Asiarch
Asiarch
In Act 19:31 Revised Version margin reads Asiarchs for Revised Version chief officers of Asia and Authorized Version chief of Asia. The word is a transliteration of the Gr. , derived from , province of Asia, and , to rule, and belongs to a class of names, of which , , , , , are other examples. The titles are peculiar to Eastern, Greek-speaking, Roman provinces. As the real rulers of these provinces were the Roman Emperor and the Roman Senate, with their elected representatives, it is clear that such titles must have been honorary and complimentary. With regard to the duties and privileges attached to the dignities thus indicated there has been much discussion. The titles occur rarely in literature, much more often in inscriptions; and the lessons we learn from inscriptions are in direct proportion to their number. Several scholars of repute have hold the view that the term is equivalent to (high priest of Asia), the president of the Diet of Asia ( , commune Asiae). This Diet of Asia was a body composed of a number of representatives, one or more of whom were elected by each of a number of cities in the province. The principal duty of the president of this body was to supervise the worship of Rome and the Emperor throughout the province (see under article Emperor-Worship). Certain considerations, however, militate against the view that the terms Asiarch and high priest of Asia are interchangeable. The word is never feminine, whereas the title high priestess of Asia is often applied to the wife of the high priest. There was only one (without further designation) at a time, whereas there were a number of Asiarchs. Another (civil) office could be held concurrently with the Asiarchate, but not with the chief priesthood of Asia. Further, the title Asiarch was held only during a mans period of office (probably one year* [Note: But see Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, pt. ii. vol. iii. p. 412 ff.] ), but he was eligible for re-election. The origin of the view that Asiarch and high priest of Asia are two convertible terms is to be found in the Martyrdom of Polycarp (a.d. 155), where two separate persons named Philippos have been confused: (1) Philip of Smyrna, Asiarch, who superintended the games; (2) Philip of Tralles, who was high priest of Asia (the latter had been an Asiarch a year or two before). It is clear, therefore, that the honorary position of Asiarch was inferior to the office of high priest of Asia. Yet there was a connexion between the two. The high priest presided over the games, etc., but the Asiarchs did the work and probably paid the cost. Their election by their fellow-citizens to this honorary position was rewarded by games and gladiatorial shows. Both the Asiarchs and the high priest disappear after the early part of the 4th cent., for the obvious reason that, as the Empire was henceforth officially Christian, the machinery for Emperor-worship had become obsolete.
When we come to study the connexion of the Asiarchs with the Acts narrative, we are puzzled. It seems at first sight so strange that men elected to foster the worship of Rome and the Emperor should be found favouring the ambassador of the Messiah, the Emperors rival for the lordship of the Empire. This is only one, however, of a number of indications that the Empire was at first disposed to look with a kindly eye on the new religion. Christianity, with its outward respect for civil authority, seemed at first the strongest supporter of law and order. Artemis-worship, moreover, hulked so largely in Ephesus as perhaps to dwarf the Imperial worship. Thus St. Paul, whose preaching so threatened the authority of Artemis, may have appeared in a favourable light to the representatives of Caesar-worship, as likely to create more enthusiasm in that direction.
See also articles Diana and Ephesus.
Literature.-C. G. Brandis, s.vv. Asiarches, Bithyniarches, Galatarches, in Pauly-Wissowa [Note: auly-Wissowa Pauly-Wissowas Realencyklopdie.] , Stuttgart, 1894ff.; J. B. Lightfoot, Appendix, The Asiarchate in his Apostolic Fathers, pt. ii. vol. iii., London, 1889, p. 404ff.; W. M. Ramsay in Classical Review, iii. [1889] 174, and St. Paul the Traveler and the Roman Citizen, London, 1895, p. 280f.
A. Souter.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Asiarch
(, ruler of Asia Minor, in the plur., Act 19:31; Vulg. Asiceprincipes; Auth.Vers. “the chief of Asia”), the title of the ten persons annually chosen in Proconsular Asia as chief presidents of the religious rites (prresides sacerdotales, Tertull. De Spect. 2), and whose office it was to exhibit solemn games in the theatre every year, in honor of the gods and of the Roman Emperor (Cod. Theodos. 15:9, 2). This they did at their own expense (like the Roman aediles), whence none but the most opulent persons could bear the office, although only of one year’s continuance (see Conybeare and Howson, Life and Epistles of St. Paul, ii, 83). The appointment was much as follows: at the beginning of every year (i.e. about the autumnal equinox), each of the cities of Asia held a public assembly, in order to nominate one of their citizens as asiarch (Spanheim, De usu et prcestant. num. p. 694). A person was then sent to the general council of the province, at some one of the principal cities, as Ephesus, Smyrna, Sardis, etc., to announce the name of the individual who had been selected (l1. Arist. p. 34,4 sq., ed. Jebb; p. 613 sq., ed. Cant.). Of the persons thus nominated by the cities the council designated ten. As the asiarchs are repeatedly mentioned in the plural, some suppose that the whole ten presided as a college over the sacred rites (comp. Strabo, 14:649). But in Eusebius (Hist. Ecc 4:15) Polycarp is said to have suffered martyrdom when “Philip was asiarch and Statius Quadratus proconsul of Asia ;” from which and other circumstances it is deemed more probable that, as in the case of the irenarch, the names of the ten nominated by the general council were submitted to the proconsul, who chose one of the number to be asiarch (see Vales. in loc.; Deyling, Observ. iii, 379 sq.). Kuinol (at Act 19:31) admits that one chosen by the proconsul was pre-eminently the asiarch, but conceives that the other nine acted as his assessors, and also bore that title. Others, however, think the plurality of asiarchs sufficiently accounted for by supposing that those who had served the office continued to bear the title, as was the case with the Jewish highpriests; but the other branch of the alternative is usually preferred.
It is probable that in the course of time changes were made in the office, which our fragmentary information does not enable us to trace; and that the solitary testimony of Eusebius amounts to no more than that one asiarch, Philip, then and there presided at the public games, but not that the arrangements of all the games were made and provided by that one asiarch. Even the college of these officers appear to have had jurisdiction in Proconsular Asia (q.v.) only, for we find mention of similar functionaries in the other provinces of Asia Minor, e.g. Bithyniarch, Galatarch, Lyciarch, Cariarch, etc. (Strabo, 14:3; Malalas, p. 285, 289, ed. Bonn), and likewise in other parts of the Roman empire, e.g. Syriarch (Liban. Ep. 1217), Phoeniciarch, Cypriarch (2 Mace. 12:2), etc., each charged with similar duties in their respective districts (see the Hall. Encycl. iii, 284 sq.). There is no ground for the supposition of Schottgen (Miscel. Lips. v, 178 sq.), that the asiarchs were city magistrates, having appellate or superior jurisdiction over the decisions of local courts: they should by no means be confounded with the archon, or chief magistrate of Ephesus; for they were representatives, not of a single city, but of many cities united. This notion of the asiarchs is confirmed by a medal of Rhodes, struck under Hadrian, on the reverse of which we read, “‘A coin struck in common by thirteen cities, in honor of the magistrate of Rhodes, Claudio Fronto, asiarch and highpriest of the thirteen cities.” The office might be filled by the same person several times (Akerman, Num. Ill. p. 51). Their place of residence was at Ephesus, Smnrna, Sardis, Cyzicus, or at any other city where the council was held. Their office was thus, in a great measure at least, religious, and they are, in consequence, sometimes called “priests” (), and their office a “priesthood” () (Mart. S. Polycarp. in Patr. Ap. c. 21).
Probably it represented the religious element of the ancient Panionian League, to the territorial limits of which also the circle of the functions of the asiarchs nearly corresponded (see Herod. i, 142). Coins or inscriptions bearing the names of persons who had served the office of asiarch one or more times, are known as belonging to the following cities: Aphrodisias, Cyzicus, Hypsepa, Laodicea, Pergamos, Philadelphia, Sardis, Smyrna, Thyatira. (Aristid. Or. 26:518, ed. Dind.; Eckhel, ii, 507; 4:207; Bockh, Inscr. vol. ii; Krause, Civitates Neocorce, p. 71; Wetstein, On Acts XIX; Herod. v, 38; Hammond, On N.T. in loc.) These chiefs, then holding such games at Ephesus, out of friendly consideration for Paul, restrained him from appearing, as he proposed, in the theatre, during the sedition raised by Demetrius, the goldsmith, respecting Diana of Ephesus (Act 19:31). The consideration of these asiarchs for the Apostle Paul, during the tumult, is not only extremely honorable to his character and to theirs, but is also a strong confirmation of the remark made by the evangelist (Act 19:10), that ” all they who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks” (see Conybeare and Howson, ii, 86). It shows also in what light the tumult of Demetrius was beheld, since he took especial care to observe that “all Asia” worshipped their goddess. Yet were the very asiarchs, now engaged in this worship, intent on saving the man whom Demetrius represented as its most formidable enemy (Carstens, De Asiarchis Paulo quondam amicis, Lubec. 1744). See generally Salmas. ad Solin. 40, p. 566; Van Dale, Dissert. ad antiq. et marmor. p. 273 sq.; Carstens, Mleditat. subseciv. spec. ii (Lubec. 1744); Ziebich, Observ. e numis antiq. sacr. (Viteb. 1745), p. 36 sq.; Smith’s Diet. of Class. Ant. s.v.; and the treatises De Asiarchis, of Boysen (Hal. 1716), Lintrup (Hafn. 1715), Siber (Viteb. 1683), Sontag (Altdorf, 1712), and Wesseling (Utr. 1753).
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Asiarch
ASIARCH.The form of the word is parallel with Lyciarch, Bithyniarch, etc., but the signification is by no means certain. The title of Asiarch could be held in conjunction with any civil office, and with the high priesthood of a particular city, but the high priest of Asia and the Asiarch were probably not identical; for there was only one high priest of Asia at a time, but there were a number of Asiarchs, as Act 19:31 shows, even in one city. The honour lasted one year, but re-election was possible. It was held in connexion with the Koinon (Council) of the province, the main duty of which was to regulate the worship of Rome and of the Emperor; and the Asiarchs were probably the deputies to the Council elected by the towns.
A. Souter.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Asiarch
ashi-ark (, Asiarches; the English Revised Version the chief officers of Asia, the King James Version the chief of Asia): The title given to certain men of high honorary rank in the Roman province of Asia. What their exact functions were is not altogether clear. They derived their appellation from the name of the province over which they presided (compare BITHYNIARCH; CARIARCH; SYRIARCH). Brandis has shown that they were not high priests of Asia, as some have thought, but delegates of individual cities to the provincial Council (Commune Asioe; see ASIA MINOR) which regulated the worship of Rome and of the emperor. They were probably assembled at Ephesus, among other places, to preside over the public games and the religious rites at the festival, in honor of the gods and the emperor, when they sent word to Paul and gave him a bit of friendly advice, not to present himself at theater (me dounai heauton eis to theatron, Act 19:31). The title could be held along with any civil office and with the high-priesthood of a particular city. They served for one year, but re-election was possible (the tenure of office, according to Ramsay, was four years). The municipalities must have shown the Asiarchs high honor, as we find the names of many perpetuated on coins and inscriptions. The office could only be held by men of wealth, as the expenses of the provincial games were for the greater part defrayed by the Asiarchs.
Literature
CI, 2511, 2912; CIL, 296, 297; Brandis, Pauly-Wissowa’s Real-Encyclopedia, articles Archiereus and Asiarches; Strabo, XIV, 649; Eusebius, HE, IV, 15; Hicks, Ancient Greek Inscrs in the British Museum; Ramsay, Classical Review, III, 174ff; Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, I, 55-58, and II, chapter xi; Guiraud, Les assembles provinciales de l’Empire Romain; Lightfoot, Ignatius and Polycarp, II, 987ff.