Giuseppe wrote: ↑Sat May 27, 2023 8:22 am
remote places
Pliny the Younger, of course, was the governor of Bithynia and Pontus (a conjoined Roman province), attesting to Xians here (ca. 112 CE) and to accusations being made against them.
W. Leaf described Sinope of Pontus as "the queen of all the Greek colonies which surrounded the Black Sea." D. M. Robinson wrote, "The best harbor on the southern shore of the Black Sea would become the terminal land point of the great caravans... That harbor was Sinope."
Robinson also wrote, "the inscriptions upon altars and upon other stones, together with legends and figures on coins, afford a considerable bulk of testimony. By collating this we find at Sinope cults of seven gods out of the Great Twelve: Zeus, Apollo, Athens, Hermes, Ares, Poseidon, and Demeter; of five of the later importations: Dionysus, Asclepius, the Dioscuri, Serapis, and Isis...." And also, the "most prominent Sinopean deity was Serapis," whereby "Helios and Serapis were practically identified."
Livia Capponi
wrote:
Abundant evidence indicates that Hadrian [ca. 117-138 CE] played a major role in the restoration work on buildings destroyed in the Diaspora Revolt [ca. 115-117 CE]. For this reason he was hailed as saviour and benefactor both in Egypt and in Cyrenaica. An inscription on Mons Claudianus shows that the emperor celebrated his victory over the Diaspora Jews by erecting a temple to Zeus-Helios-Serapis ‘on behalf of safety and eternal victory’. There is also a debate over whether or not Hadrian restored the Alexandrian Serapeum, possibly damaged in the war. In any case, Hadrian portrayed himself as the saviour and defender of Serapis. Coins of Hadrian show the emperor clasping hands with Serapis, sitting in the Serapeion, and even assimilated with Horos and Serapis himself, while the empress Sabinais represented as Serapis’ wife Isis. A portrait of Serapis in the animal form of a bull was also found in Hadrian’s villa at Tibur, an important centre for Hadrian’s symbolic system of images.
Dionysus, of course, god of another cult present in Sinope, came to be known as a god of wine and pleasure. And it is against this backdrop that 1 Peter places its admonitions:
For the time that has passed is sufficient for doing what the Gentiles like to do: living in debauchery, evil desires, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and wanton idolatry. They are surprised that you do not plunge into the same swamp of profligacy, and they vilify you.
If ye be reproached for the name of X, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Xian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
The text is evidently written to strengthen Xians* against the temptations (especially those associated with cultic worship - drinking, orgies, and idolatry) and accusations (for the name of
X) from non-Xians. This is a response to those who encouraged the Xians to participate in the expected cultic practice in their area (which, of course, to be clear, did not invariably consist of drunken orgies but which certainly always qualified as idolatry, for Jews and for Xians). And so when Xians impiously refused to participate, accusations were formed against them, as this impiety was seen as dangerous to the community.
* I use this term, not for disrespect of Christians, but for respect of the textual ambiguity.