James Strahan. PRISCA, PRISCILLA.— See Aquila.
PRISON. — 1. Greek words translated ' prison.' —
The term 0i'XaK>) is almost invariably rendered ' prison ' in AV and K V. It is also used in a more restricted sense to designate a portion of a prison, in one instance ' the first and the second ward ' (Ac 12'° AV and KV), traversed by the apostle Peter on his way to freedom ; in another, ' the inner prison' (Ac 16-^ AVand RV) in which St. Paul and ijilas were immured by the Philippian iailer. The word dftriiUTTipiof, frequently applieu by Attic orators to the prison at Athens, and used in the Acts interchangealilv with <pv\aKri, is translated 'prison-house' in the RV (5-'- -» 16="). The word oiKTfixa, ('a room in a house'), a polite equivalent in Attic Greek for StcrixoiT-fipLov, is used (Ac 12') to denote ' the cell ' in which the apostle Peter was confined by order of Herod. Another word for prison, ttj/jt/ctis, translated 'hold' (RV 'ward'), is employed in Ac 4^ to designate the place of con- tineiuent into whicli the apostles were thrown by the sacerdotal authorities at Jerusalem ; also in Ac 5'* qualified by the adjective oifixoala (AV ' common prison,' RV ' public ward ').
2. The prison in apostolic times. — In most of the instances mentioned in the NT, prisons appear to have been a part of buildings mainly devoted to other uses, such as palaces and fortresses, rather than buildings exclusively set apart for the purpose. The system then in vogue difl'ered in this and other respects from the one that largely jjrevails at the present day. As a rule, prisons were intended not as places of punishment for convicted criminals, but as places of detention for persons awaiting trial, or pending their execution. In support of this view may be cited tlie imprison- ment of the apostles recorded in Ac 4^ 5'**-, that of the apostle Peter in Ac 12^"'°, and that of the apostle Paul at Jerusalem, Ca^sarea, and Rome. Among the Jews, as well as among the Greeks and Romans, it was usual to inflict other penalties than imprisonment for oti'ences against law and order, e.g., fines, scourging, death.
In Philippi, which was a Roman colony, the prison into which St. Paul and Silas were cast seems to have been a separate establishment devoted to the purpose. But it is rash to assume that prisons in the provinces were ]>lanned on the same princi|de as the Mamertine prison at Rome. There is nothing to indicate that ' the inner prison ' in whicli the Apostle and his companion were incarcerated was a subterranean dungeon. The reference to 'doors' (Ac 16^) and to the circum- stance that the jailer ' sprang in ' (v.™) points to
the fact that their portion of the tirison was on a level with the oilier portions. The narrative affords us one of the few glimpses obtainable into the interior of a Roman prison, with its dill'erent cells, proviiled with the inevitable appurtenances of chains and stocks, and its governor's house above. In Ac 12^"'" an interesting glimpse is also given into the interior of the pri.son in which the apostle Peter was conlined at Jerusalem. This was prob- ably a guardroom in the fortress Antonia, situ- ated at tlie north-west corner of the Temple area, escape from which could be cli'ected only by passing through ' the lirst and the second wards,' lying between it and the iron gate leading into the city. The place of custody to which the apostles were committed by the Temple guard (Ac 4''" o'*"-) was probably attached to the Temple or high priest's palace, as it would appear to have been adjacent to the court in which the Sanhedrin subsequently met for the trial.
Among the evidences which St. Paul adduces of his preeminence in suffering is his ' more frequent ' coniinement 'in prisons' (2 Co ll'-'^). Besides his imprisonment at Philippi and other unrecorded instances wliich preceded the writing of 2 Cor. , he became painfully familiar with custody in prison and out of prison at subsequent dates. (1) As the result of the riot in the Temple, set on foot by the fanatical Jews of Asia, he was consigned for a. time to the barracks (irapeix'^oX-q, AV and RV 'castle') connected with the fortress Antonia (Ac 21^''), the scene of St. Peter's imprisonment at an earlier date. (2) The discovery of the plot aiming at his assassin- ation led to his being transferred to Ciesarea, where he was detained for upwards of two years in the prretorium of Herod, now the residence of the procurator (Ac 23''^). Here the strictness of his conHnement was sufficiently relaxed to admit of his friends having free access to him. (3) On bis being transferred to Rome, as the result of his appeal to Csesar, a still larger measure of liberty was granted him. ' He dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him ' (Ac 28^"). (4) If we are to assume a second imprisonment at Rome — a subject still under discussion — it seems not unlikely, judging from references in 2 Tim., that he was subjected to severer treatment, .\ccordiiig to tradition, his place of custody was the Mamertine prison, in the lower dungeon of which, known as the Tulliaiium, prisoners condemned for crimes against the State were executed.