2. History and archaeology. — The Jews were not exempt from the current treatment of those who had incurred the wrath of the State. At Cfesarea Titus caused more than 2,500 Jews to be slain in a day, fighting with the beasts and with one another (Jos. BJ VII. iii. 1 ; cf. VII. ii. 1). Under this same monarch a commencement was made to the build- ing of the Colosseum, which was dedicated and first used for gladiatorial and other exhibitions (e.g. venationes) in the reign of Vespasian (A.D. 80). The provinces soon learned to copy the evil example of the mother country (W. M. Ramsay, The Church in the Ronuin Empire, 1893, p. 317 ff.).
Already in the East, under Hellenic influence, ample provision had been made to satisfy the craze for public amusements. In the cities of the Decapolis there were in some instances two amphi- theatres, while some possessed a vavixaxl<x ; and annual HayKpana or games of all kinds were held (G. A. Smith, HGHL\ 1897, p. 604). King Agrippa I. continued the policy of Herod the Great, building at Berytus a theatre and an amphitheatre, and giving exhibitions both there and at Csesarea (Jos. Ant. XIX. vii. 5, viii. 2;cf. Ac 12'^'^-^). When Roman influence fully pervaded the East, the zest for sports and for blood became still more pro- nounced. Nero himself lent patronage, but not lustre, to the Grecian games, and took a personal part in them (A.D. 67). In the Roman province of Asia festivals with games were held, probably under tiie presidency of the Asiarchs {HDB i. 172). The climax was reached in the 2nd cent. A.D. (see Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire, p. 317 f.). Confirmation of the wide-spread love of sport at this time is found in the well-preserved ruins of trans-Jordanic towns — e.g. Gerasa, Phila- delphia, and elsewhere (G. A. Smith, op. cit., p. 598 ff. ; E. Huntington, Palestine and its Trans- formation, 1911, pp. 280 f., 295).
Such facilities for games even on tiie verge of tiie Empire speak for tiie universal practice of lieathendom. The Cliristians stood aloof from these displays, and became steeled against them more anci more with tiie lapse of time. In the 3rd cent. ' no member of the Christian Church was allowed to be an actor or gladiator, to teach acting, or to attend the theatre' (A. Harnack, The Mission and Expansion of Christianity", 1908, i. 301).
According to the Talmud, the religious leaders of the Jews were only slightly less rigid, although they could not altogether prevent attendance at the tlieatre and participation in games of chance (E. Schurer, HJP ii. i. [1885] 32 f., 36).
Literature.— Art. 'Games' in HDB, SDB, Imperial Bible Diet., Smith's Diet, of Class. Antiquities, Seyffert's Diet, o/ Class. Antiquities (ed. Nettlesliip and Sandys) ; ' Games, Classical,' in £i>r>i ; 'Games and Sports' in JE, 'Games (Hebrew and Jewish)' in EHE-, E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. xii. (ed. Burj', vol. i.-*, 1906, p. 343 ff.) ; W. E. H. Lecky, History of European Morals^, ISSS, i. 271 ff.; E. Renan, Les Apotres, 1866, cli. xvii. ; S. Dill, Roman Society from yero to Marctis Aurelius, 1904, pp. 234- 244 ; F. W. Farrar, The Life and Work of St. Paul, 1897, Excursus iii., p. 698 f.; W. Warde Fowler, Social Life at Home in the Age of Cicero, 1908, pp. 285-318 ; L. Friedlander, Roman Life and Manners under the Early Empire, tr. J. H. Freese and L. A. Magnus, ii. 1-130 ; T. G. Tucker, Life in the Roman U'orld of Nero and St. Paul, 1910, p. 260 IT. ; S. Krauss, Talmudisehe Archdoloaie, iii. [1912] 102-121 ; E. Schiirer, GJ I'-" u. [1907] 47-52, 60 f., 67 (Eng. tr., HJP li. i. 23-28, etc.).
W. Cruickshank.
GANGRENE (Gr. ydyypaiva, ' an eating, spreading sore,' from ypalveiv, ' to gnaw,' AV 'canker.' Two very early translations of 2 Ti 2'^ may be cited : 'Ase holi writ sei5, " hore speche spret ase cauncre'" [Ancr. Bales, 98, ann. 1225 ; see ' canker' in OED]; ' Tlie word of hem crepith as a kankir' [Wyclif, Bible, ed. 1382 ; changed to ' canker ' in 1388 ed. The Vulgate has ' ut cancer ']). — Until about A.D. 1600, ' canker ' signified corroding ulcera- tions generally, and was earlier derived from Italian and medical Latin cancrena. ' Gangrene ' is the term applied to necrosis or mortification of a part of the animal body, attacking especially the ex- tremities, which, as it moves upward, unless ar- rested, involves more and more healthy tissue, and finally results in death. In its figurative use it symbolizes anything that slowly but surely and malignantly corrupts, depraves, and consumes what is good. The cause of the ' gangrene ' re- ferred to in 2 Ti 2''^ is incipient Gnosticism, which subverted the Christian teaching concerning the resurrection, alleging that it had occurred already, in opposition to the belief of the apostles that the resurrection was future, being not merely sjiiritual but involving the whole man. In Ja 5^ ' cankered ' in the AV is in the RV translated ' rusted.'
C. A. Beckwith.
GARLANDS (Gr. o-Wytt/uaT-a).— This word is found only once in the NT, and it is used in connexion with heathen sacrifices. In the temples of the ancient world it was customary to make large use of floral decoration, and especially of wreaths or garlands, on the occasion of religious festivals. Often the priests, the worshippers, and, in particu- lar, the sacrificial victims, were adorned with such wreaths of flowers or leaves at the time of sacrifice. The Romans had a specific name for the wreath or garland worn by the priest and worshippers when taking part in sacrificial worship — the corona sacer- dotalis, or 'priestly garland.' We have repeated references in classical writers of both Greece and Rome to the practice of adorning the sacrificial beasts with garlands or fillets of flowers or leaves (cf. Virgil, JEneid, v. 366 ; Euripides, Heracleidce, 529). This association of garlands with heathen worship led the early Christians to object to their use altogether (cf. TertuUian, de Corona Militis).