerciMed the final control over all the other departments of the gorenimcnt. But its meetings under the Rom. system tended in J»©c*»nie mere fnnnalities, at which the Bills sent to it by the J)eiiat« were merely approved ; for (he imperial governiuenl, whi'ii had abolished the powers of the popular assembly in Eonie, naturally discouraged popular aHseinSlies in the cities of the empire; when 8t. Paul, however, was at K., the Aiwfmbly was still, in name at least, the supreme and final authority in the city (Ac 19^), where tlie liut decision lay on niatt4:r8 that did not properly fall within the cognizance of the Koin. courts and