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The Beasts at Ephesus and the Cult of Artemis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2013

Daniel Frayer-Griggs
Daniel Frayer-Griggs*
Affiliation:
Carlow University
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Extract

The words crux interpretum are frequently invoked over the question Paul poses to his Corinthian acquaintances in 1 Cor 15:32: εἰ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον ἐθηριομάχησα ἐν Ἐφεσῳ, τί μοι τὸ ὄφελος; “If with merely human hopes I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what would I have gained by it?” Three principal questions have occupied interpreters of this enigmatic verse. First, does the verb ἐθηριομάχησα imply a literal fight with wild beasts, does it allude figuratively to a hostile conflict with human adversaries, or does it refer hypothetically to a literal event (an unreal conditional)? Second, if the verb is meant figuratively, as nearly all today conclude, whom does Paul characterize as “wild beasts”? Third, what is meant by the phrase κατὰ ἄνθρωπον?

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Harvard Theological Review , Volume 106 , Issue 4 , October 2013 , pp. 459 - 477
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Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 2013 

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References

1 Unless otherwise indicated, all biblical translations are from the nrsv. I shall offer an alternative translation of the phrase κατὰ ἄνθρωπον below.

2 So also Hemer, Colin: “Paul himself is reservedly allusive to events of which we presume the Corinthians were already informed” (The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History [WUNT 1/49; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1989] 188)Google Scholar. See also Lindemann, Andreas, Der erste Korintherbrief (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000) 352Google Scholar; and Wolff, Christian, Der erste Brief des Paulus an die Korinther (THNT 7; Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1996) 191Google Scholar.

3 Homer, Il. 21.470.

4 After the present article was accepted for publication, Hooker's, Morna D. “Artemis of Ephesus” appeared in print (JTS 64 [2013] 37–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar). Hooker similarly identifies the “beasts” of 1 Cor 15:32 with the worshippers of Artemis of Ephesus. However, whereas she is more concerned with how this proposal relates to Acts 19:28–41, I provide further evidence from the Greek literature and aim to situate Paul's use of the “beast metaphor” in the context of Jewish and Pauline aniconic polemics. Despite our differing emphases, that we have arrived independently at such similar conclusions lends credence to the general thesis.

5 Weiss, Johannes, Der erste Korintherbrief (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1910) 365–66Google Scholar.

6 The lion legend in the Acts of Paul is little more than a Christian adaptation of the tale of “Androcles and the Lion,” according to which the slave Androcles is thrown into the arena to be devoured by a lion, and the lion, recognizing Androcles as one who earlier removed a thorn from its paw, licks his feet in submission. For the tale of “Androcles and the Lion,” see Aulus Gellius, Noct. att. 5.14. On the Acts of Paul 7, see MacDonald, Dennis Ronald, The Legend and the Apostle: The Battle for Paul in Story and Canon (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1983) 21–23Google Scholar; and Adamik, Tamás, “The Baptized Lion in the Acts of Paul,” in The Apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla (ed. Bremmer, Jan N.; Leuven: Peeters, 1996) 60–74Google Scholar. In addition to the Acts of Paul, Nicephorus (Ecclesiastical History 2.25), Hippolytus (Comm. Dan. 3), and the Ethiopic Letter of Pelagia all relate versions of the lion legend.

7 See Osborne, Robert E., “Paul and the Wild Beasts,” JBL 85 (1966) 225–30Google Scholar.

8 That this point is rarely given the weight it deserves is noted in Merklein, Helmut, Der erste Brief an die Korinther (3 vols.; ÖTK 7; Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 1992–2005) 3:336Google Scholar.

9 For a survey of opinions regarding Paul's Roman citizenship, consult Roetzel, Calvin, Paul: The Man and the Myth (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999) 19–22Google Scholar.

10 Hans Conzelmann cites Dig. 28.1.8.4: “Those, however, who are condemned to the sword or to the beasts or to the mines, lose [their] civil rights” (1 Corinthians: A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians [Hermenia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1975] 277 n. 129).

11 See Ign., Rom. 5.1: “From Syria to Rome I have been fighting the wild beasts (θηριομαχῶ), through land and sea, night and day, bound to ten leopards, which is a company of soldiers, who become worse when treated well” (trans. Bart D. Ehrman; LCL 24:275). Richard B. Hays perceives another intertextual link in Ignatius's use of the noun τάγμα, “company,” which echoes Paul's use of τάγματι in 1 Cor 15:23 (First Corinthians [Interpretation; Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997] 268).

12 Bowen, Clayton R. argues most trenchantly for the literal interpretation (“I Fought with Beasts at Ephesus,” JBL 42 [1923] 59–68)Google Scholar.

13 So Weiss, Korintherbrief, 365; and Héring, Jean, The First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians (London: Epworth, 1962) 171–72Google Scholar.

14 See Alfred Plummer and Archibald T. Robertson: “The climax, peril (κινδυνεύομεν), peril of death (ἀποθνήσκω), peril of a horrible death (ἐθηριομάχησα), is perhaps intentional” (A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians [ICC; T&T Clark, 1953] 362). See also Fitzmyer, Joseph A., First Corinthians: A New Translation with Commentary (Anchor Yale Bible 32; New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2008) 582Google Scholar; Thiselton, Anthony, The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text (NIGTC; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2000) 1252Google Scholar; and Zeller, Dieter, Der erste Brief an die Korinther (Kritisch-exegetischer Kommentar über das Neue Testament 5; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2010) 502Google Scholar.

15 See Conzelmann, 1 Corinthians, 277 n. 131a; Lang, Friedrich, Die Briefe an die Korinther (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1986) 230Google Scholar; Lindemann, Korintherbrief, 352; and Wolff, Der erste Brief, 192.

16 Plummer and Robertson are adamant: “No doubt, ἐθηριομάχησα, ‘I was a θηριομάχος, a wild-beast fighter,’ is metaphorical” (First Corinthians, 362). Merklein speaks of a “Forschungskonsens” (Der erste Brief, 336); see also Fee, Gordon D., The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1987) 770Google Scholar; Schnabel, Eckhard J., Der erste Brief des Paulus an die Korinther (Wuppertal: R. Brockhaus, 2006) 948Google Scholar; Schrage, Wolfgang, Der erste Brief an die Korinther (1 Cor 15,1–16,24) (4 vols.; EKKNT 7; Zurich: Benziger Verlag / Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1991–2001) 4:244Google Scholar; and Wolff, Der erste Brief, 192. Two notable exceptions take the verb literally but read part or all of the passage as a non-Pauline interpolation: see MacDonald, Dennis Ronald, “A Conjectural Emendation of 1 Cor 15:31–32: Or the Case of the Misplaced Lion Fight,” HTR 73 (1980) 265–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Walker, William O. Jr., “1 Corinthians 15:29–34 as a Non-Pauline Interpolation,” CBQ 69 (2007) 84–103Google Scholar.

17 There is further debate as to whether Paul employs the metaphor with reference to those condemned ad bestias (to the beasts) or to the bestiarii (seasoned fighters trained to subdue the beasts); see Hunkin, J. W., “1 Corinthians xv.32,” ExpT 39 (1928) 281–82Google Scholar.

18 See, for instance, Barrett, C. K., The First Epistle to the Corinthians (London: A&C Black, 1968) 366Google Scholar; and, more cautiously, Fitzmyer, First Corinthians, 582.

19 Osborne cites 1QpHab 12.4–5: “The beasts () are the simple of Judah who keep the Law” (“Wild Beasts,” 230).

20 Malherbe, Abraham J., “The Beasts at Ephesus,” JBL 87 (1968) 71–80Google Scholar, at 74. Malherbe deserves credit for shifting scholarly opinion in favor of the metaphorical interpretation. However, see the critical analysis of Martin Brändl, who is more inclined to see the influence of Ps 22—where the psalmist's opponents are described as bulls (v. 12), lions (v. 13), and dogs (v. 17)—and is dubious of the Cynic-Stoic parallels adduced by Malherbe (Der Agon bei Paulus. Herkunft und Profil paulinischer Agonmetaphorik [WUNT 2/222; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006] 403–6). On Ps 22, see also Kamlah, E., “Wie beurteilt Paulus sein Leiden?,” ZNW 54 (1963) 217–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 218.

21 Rick Strelan draws attention to Artemidorus's equation of sickness with a wild beast in Onir. 2.12 (Paul, Artemis, and the Jews in Ephesus [Berlin: De Gruyter, 1996] 282).

22 Beck, Norman A., Anti-Roman Cryptograms in the New Testament: Symbolic Messages of Hope and Liberation (Westminster College Library of Biblical Symbolism 1; New York: Lang, 1997) 66Google Scholar.

23 Williams, Guy, “An Apocalyptic and Magical Interpretation of Paul's ‘Beast Fight’ in Ephesus (1 Corinthians 15:32),” JTS 57 (2006) 42–56CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

24 Perhaps the most plausible thesis proposed thus far is that of Williams, who cites numerous references to beasts in connection with evil spirits and magic in the Greek Magical Papyri and is able to appeal to Paul's conflict with the sons of Sceva and idolaters in Acts 19 to anchor his thesis in a received tradition about Paul's conflicts in Ephesus (see ibid.).

25 Walter Burkert identifies this epithet as a “well established formula,” which “has justly been seen as a key to her nature” (Greek Religion [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985] 149).

26 The notable exception is now Hooker, “Artemis of Ephesus.” See also the passing comments in Cooke, Richard, New Testament (London: SCM, 2009) 218Google Scholar; and Arnold, Clinton, Ephesians (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament 10; Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2010) 39Google Scholar.

27 See Sib. Or. 5.293. On the significance of Artemis and her temple for the city of Ephesus, see Brinks, C. L., “‘Great Is Artemis of the Ephesians’: Acts 19:23–41 in Light of Goddess Worship in Ephesus,” CBQ 71 (2009) 776–94Google Scholar; Oster, Richard, “Ephesus as a Religious Center under the Principate, I. Paganism before Constantine,” ANRW 2.18:3 (1990) 1661–728Google Scholar, esp. 1699–726; Strelan, Paul, 41–94; and Trebilco, Paul R., The Early Christians in Ephesus from Paul to Ignatius (WUNT 1/166; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004) 19–30Google Scholar.

28 Thomas, Christine, “At Home in the City of Artemis: Religion in Ephesos in the Literary Imagination of the Roman Period,” in Ephesos, Metropolis of Asia: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Its Archaeology, Religion, and Culture (ed. Koester, Helmut; Valley Forge, Pa.: Trinity International, 1995) 85Google Scholar.

29 See Barrett, C. K., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles (2 vols.; ICC; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1994–1998) 2:917–18Google Scholar.

30 See the critical comments of Haenchen, Ernst, The Acts of the Apostles (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1971) 576–79Google Scholar; and Pervo, Richard I., Acts: A Commentary (Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2009) 485–90Google Scholar.

31 See Millar, Fergus, The Roman Empire and Its Neighbors (New York: Dell, 1967) 199Google Scholar.

32 In their classic commentary on 1 Corinthians, Plummer and Robertson make the intriguing observation that the verb θηριομαχέω, “I fight with wild beasts,” bears a striking resemblance to the verb θεομαχέω “I fight against the gods” (First Corinthians, 362); see Acts 5:39; 23:9. If this similarity is not merely a modern scholarly perception but one that would have been noted by ancient writers as well, it may have some bearing on our argument, for if Paul sees himself as fighting with “wild beasts” when contending with devotees of Artemis, “mistress of wild beasts,” he would also have perceived himself as doing battle with the goddess herself.

33 For this reason it is not necessary to posit Pauline familiarity with Homer. Nonetheless, given Paul's training as a Pharisee (see Phil 3:5), such familiarity is probable. As Martin Hengel has demonstrated, in Hellenistic Palestine, Homer was part of the basic education of the Pharisees (Judaism and Hellenism: Studies in Their Encounter in Palestine during the Early Hellenistic Period [2 vols.; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974] 1:75). In connection with this, it is interesting to note Abraham J. Malherbe's suggestion that Paul's self-descriptions elsewhere in the Corinthian correspondence (1 Cor 9:19–23; 2 Cor 10:1–16) may draw on traditions related to Homer's identification of Odysseus as the polytropic (twisting; versatile; well-traveled) man (“Antisthenes and Odysseus, and Paul at War,” HTR 76 [1983] 143–73, at 152–53).

34 Jensen, Minna Skafte, “Artemis in Homer,” in From Artemis to Diana: The Goddess of Man and Beast (ed. Fischer-Hansen, Tobias and Poulsen, Birte; Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 2009) 55–56Google Scholar.

35 Homer, Il. 21.483–84.

36 Hymn 5; see also Hymn 27.

37 Callimachus, Hymn. Dian. (trans. A. W. Mair and G. R. Mair; LCL 129:61).

38 Pausanias, Descr. 8.36.6; Hesiod, Astronomia 3. Compare Ovid's account, according to which Diana excludes Callisto from her cohort, and it is Juno who transforms her into a bear (Metam. 2.470).

39 Eustathius, Commentarii ad Homeri Odysseam 12.85.

40 Antoninus Liberalis, Metam. 21 (The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis: A Translation with Commentary [trans. Francis Celoria; London: Routledge, 1992] 77).

41 As Bodil Hjerrild observes, “The contrast between her role as protector of animals and her role as hunter is caused by the fact that she was the goddess of hunters. For them it was naturally a condition of their very existence that the animals thrived and propagated, and at the same time let themselves be killed thereby providing man [sic] with food” (“Near Eastern Equivalents to Artemis,” in From Artemis to Diana: The Goddess of Man and Beast [ed. Tobias Fischer-Hansen and Birte Poulsen; Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 2009] 41–49, at 42).

42 Aeschylus, Ag. 140–43 (trans. Alan H. Sommerstein; LCL 146:19).

43 Apollonius of Rhodes, Argon. 3.883–85 (trans. William H. Race; LCL 1:287).

44 Ibid., 3.885–86.

45 Strabo, Geogr. 5.1.9 (trans. Horace Leonard Jones; LCL 50:321).

46 Nonnus, Dion. 11.343–44 (trans. W. H. D. Rouse; LCL 344:383).

47 PGM IV. 1548–51.

48 Pausanius, Descr. 7.18.13 (trans. W. H. S. Jones; LCL 272:279).

49 See especially Lawler, Lillian B., “Pindar and Some Animal Dances,” CP 41 (1946) 154–59Google Scholar; eadem, “A Lion among Ladies (Theocritus II, 66–68),” TAPA 78 (1947) 88–98; eadem, “Dancing Herds of Animals,” CJ 47 (1952) 317–24; and eadem, The Dance in Ancient Greece (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University, 1965).

50 The Suda, s.v. ἄρκτος ἦ Βραυρωνίοις.

51 Ibid., s.v. ἀρκτεῦσαι; Scholia Graeca in Lysistratam 645. On the relevant material evidence see Bevan, Elinor, “The Goddess Artemis, and the Dedication of Bears in Sanctuaries,” The Annual of the British School at Athens 82 (1987) 17–21CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

52 See the inscriptions compiled and discussed in Clement, P., “New Evidence for the Origin of the Iphigeneia Legend,” L'Antiquité classique 3 (1934) 393–409CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

53 See LiDonnici, Lynn R., “The Images of Artemis Ephesia and Greco-Roman Worship: A Reconsideration,” HTR 85 (1992) 389–415Google Scholar.

54 Jerome, Comm. Eph. (PL 1:540–41); translation from The Commentaries of Origen and Jerome on St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians (trans. Ronald E. Heine; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) 77.

55 Jerome's use of the Greek term πολυμαστόν in a Latin composition might also suggest that he found this description of Artemis in a Greek source. See LiDonnici, “Images of Artemis,” 392 n. 11.

56 Aeschylus, Ag. 143 (trans. Alan H. Sommerstein; LCL 146:19).

57 Some contend that the description of Ephesian Artemis as multi-breasted is solely a product of early Christian polemic (see Trebilco, Early Christians in Ephesus, 23). However, LiDonnici argues that while the protuberances were not originally intended as breasts, by the Roman period, the Ephesians appear to have accepted this interpretation for themselves (“Images of Artemis,” 408).

58 Strelan, Paul, 45.

59 Macrobius, Saturnalia (trans. Robert A. Kaster; LCL 511:471).

60 See Murphy-O'Connor, Jerome, St. Paul's Ephesus: Texts and Archaeology (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2008) 179Google Scholar. However, in the view of Thomas, “The aspect of Artemis as πότνια θηρῶν, ‘mistress of the beasts,’ . . . is somewhat attenuated in this portrait” (“City of Artemis,” 87).

61 Xenophon, Ephesiaka 1.2 (Murphy O'Connor, St. Paul's Ephesus, 177).

62 Thomas, “City of Artemis,” 97.

63 Aelian, Nat. an. 12.9 (trans. A. F. Scholfield; LCL 449:25).

64 Strelan, Paul, 61.

65 Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (ed. K. van der Toorn, B. Becking, and P. W. van der Hoorst; 2nd rev. ed.; Leiden: Brill, 1999) 175; see also Elderkin, G. W., “The Bee of Artemis,” AJP 60 (1939) 203–13Google Scholar.

66 Budin, Stephanie Lynn, The Ancient Greeks: An Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) 264Google Scholar. Hjerrild writes, “Iconographically [Artemis as πότνια θηρῶν] is depicted for instance on the Artemis of Ephesus, who has animals at her side and on her dress” (“Near Eastern Equivalents,” 42). Robert Fleischer notes that the animals on the ἐπενδύτης were primarily of Greek, not Asiatic, origin (Artemis von Ephesos und verwandte Kultstatuen aus Anatolien und Syrien [Leiden: Brill, 1973] 98).

67 Fleischer, Artemis, 111–14.

68 Plato, Resp. 493a–c.

69 Pseudo-Heraclitus, Epistle 7, 9–10 (First-Century Cynicism in the Epistles of Heraclitus [trans. Harold W. Attridge; Missoula, Mont.: Scholars Press, 1976] 70–71).

70 Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers 1.33.

71 Diogenes Laertius attributes the prayer to both Socrates and Thales (ibid.); Lactantius (Inst. 3.19) and Plutarch (Mar. 46.1) attribute a version of it to Plato.

72 t. Ber. 7:19 and y. Ber. 13b both attribute it to R. Judah b. Elai; b. Mena. 43b attributes it to R. Meir.

73 It is often thought that in Gal 3:28 Paul is intentionally subverting this prayer of thanksgiving. See, for instance, Bruce, F. F., The Epistle to the Galatians: A Commentary on the Greek Text (NIGTC; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1992) 187Google Scholar.

74 See below for further discussion of Rom 1:22–25.

75 Stern, Sacha, Jewish Identity in Early Rabbinic Writings (Leiden: Brill, 1994) 35–39Google Scholar. On inhumanity, see Philo, Legat. 1.131; Josephus, C. Ap. 2.269; 4 Macc. 4:28 and 12:13; on lawlessness, see: Jub. 3:30–31; on uncircumcision, see Pirqe R. El. 29. Although the last example comes from a later period, the metaphor is employed ironically by Paul in Phil 3:2, where he compares those who put their confidence in their physical circumcision to dogs, indicating the insult's earlier currency.

76 See Dan 7; the Animal Apocalypse (1 En. 85–90, esp. 90:30–38); 4 Ezra 11–12; and Rev 13. Admittedly, in the Animal Apocalypse all the nations, even Israel, are depicted as animals; however, as observed by Terence L. Donaldson, the patriarchs and Israel are depicted as domesticated animals, cattle and sheep, respectively, while the Gentiles are depicted as wild beasts and birds that “are generally undomesticated, levitically unclean, and predatory or scavenging” (Judaism and the Gentiles: Jewish Patterns of Universalism (to 135 CE) [Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press, 2007] 111).

77 See, for instance, Plutarch, Is. Os., 71–76. For a thorough discussion of the perceptions of Egyptian animal worship in the ancient world, see Smelik, K. A. D. and Hemelrijk, E. A., “‘Who Knows Not What Monsters Demented Egypt Worships?’ Opinions on Egyptian Animal Worship in Antiquity as Part of the Ancient Conception of Egypt,” ANRW 2.17:4 (1984) 1852–2000Google Scholar.

78 See Let. Aris. 1.138; Sib. Or. 3.185, 589, 396–600; 5.77; T. Mos. 2:7; and L.A.B. 44.5.

79 Barclay, John M. G., Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora: From Alexander to Trajan (323 BCE–117 CE) (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1996) 46Google Scholar.

80 For this observation I am indebted to David Winston, The Wisdom of Solomon: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York: Doubleday, 1979) 248–49.

81 For commentary see Larcher, C., Le Livre de la Sagesse ou La Sagesse de Salomon (3 vols.; Paris: Librairie LeCoffre, 1983–1985) 3:672Google Scholar.

82 Barclay, Mediterranean Diaspora, 366.

83 Josephus, C. Ap. 1.224–25 (trans. H. St. J. Thackeray; LCL 186:255).

84 Ibid., 1.225.

85 Ibid., 2.29. On Josephus's polemical misrepresentation of Apion as an Egyptian, see Barclay, John M. G., “The Politics of Contempt: Judaeans and Egyptians in Josephus's Against Apion,” in Negotiating Diaspora: Jewish Strategies in the Roman Empire (ed. idem; London; T&T Clark, 2004) 109–27Google Scholar, at 119–21.

86 Josephus, C. Ap. 2.86–87 (trans. H. St. J. Thackeray; LCL 186:327). The Greek text of this section is missing; it is extant in Latin.

87 See Philo, Decal. 52–80 (trans. F. H. Colson; LCL 320:33–47); and Niehoff, Maren R., Philo on Jewish Identity and Culture (TSAJ; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001) 48Google Scholar.

88 Philo, Decal. 80 (trans. F. H. Colson; LCL 320:47). Valentin Nikiprowetzky suggests that Philo may be drawing on Plato's notion of the transmigration of souls (De Decalogo. Introduction, traduction et notes [Paris: Cerf, 1965] 83).

89 See Philo, Mos. 1.43.

90 As Sarah Pearce has also observed: “Certainly, Philo characterises certain very wicked states of behaviour—injustice, despondency, and savagery, for example—in terms of wild beasts in human form. But his words in De decalogo also reflect Philo's thinking about the imitation of God, articulated in the previous section of this treatise, where he argues that the devotee should seek to become like the object of devotion. Accordingly those devoted to the cult of wild animals will also be transformed into their likeness” (The Land of the Body: Studies in Philo's Representation of Egypt [WUNT 1/208; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007] 291).

91 Philo, Spec. 3.99 (trans. F. H. Colson; LCL 320:539).

92 Pearce, Land of the Body, 292.

93 An exception to this—the Egyptian manifestation of Artemis as Bubastis with the head of a cat—is noted below. Another possible, though far less certain, exception is suggested by Rudolph Reitler, who believes an ancient Greek scarabaeoid depicting a multi-breasted dog portrays Artemis (“A Theriomorphic Representation of Hekate-Artemis,” AJA 53 [1949] 29–31).

94 Plutarch, Quaest. Conv. 4.5.

95 Jürgen Becker notes how “the filters through which the polemicist Paul allows us to see his opponents are hardly transparent; they color and they distort” (Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles [Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 1993] 169).

96 E.g., Gunther, John J., Saint Paul's Opponents and Their Backgrounds: A Study of Apocalyptic and Jewish Sectarian Teachings (Leiden: Brill, 1973) 98Google Scholar.

97 See in the lxx: 2 Kgdms 7:12 = 1 Chr 17:11; 2 Kgdms 16:11; 2 Chr 32:31; Deut 7:13; 28:4, 11, 18, 53; 30:9; and Ps 131:11.

98 Watson, Francis, Paul, Judaism, and the Gentiles: Beyond the New Perspective (rev. ed.; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2007) 145–46Google Scholar.

99 Barrett, C. K., A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (New York: Harper, 1957) 38Google Scholar.

100 As argued by Jewett, Robert: “While similar denunciations of idolatrous paganism in the Wisdom of Solomon and other writings of Hellenistic Judaism have led scholars to suppose that Paul was attacking only Egyptian religion, or non-Jewish religions in general, it seems more likely that Paul was thinking as inclusively here as elsewhere in the pericope” (Romans: A Commentary [Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2006] 162)Google Scholar.

101 See Rom 3:5; 1 Cor 3:3; 9:8; Gal 1:11; 3:15.

102 Fee, First Corinthians, 771; Lang, Die Briefe an die Korinther, 230; Schrage, Der erste Brief, 245. Despite its popularity, this interpretation is far from obvious and by no means a literal translation.

103 Bowen, “I Fought with Beasts,” 59.

104 Orr, William F. and Walther, James Arthur, 1 Corinthians: A New Translation, Introduction with a Study of the Life of Paul, Notes, and Commentary (AB 32; New York: Doubleday, 1976) 338Google Scholar; Schnabel, Der erste Brief, 948.

105 MacDonald deems v. 31c to be an interpolation and reconstructs vv. 31–32 as “by your own boast, brothers—if, to speak in human folly, I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what would I have gained?” He suggests that Paul was here countering a Corinthian legend that he had fought with beasts (“Conjectural Emendation,” 269–70).

106 Coffin, C. P., “The Meaning of 1 Cor. 15:32,” JBL 43 (1924) 172–76, at 174Google Scholar; according to BAGD, s.v. κατά 5b, the preposition may be used “as a periphrasis to express equality, similarity, or example.”

107 See Coffin, “Meaning of 1 Cor. 15:32,” 174.

108 Philo, Decal. 1.80

109 Philo, Spec. 3.99. Significantly, Ignatius, who famously uses the beast-fighting metaphor (θηριομαχῶ) in Rom. 5:1, likewise makes use of this sort of juxtaposition when speaking of false teachers as τῶν θηρίων τῶν ἀνθρωπομόρφων (wild beasts in human form) in Smyrn. 4.1.

110 Juvenal, Sat. 15.1–13 (trans. Susanna Morton Braund; LCL 91:489).

111 See Hardy, Ernest George, The Satires of Juvenal (London; MacMillan, 1897) 307Google Scholar. Hardy's commentary—“They worship the dog, but not the mistress of the dogs, Artemis or Diana the huntress”—is strikingly reminiscent of Rom 1:25, where Paul condemns idolaters who “worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.”

112 McKim, Richard, “Philosophers and Cannibals: Juvenal's Fifteenth Satire,” Phoenix 40 (1986) 58–71CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 60.

113 Juvenal, Sat. 15, lines 1–13. The charge of cannibalism may reflect Juvenal's awareness of the religiously motivated conflict between the two Egyptian towns of Ombos and Tentyra in 127 c.e., which allegedly resulted in a person being torn to pieces and eaten; see Smelik and Hemelrijk, “Who Knows Not,” 1965.

114 Juvenal, Sat. 15, lines 115–19.

115 Ibid.; see lines 159–64.

116 Herodotus, Hist. 2.138.

117 See Ovid, Metam. 5.330; Witt, Reginald Eldrid comments: “Greek Artemis, when she ‘fled to Egypt’ along with the rest of the Olympians, assumed the features of the cat-headed Bast. This must be borne carefully in mind when we hear Juvenal exclaiming rhetorically that in Egypt the whole population ‘worship cats in one city, and the dog in another, but none worships Diana’” (Isis in the Ancient World [Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1971] 146)Google Scholar.

118 This expands on observations made by Thomas, “City of Artemis,” 85–98. Thomas, however, suggests that the identification of Artemis as “mistress of wild beasts” was less prominent at Ephesus (87).

119 Oster, Richard observes, “Most New Testament scholars and historians of early Christianity have chosen to treat superficially or to ignore the dynamics, nature and significance of the protracted conflict between the devotees of Christ and Artemis in Ephesus” (“The Ephesian Artemis as an Opponent of Early Christianity,” JAC 19 [1976] 24–44, at 24–25)Google Scholar.

120 See Deut 4:28; Ps 115:4; Isa 44:10; and Jer 10:3. Regardless of whether this tradition reflects Paul's actual preaching or Luke's representation of Paul's preaching, it marks an important stage in the development of early Christian anti-Artemis rhetoric.

121 In addition to Jerome's comments on the “multi-breasted” Diana cited above, see Minucius Felix, Oct. 22.5, and the polemical speech against Artemis in Acts John 42–45, which concludes with John's oath to the Ephesians, apparently alluding to their conversion from multi-breasted Artemis to Christ: “I will not leave until I have weaned you like children from the nurse's milk and set you upon a solid rock” (New Testament Apocrypha [ed. Wilhelm Schneemelcher and R. McL. Wilson; trans. Knut Schäferdiek; 2 vols.; Louisville Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003] 2:189).