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A CHANGE IN PERSPECTIVE: A COMPARISON BETWEEN EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND GRECO-ROMAN EVIDENCE ON THE LIVES OF EPHESIAN WOMEN A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2015 ELIF H AYNACI SCHOOL OF ARTS, LANGUAGES AND CULTURES TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................................. 6 ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................................................... 7 DECLARATION .................................................................................................................................................. 8 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ............................................................................................................................ 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................ 9 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 10 I. Place and Time ............................................................................................................................... 11 II. Sources and Analytical Categories ......................................................................................... 13 a. Early Christian Writings ......................................................................................................... 14 b. Analytical Categories ............................................................................................................... 18 c. Ephesian Greco-Roman Literary and Archaeological Evidence ............................ 19 d. The “Women” in our Sources ............................................................................................... 24 III. Method .............................................................................................................................................. 28 IV. Terminology .................................................................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER TWO: HISTORY OF SCHOLARSHIP .................................................................................. 30 I. The Location – Ephesus .............................................................................................................. 31 The Locality Argument ..................................................................................................................... 42 II. The Subject - The Women ......................................................................................................... 44 III. Outline of the Chapters ............................................................................................................... 51 CHAPTER THREE: SOCIAL HISTORY OF EPHESUS ........................................................................ 54 I. Ancient History of the City ........................................................................................................ 54 II. The Principate ................................................................................................................................ 61 The Legal Situation in Ephesus ..................................................................................................... 62 III. The Temple of Artemis and Imperial Cult Temples ........................................................ 66 IV. Domestic Life .................................................................................................................................. 71 V. Conclusion........................................................................................................................................ 75 CHAPTER FOUR: MARRIAGE ................................................................................................................... 76 2 I. Who makes up a household? .................................................................................................... 76 What is in the sources? ..................................................................................................................... 77 II. The Perception of Marriage in Ephesus ............................................................................... 78 a. Inside the Home ......................................................................................................................... 78 b. Epigraphic Evidence ................................................................................................................ 80 c. Marriage in Greco-Roman Society ..................................................................................... 85 1) Age of Marriage ..................................................................................................................... 85 2) Education of Girls ................................................................................................................. 86 3) Dowry ........................................................................................................................................ 87 4) The Wedding .......................................................................................................................... 87 5) The Legal Part of Marriage ............................................................................................... 89 (i) Marriage and Guardianship ......................................................................................... 89 (ii) Ius Trium Liberorum ...................................................................................................... 90 d. A Brief Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 92 III. The Perception of Marriage in the Early Christian Ephesian Writings .................. 93 a. The Authorship Argument .................................................................................................... 94 b. Christian, Greco-Roman, or Both? ...................................................................................... 98 1) Attitudes towards Christianization of Greco-Roman Customs ......................... 99 2) Motivation behind Christianization of Greco-Roman Customs ....................... 101 3) Should They Divorce the Unbelieving Spouse? ...................................................... 103 a. Equal or Superior? .................................................................................................................. 105 b. Bishops’ Opinions on Wives ............................................................................................... 110 IV. Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 113 CHAPTER FIVE: WIDOWS and OTHER SINGLE WOMEN ........................................................... 116 I. Why Widows, Virgins and Divorcees? ................................................................................ 116 II. Ephesian Widows, Virgins and Divorcees ........................................................................ 117 a. Epigraphic Evidence .............................................................................................................. 117 1) Widows and Divorcees ..................................................................................................... 117 2) Virgins ..................................................................................................................................... 120 3 b. Reputation of Widows ........................................................................................................... 123 1) Petronius’ ‘Widow of Ephesus’ ..................................................................................... 123 2) Melite of Ephesus ............................................................................................................... 125 c. Widows in Greco-Roman Society ..................................................................................... 126 1) The Issue of Remarriage .................................................................................................. 126 2) In Old Age .............................................................................................................................. 129 d. A Brief Conclusion................................................................................................................... 131 III. Widows and Other Single Women in the Early Christian Ephesian Writings.... 131 a. The Issue of Remarriage....................................................................................................... 131 b. ‘Real Widows’ and ‘So-called Widows’ ........................................................................... 134 c. Bishops’ Opinions on Widows ........................................................................................... 138 IV. Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 140 CHAPTER SIX: WOMEN in SOCIAL LIFE............................................................................................ 142 I. The limits of Social Life ............................................................................................................. 142 II. Women in Social Life in Ephesus .......................................................................................... 144 a. The Appearance of Women in Ephesus ......................................................................... 144 1) Women’s Head Coverings ............................................................................................... 144 2) Men’s Head Coverings ...................................................................................................... 151 3) Women’s Apparel ............................................................................................................... 153 b. The Roles of the Women in Society in Ephesus .......................................................... 154 c. A Brief Conclusion................................................................................................................... 159 III. The Social Life of Women in Early Christian Ephesian Writings ............................ 160 a. Named Women Connected with Asia Minor ................................................................ 160 Prisca & Aquila / Aquila & Priscilla ...................................................................................... 163 b. Head Coverings in Early Christianity .............................................................................. 164 c. Women’s Apparel in Early Christianity.......................................................................... 169 IV. Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 171 CHAPTER SEVEN: TEACHERS ............................................................................................................... 173 I. Why Teachers? ............................................................................................................................. 173 4 II. Teachers in Greco-Roman Society ....................................................................................... 174 A Brief Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 176 III. ‘Teaching’ in the Early Christian Ephesian Writings .................................................... 177 IV. Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 182 CHAPTER EIGHT: CONCLUSION........................................................................................................... 184 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................................... 191 WORD COUNT: 78,073 5 LIST OF FIGURES Page 1 – Map of Ephesus 59 2 – Plan of Terrace House 2 72 3 – Funerary relief of a sitting woman from Selçuk Museum 145 4 – Funerary relief a reclining woman from Selçuk Museum 145 5 – Funerary relief with an inscription from Selçuk Museum 145 6 – Female statue in front of the Celsus Library in Ephesus 146 7 – Female statue in front of the Celsus Library in Ephesus 146 8 – Female statue in front of the Celsus Library in Ephesus 146 9 – Female statue in front of the Celsus Library in Ephesus 146 10 – Relief of Marcus Aurelius, Hadrian, young Lucius Verus and Antonius Pius from Ephesos Museum in Vienna 151 11 – Relief of a sacrificial offering from Ephesos Museum in Vienna 151 6 ABSTRACT This thesis argues that Greco-Roman literary and archaeological evidence from Ephesus, in light of Greco-Roman evidence from the wider Asia Minor region, directly affects how we interpret early Christian writings related to Ephesus. We suggest that the early Christian authors employed Greco-Roman cultural elements in their texts in order to build social guidelines for the early Christian community. We will focus on the representation of women in Greco- Roman evidence and early Christian texts and compare the approaches of two sets of evidence. Our aim is to identify the differences and similarities in how these sources present women. The majority of existing scholarship on the subject has been reluctant to employ local archaeological, and to a degree literary Greco-Roman evidence in order to construct a background for the early Christian texts and subsequently interpret them. Either the comments on an early Christian text are based purely on information from directly within the text itself, or a random selection of literary and/or archaeological Greco-Roman evidence is used, with no regard for locality. Moreover, scholarship which does take comparative non-Christian evidence into account has utilised mostly Roman sources, meaning there is a need for a greater consideration of specifically Ephesian evidence in order to better understand the early Christian community there. The aim of this thesis is firstly to argue that local Greco-Roman archaeological and literary evidence provide a contextual basis from which we can properly interpret early Christian texts, and secondly to investigate different aspects of the lives of Greco-Roman Ephesian women. We discuss that the context of an early Christian writing is of vital importance, and, therefore, the evidence which helps to rebuild that context should derive from the text’s immediate locale. We will argue that a comparison of the early Christian writings to their Greco-Roman context will reveal a significant similarity between the writings and their surrounding culture, contrary to common scholarly opinion. Proper construction of a text’s background can bring fresh interpretations of how early Christian writings portray women. In this respect we will challenge many scholars on their views about subjects raised in the early Christian writings, such as the relationship between the married couple, the status and reputation of widows, the social standing of women, and women’s roles as teachers. We will see that employment of Ephesian Greco- Roman evidence for interpretation of the Ephesian early Christian writings will provide perspectives on the texts which have not previously been recognised. 7 DECLARATION No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. COPYRIGHT STATEMENT i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for administrative purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trade marks and other intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions. iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy (see http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=487), in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the University Library, The University Library’s regulations (see http://www.manchester.ac.uk/library/aboutus/regulations) and in The University’s policy on Presentation of Theses. 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to extend my gratitude to the Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Turkey for the scholarships that funded both my Masters and Doctoral degrees, enabling me to pursue my studies with adequate financial support. I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Peter Oakes, for his constant support and insightful guidance throughout the course of this thesis. Words are not enough to express my gratitude to him. I am truly grateful for his endless patience in dealing my questions. I also would like to thank my second supervisor Dr. Roberta Mazza for encouraging me to employ different perspectives while analyzing sources. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to my dear friends, for without their moral support, encouragement and help I would not be able to survive through the (inevitable) stressful periods that accompany the completing of a PhD; Ceray, Katharina, Kimberley, Vildan, Tuğba and David. I am also in debt to Julie, for dedicating hours helping me to translate the Greek inscriptions included in this thesis, and to Kimberley for proofreading the thesis manuscript. Any errors which remain are, of course, my own. Finally, I would like to thank my whole family for being there for me when I needed them. I cannot thank my parents, Yurdanur and Abdurrahman, enough for their endless love and constant encouragement given to me throughout my studies. I would also like to thank my husband, Hasan, for his love and support throughout. 9 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION “The Lex Julia granted exemption from its penalties to women for a year after the death of their husbands, and for six months after a divorce had taken place; the Lex Papia granted them two years from the death of their husbands, and a year and six months after a divorce”. Rules of Ulpian, 14.1 “To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain unmarried as I am. But if they are not practicing self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion”. 1 Corinthians, 7:8-9.2 The above passages both refer to marriage. However, they each approach the topic with different concerns. The Rules of Ulpian, a collection of Roman laws, simply explains how widows will be treated by the law in particular circumstances. 1 Corinthians 7:8-9, a Christian letter from the New Testament, offers tailored advice to its audience that is dependent on their marital status. The two passages come from completely different genres of literature, and have very different authorial intents, social contexts, and intended recipients. The intention of this thesis is to research the different roles of women in Greco- Roman evidence and early Christian3 literature, and to discuss the representations and changing perceptions of women in the two gro ups of sources. Using the city of Ephesus as a case study, and nuancing the approaches that have been taken by scholarship so far, we will consider the similarities and/or differences in the way Greco - Roman sources and early Christian writings present Ephe sian women. Although the abovementioned law is a Roman one, we will see that first - century Ephesus was not straightforwardly Roman, and possessed its own indigenous culture that was neither entirely Roman nor Greek. Greco - Roman culture surrounded the Ephes ian people, and it will be argued that this was a native culture with its own characteristics. For this reason, sources with Roman origin will not always apply to the city. When we do employ evidence of Roman origin, however, we will see that there was a s ignificant 1 Translated by Samuel Parsons Scott (Cincinnati: Central Trust Co., 1932). 2 English translations of the New Testament will be cited from the NRSV throughout, unless otherwise stated. 3 A detailed analysis of this term will be offered later on in the introduction. 10

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