Town Clerk
Town-Clerk
The town-clerk of Ephesus (Act 19:35-41), who displays tact and also points out the illegality of the whole proceedings of the crowd, with the proper means of redress if there be a real grievance, was a typical official of a Greek city with the Athenian type of constitution. In cities like Ephesus, which were the headquarters of a Roman governor, the town-clerk appears to have acted also as a kind of intermediary between the proconsul (with his staff) and the municipal authorities. The Acts narrative is in fact a precious document for the understanding of the town-clerks position. With the advent of the Empire the free democratic constitution of most provincial cities was suspended. The assemblies could be held only with the permission of the governor, who was an Imperial official (cf. Act 19:38-41). No longer could a citizen bring a proposal before the assembly personally, but only through the presiding official. The old council of annually elected citizens remained, as did the old magistracies. These offices were held only by the rich, as no salary was attached to them. The (see Magistrate, Praetor) and the formed the magisterial board of the city. Every measure to be brought before the people must first have had their approval and support. These magistrates seem to have presided over the assembly in rotation. A decree passed by the assembly required the confirmation of the governor before it could become law. The high importance of the town-clerk appears from the fact that his name alone is frequently given as a means of dating a decree, and, if it is his second period of office, inscriptions indicate that in the usual way. An inscription of Branchidae in the same province of Asia as Ephesus (Greek Inscriptions in the British Museum, no. 921) provides the best illustration of the import of this riotous assembly in Ephesus (C. G. Brandis, in Pauly-Wissowa [Note: auly-Wissowa Pauly-Wissowas Realencyklopdie.] , ii. [1896] col. 1551). A citizen of Branchidae in 48 b.c. is celebrated on it as having gone on an embassy to Rome and restored to the people of Branchidae their former assembly and laws. Under the Empire privileges were apt to be taken away from cities if they were abused. This had happened in the case of Branchidae, and only the intervention of a prominent citizen, who took the journey to Rome and doubtless spent a large sum of money, was able to recover their old rights for the populace. So in Ephesus and elsewhere the local officials were most careful to avoid punishment from the Roman authorities on account of assemblies illegally summoned.
Literature.-O. Schulthess, s.v. in Pauly-Wissowa [Note: auly-Wissowa Pauly-Wissowas Realencyklopdie.] , vii. [1912] cols. 1708-1780; J. Menadier, Qua conditions Ephesii uri sint inde ab Asia in formam provinciae redacta, Berlin, 1880; H. Swoboda, Die griechischen Volksbeschlsse, Leipzig, 1890; W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, London, 1895, pp. 281 ff., 305.
A. Souter.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Town-clerk
(, a scribe, as elsewhere often rendered) is the title ascribed in the A. V. to the magistrate at Ephesus who appeased the mob in the theatre at the time of the tumult excited by Demetrius and his fellow- craftsmen (Act 19:35). The other primary English versions translate in the same way, except those from the Vulg. (Wycliffe, the Rhemish), which render scribe. A digest of Bockh’s views, in his Staatshaushaltung, respecting the functions of this officer at Athens (there were three grades of the order there) will be found in Smith’s Dict. of Class. Ant. s.v. Grammateus. The , or town-clerk, at Ephesus was, no doubt, a more important person in that city than any of the public officers designated by that term in Greece (see Creswell, Dissertations, 4:152). The title is preserved on various ancient coins (Wettstein, Nov. Test. 2, 586; Akermann, Numismatic Illustrations, p. 53), which fully illustrate the rank and dignity of the office. It would appear that what may have been the original service of this class of men, viz. to record the laws and decrees of the state and to read them in public, embraced at length especially under the ascendancy of the Romans in Asia Minor, a much wider sphere of duty, so as to make them in some instances, in effect the heads or chiefs of the municipal government and even high-priests (Deyling, Observ. 3,. 383; Krebs, Decreta Rom. p. 362). They were authorized to preside over the popular assemblies and submit votes to them, and are mentioned on marbles as acting in that capacity. In cases where they were associated with a superior magistrate, they succeeded to his place and discharged his functions when the latter was absent or had died. On the subjugation of Asia by the Romans, says Baumstark (Pauly, Encyclop. 3, 949), were appointed there in the character of governors of single cities and districts, who even placed their names on the coins of their cities, caused the year to be named from them, and sometimes were allowed to assume the dignity, or at least the name, of . See Schwartz, Dissertatio de , Magistratis Civitatum Asiae Proconsulis (Altdorf, 1735); Van Dale, Dissertat. 5, 425; Spanheim, De Usu et Prcest. Numm. 1, 704′; New-Englander. 10:144;’ Lewin, St. Paul, 1, 315. SEE ASIARCH.
It is evident, therefore, from Luke’s account, as illustrated by ancient records, that the Ephesian town-clerk acted a part entirely appropriate to the character in which he appears. The speech delivered by him, it may be remarked, is the model of a popular harangue. He argues that such excitement as the Ephesians evinced was undignified, inasmuch as they stood above all suspicion in religious matters (Act 19:35-36); that it was unjustifiable; since they could establish nothing against the men whom they accused (Act 19:37); that it was unnecessary, since other means of redress were open to’ them (Act 19:38-39); and, finally, if neither pride nor a sense of justice availed anything, fear of the Roman power should restrain them from such illegal proceedings (Act 19:40). SEE EPHESUS; SEE PAUL.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Town Clerk
grammateus. An officer originally appointed to record the laws and decrees of the state, mid to read them in public; but in Asia Minor, under the Roman empire, authorized to preside over popular assemblies and submit questions to their vote, as inscriptions on marbles testify; in short, governors of single cities and districts, and named as such on the coins; sometimes also entitled “chief priests”; a kind of state secretary. The town clerk at, Ephesus appeased the mob gathered by Demetrius the silversmith against the gospel preachers (Act 19:35-41).
His speech is a model of judiciousness, and perfectly carried his point. Such excitement, he reasons, is undignified in Ephesians, seeing that their devotion to Diana of Ephesus is beyond question. It is unreasonable, since the men apprehended are neither church robbers nor blasphemers, so ye ought to do nothing rashly; if even there were grounds against them, there are legal means of redress open, without resorting to illegal; lastly, we are in danger of being called in question by Roman authority for this uproar (see Pro 15:23). Boeckh mentions an Ephesian inscription, No. 2990 C. and H. ii. 80. “Munatius the townn clerk and ruler of Asia” (Asiarch).
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Town Clerk
TOWN CLERK.In Grco-Asiatic cities under the Roman Empire the grammateus (tr. [Note: translate or translation.] town clerk) was responsible for the form of decrees presented to the popular assembly. They were first approved by the senate and then sent to the assembly, which formally passed them. At Ephesus (Act 19:35) the clerk feared that he would have to account to the Roman governor for the irregularly constituted assembly.
A. Souter.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Town Clerk
klurk, klark (, grammateus): The word clerk, writer, town clerk, scribe, is found in this meaning only in Act 19:35, when the townclerk had quieted the multitude. Cremer defines the word as signifying a public servant among the Greeks and the reader of the legal and state-papers (Lexicon of the New Testament). There was considerable difference between the authority of these clerks in the cities of Asia Minor and of Greece. Among the Greeks the grammates were usually slaves, or at least persons belonging to the lower classes of society, and their office was a nominal, almost a mechanical, one. In Asia, on the contrary, they were officers of considerable consequence, as the passage quoted indicates (Thucidydes vii. 19, the scribe of the city) and the grammateus is not infrequently mentioned in the inscriptions and on the coins of Ephesus (e.g. British Museum Inscriptions, III, 2, 482, 528). They had the supervision of the city archives, all official decrees were drawn up by them, and it was their prerogative to read such decrees to the assembled citizens. Their social position was thus one of eminence, and a Greek scribe would have been much amazed at the deference shown to his colleagues in Asia and at the power they wielded in the administration of affairs. See, further, Hermann, Staats Altertum, 127, 20; and EPHESUS.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Town-Clerk
. A man in authority at Ephesus, perhaps what would now be called ‘recorder,’ but he evidently possessed considerable influence. Act 19:35.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Town Clerk
Act 19:35
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Town Clerk
Town Clerk. The title ascribed, in our version, to the magistrate at Ephesus, who appeased the mob in the theatre, at the time of the tumult excited by Demetrius, and his fellow craftsmen. Act 19:35. The original service of this class of men was to record the laws, and decrees of the state, and to read them in public.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Town Clerk
“a writer, scribe,” is used in Act 19:35 of a state “clerk,” an important official, variously designated, according to inscriptions found in Graeco-Asiatic cities. He was responsible for the form of decrees first approved by the Senate, then sent for approval in the popular assembly, in which he often presided. The decrees having been passed, he sealed them with the public seal in the presence of witnesses. Such an assembly frequently met in the theater. The Roman administration viewed any irregular or unruly assembly as a grave and even capital offense, as tending to strengthen among the people the consciousness of their power and the desire to exercise it. In the circumstances at Ephesus the town clerk feared that he might himself be held responsible for the irregular gathering. See SCRIBE.