The Expansion of Christianity: A Gazetteer of Its First Three Centuries (Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae, V. 69)

423 Pages·2004·2.403 MB·English

by  Roderic L. Mullen

THE EXPANSION OF CHRISTIANITY
SUPPLEMENTS TO
VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE
Formerly Philosophia Patrum
TEXTS AND STUDIES OF EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE
AND LANGUAGE
EDITORS
J. DEN BOEFT — J. VAN OORT — W.L. PETERSEN
D.T. RUNIA — C. SCHOLTEN — J.C.M. VAN WINDEN
VOLUME LXIX
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THE EXPANSION OF CHRISTIANITY
A GAZETTEER OF ITS FIRST THREE CENTURIES
BY
RODERIC L. MULLEN
BRILL
LEIDEN (cid:127)BOSTON
2004
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This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mullen, Roderic L.
The expansion of Christianity : a gazetteer of its first three centuries / Roderic L. Mullen.
p. cm. — (Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae, ISSN 0920-623X ; v. 69)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 90-04-13135-3 (alk. paper)
1. Church history—Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600. I. Title. II. Series.
BR165.M96 2003
270.1—dc22
2003065171
ISSN 0920-623X
ISBN 90 04 13135 3
© Copyright 2004 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
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printed in the netherlands
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CONTENTS
Preface ........................................................................................ ix
Introduction ................................................................................ 1
PART ONE
CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES IN ASIA BEFORE 325 C.E.
Palestine ...................................................................................... 21
Syria Phoenice ............................................................................ 33
Syria Proper ................................................................................ 40
Arabia .......................................................................................... 47
(Roman) Mesopotamia .............................................................. 54
Assyria and Babylonia ................................................................ 59
Persia .......................................................................................... 66
India and Bactria ........................................................................ 70
Isauria, Cilicia, and Cyprus ...................................................... 74
Dioecesis of Asia ........................................................................ 83
Dioecesis of Pontica .................................................................... 114
Pontus Polemoniacus, Colchis, and Transcaucasian Iberia .... 133
Armenia Major .......................................................................... 136
PART TWO
CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES IN EUROPE BEFORE 325 C.E.
Dioecesis of Thrace .................................................................... 143
North and Northwest Coasts of the Black Sea ...................... 152
Greece .......................................................................................... 154
Province Dalmatia ...................................................................... 170
Moesia Superior .......................................................................... 172
Dacia Traiana ............................................................................ 175
Pannonia ...................................................................................... 178
Dioecesis of the City of Rome .................................................. 184
Dioecesis of Italy ........................................................................ 211
Noricum ...................................................................................... 220
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Raetia .......................................................................................... 221
Germania (Superior and Inferior) ............................................ 222
Gaul ............................................................................................ 226
Britannia ...................................................................................... 242
Hispania ...................................................................................... 248
PART THREE
CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES IN AFRICA BEFORE 325 C.E.
Egypt ............................................................................................ 263
Cyrenaica and Libya .................................................................. 294
Africa Proconsularis .................................................................... 298
Numidia ...................................................................................... 311
Mauretania Sitifensis .................................................................. 319
Mauretania Caesariensis ............................................................ 321
Mauretania Tingitana ................................................................ 326
Unlocatable Christian Communities in North Africa ............ 328
Ethiopia (Aksum) to the mid-Fourth Century .......................... 330
Maps ............................................................................................ 333
Unplaced Sites ............................................................................ 333
Bibliography and Abbreviations ................................................ 347
Index ............................................................................................ 387
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PREFACE
This work began some seven years ago as a rainy-day project born
out of a fascination with data on the early spread of Christianity.
From checking some of the evidence cited for the more far-flung
sites, such as Volubilis, Aksum, Rewardashir, and Valarshapat, I pro-
gressed to a more systematic assembling of the material. None of
the early but possible sites just named are in Europe, nor are they
anywhere near the areas that many historians would consider to be
the heartland of Christianity. Many people in our century consider
Christianity to be a “Western” religion. Indeed, this is the case even
with some Christians who have lived their entire lives in Asia. Yet
it should never be forgotten that Christianity had its beginnings in
Asia among the followers of a crucified Middle-Eastern Jew from
Nazareth by the name of Jesus. Biblical scholars have long noted
that the native language of Jesus and his followers was Aramaic, and
many early Christian works survive in the closely related Syriac lan-
guage. Even when they were translated into Greek within the first
generation of Christianity, the ideas of early Christianity seemed to
cultured individuals of classical antiquity, speaking Greek and Latin,
to be the work of an Eastern cult. In the introduction, I will sur-
vey some of the factors that led this “Eastern cult” to become one
of the dominant religions of the late ancient world, but I reserve the
major part of my efforts for documenting the geographical spread
of the new faith.
When I first started the process of documentation, I doubted
whether such a project could be completed outside of the great
libraries of Europe. I was more than pleasantly surprised to discover
that the book could have been finished easily without leaving the
United States. More than ninety percent of the works I needed were
available in the libraries of my two almae matres, Duke University and
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A score or so of
works were retrieved from other libraries in the Southeastern United
States, and another dozen perhaps from the Library of Congress and
elsewhere. A special debt of thanks goes to Mrs. Becky Hall and her
colleagues at Currituck County Library for finding a copy of Raymond
Thouvenot’s article on Volubilis from 1939. My relocation to the