It was in the year Oct. 93 to Sept. 94, according to the Chronicle of Eusebius, as translated by Jerome, that the Domitianic persecution of the Christians began, and tiiat the Apostle John, being ban- ished to the island ' Pathmus,' saw the Apocalypse (cf. other ancient references recorded in the intro- ductions to theCommentaries by Swete,Bousset,and Hort, to which add pseudo-Augustine, Qucestiones Veteris et Novi Testamenti CXXVII, Ixxvi. [Ixxii.] 2 : ' ista Reuelatio eo tempore facta est, quo apos- tolus lohannes in insula erat Pathmos, relegatus a Domitiano imperatore fidei causa '). For the diffi- culty in dating the Apocalypse see art. Apoca- lypse. There must have been a fierce persecution of Christians in Domitian's time, and the Apoca- lypse would seem to be the mirror of it. The Cliurch always believed Domitian to have been the second great persecutor. The wonder is that the outbrealc did not come earlier, in view of Domitian's assumption of the titles ' Lord and God ' referred
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to above. It has been usual to connect with this persecution the charge of ' atheism' (by which, of course, the Romans meant the worship of no god in visible form : they had long charged the Jews with the same [cf. Lucan, ii. 592-3 : ' dedita sacris incerti ludaea dei']) brought against two relations of the Emperor. These were Flauius Clemens, the consul of the year (95), first cousin of the Emperor, and his wife, FlauiaDomitilla, niece of the Emperor. Clemens was beheaded, and Domitilla was banished to Pandateria. A grave in the cata- combs near Rome belonged to the latter. Before the summer of this year 95 the Via Domitiana connecting Sinuessa and Puteoli was completed (celebrated by Statins, Siluce, iv. 3). This meant a saving of time for journeys from Rome to Naples and beyond (see art. Roads and Travel). In the year 96, on 18 Sept., the much-hated Emperor met his death at the hands of his friends, his freedman, and his wife.
LrTERATrRE. — Among the ancient authorities, his beneficiaries Statius and Martial say all and more than all the good there is to be said of Domitian ; the part of Tacitus' HUt. dealing with him has perished ; there are occasional references in con- temporary authors, and there are the biot^raphy by Suetonius and parts of Dio Cassius, Orosius, etc. The best modern work is S. Gsell, Ensai sur le regne de I'empereur Dmnitien, Paris, 1894 ; there is an excellent r6sum6 with references and literature in Weyaand's art. in Pauly-Wissowa, vi. [1909] 25-11-2596 ; A. V. Domaszewski, Gisch. d. rom. Kaiser, Leipzig', 1909, vol. ii. ; general histories of the Empire. On Domitian and Christianity see W. M. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire, London, 1893, cha. xiL and xiiL A. SOUTEK.
DOOR.* — The examples of the concrete use of Ovpa, 'door,' are all found in Acts, and may be treated under three heads; (1) house door.s, (2) prison doors, (3) Temple doors. The first two occur in the narratives of miraculous events.
1. In Ac 5* the feet of them that buried Ananias are said to be i-rrl ry dupg., nigh at hand, if not act- ually heard by those within. More vivid still is the instance of 12'^ where one required to knock at, or beat, the door, to make oneself heard with- in. (The presence of a knocker for the purpose is not to be inferred, for Jewish doors at least.) rr]v dvpav Tov TruXwfoj (cf. Ezk 40" [LXX]) is best under- stood as a door abutting on the street or lane, which gave the entry to a covered passage com- municating with the court of the house, in which the living rooms were situated (see G.\te). Rhoda stood in this passage, hearing, but seeing not (be- sides, it Avas night), the Apostle Peter, who was without, and being in command of the way so long as the door, not the gate, remained locked or barred, dvoi^avres (v.'^) implies door, which is rightly not expressed in RV. For modem usage see Mackie, Bible Manners and Customs, 1898, p. 95.
2. With one exception (Ac 12®) the doors of prisons are found in the plural (Ac 5'^- ^ 16^- '-^). The indications afibrded by the narrative of Acts are too meagre to enable us to reconstruct the form of these places of detention, either in Jeru- salem or at Philippi. Security seems to have been given by guards, chains, and stocks rather than by any peculiar strength of door. Of necessity the bolt or bar was attached to the outside, of cell doors at least. For the situation at Philippi, see Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller, 1895, p. 220 f.
3. In Ac 3- the Beautiful Gate of the Temple (cf v.") is described by the word for 'door,' which RV brings out. As in the private house, so here, the door forms part of the gate, the latter being in reality a portal. This particular gate of the Temple is now believed to be the Corinthian Gate, which is identical with the Nicanor Gate, on the east side of the Temple precincts. Its doors, and
* This art. deals with ' door ' as distinct from ' gate,' ' gate- way,' or ' porch,' of which it forms a part (see Gate).
other parts, were of Corinthian brass (or bronze), probably solid, being shut with difficulty by twenty men (Josephus, BJ Vl. v. 3 j cf. Ant. XV. xi. 5, B.J 11. xvii. 3, V. v. 3, c. Ap. ii. 10). They seem to have been double doors {EBi, art. ' Temple '), stand- ing at the entrance to the portal. Compare, for Babylonian Temples, PSBA, 1912, p. 9uti'. For the Beautiful Gate of the Temple see the full and illuminating account by A. R. S. Kennedy in ExpTxx. [1908-09] 270 f. ; also art. Temple.