LiTERATDRE.— P. Fairbaim, The Typolnijy of Scripture*, 2vol3., Edinburgh, 1864; CE, s.v. ; B. Weiss, Biblical Theo- loqy 0/ ST, Eng. tr., 2 vols., Edinburjih, 1882-83; W. Beyschlag, NT Theology, Eng. tr.2, do., 1908.
J. C. Lambert.
TYRANNUS ('Yvpavvoi).—ln the narrative of St. Paul's sojourn at Ephesus we are told that after he had spent three months in arguing with the Jews in the synagogue he succeeded in rousing the hostility of their rulers to such an extent that he was compelled to withdraw from the synagogue altogether, and that he remained in the city for a period of two years, ' reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus' (Ac 19'). The reference here is extremely vague, and it is not impossible that the first readers were more familiar with the situation alluded to than we can be.
There is a remarkable variation in the Greek text, and the original reading is doubtful. Some of the best MSS {e.g. SAB), several cursives (13, 27, 29, 81), and a number of the ancient versions (Sah. Boh. Syr. Pesh. Vulg. followed by Tisch. \VH RV Weiss and Wendt) omit ni/ot ('a certain' Tyrannus), which we find in TR. Probably ni/os is an addition by some early copyist, to whom Tyr- annus was merely a name. Another variation is found in the addition by D and T and several versions of d.Trb ajpas Tri/nrTris fws Se/cdTijs, which is accepted as original by several critics, including Blass, Belser, Nestle, Zockler, while Wendt sees in it a passage in which D has retained some elements of the original text, otherwise lost. B. Weiss {Der Codex D, in der Apostelgeschichte (TU xvii. 1 [Leipzig, 1897]), 110) thinks it may have been added according to an old oral tradition. Ramsay (The Church in the Roman Empire, p. 152, St. Paul, p. 270 f.) expresses the view that the phrase is probably part of the original text or at least that the tradition gives an actual account of the real state of afiairs. He quotes Martial, ix. 68, xii. 57, Juvenal, vii. 222-226, to prove that schools opened at daybreak, and that by the fifth hour, 11 a.m., the pupils would be dismissed and the place free for the use of the Apostle.
The word ffxoXij, tr. 'school,' means originally 'leisure,' then 'the products of learned leisure,' 'treatises,' and lastly 'the place where literary instruction is given,' a 'school.' The 'school of Tyrannus ' was in all probability some such place, where instruction was given, and more definitely where philosophic lectures were delivered. The question here arises, Is Tyrannus to be conceived of as a lecturer in philosophy in Ephesus at the date of the Apostle s visit, who gave his lecture- room for the use of the Christians ? Two explana- tions are possible.
(1) If the reading t-ipos of TR, etc., be correct, the
most probable theory is that Tyrannus was a pri- vate teacher in Ephesus who granted the use of his building to St. Paul either free or for hire. This view is strengthened if we accejit the other addition to the text which we find in Codex Bezoe, 'from the fifth to the tenth hour.' Tyrannus would thus be a teacher or lecturer who used his schvla for the early hojirs of the day and left it free for the Apostle from one hour before noon to two hours before sunset. From Greek and Latin sources we find that the hours for teaching, and, in fact, for the general business of the day, were the early hours of the forenoon (cf. Ramsay's allusions to Juvenal and Martial referred to above). Ramsay (HDB iv. 822) expresses the opinion that the full Western text establishes the meaning of an other- wise obscure passage, giving a natural and satis- factory sense. He sees no reason to account for the additions to the text, but thinks that there was con- siderable temptation to allow the words to drop out, as they seemed quite unimportant to 3rd cent, students. But may not the words have been in- serted by one who did not understand the reference to the school of Tyrannus and who desired to make it more intelligible ?
It is impossible to settle the question whether this Tyrannus supposed to be teaching at Ephesus at the date of the Apostle's visit was a Jew or a Gentile. It is unlikely that an unconverted Jew would give his building for the Apostle's use and thus incur the hatred of his co-religionists, and the reference seems to imply that St. Paul had left the unbelieving .Jews behind him in the synagogue and taken his adherents with him to the new meet- ing-place.
(2) The only other possible explanation is that the 'school of Tyrannus' was the name of some public building in Ephesus which had either be- longed to or been used by a person named Tyran- nus some time before, and been gifted to the city as a place of public instruction. Teachers of phil- osophy frequently gave lectures in public buildings or open spaces available to the whole population. Thus the apostle Paul himself addressed the Ath- enians in the Areopagus, while in an ancient Pom- peiian painting a schoolmaster is represented as teaching in the open forum. On the other hand, it is doubtful if the Apostle could have continued to teach for the period of two years in a public building unless he had received the sanction of the civic authorities to do so, and it is far from prob- able that he either sought or obtained such per- mission. At the same time, we have evidence that he was on friendly terms with the Asiarchs (cf. Ac 19^'- "), and it is not impossible that he may have been allowed to teach without any formal per- mission or recognition being granted. If the text of the best MSS, which has been adopted in the RV, be correct, tlien it does seem more than likely that the ' school of Tyrannus ' was a public or semi- public place of resort and that the phrase would have as its modern equivalent some such expression as ' the McEvvan Hall,' or ' the Trades Hall,' or the like. But tlie wliolc matter remains in uncertainty, and there is perliaps more to be said for the view implied in the Western text, that Tyrannus was a teacher lecturing in Ephesus at the date of the Apostle's visit.