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7/24/2019 Bonner,Reminiscence of Paul
1/5
Harvard Divinity School
A Reminiscence of Paul on a Coin AmuletAuthor(s): Campbell BonnerSource: The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Apr., 1950), pp. 165-168Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Harvard Divinity SchoolStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1508592
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7/24/2019 Bonner,Reminiscence of Paul
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A
REMINISCENCE OF
PAUL
ON
A
COIN
AMULET
Mr. Henri
Seyrig,
Director
of
the French
Archaeological
Institute
at
Beyrouth,
a friend to whom
my
studies of
magical
amulets owe
a
steadily
increasing
debt,
has
added another to his
many
contributions
by
sending
me
a careful
copy
of
the
inscription
here discussed
(letter
of March
i
,
I949).
It was incised
upon
a Roman
silver denarius
(diameter
15 mm.),
both
sides of which
had been smoothed
off in
order
to receive it.
Of
the
obverse
design
Mr.
Seyrig
reports
that
nothing
can
be
seen;
of the reverse
type
there
remains
the
outline
of
a
galley
with
oars,
which moves to the
right.'
It
is
likely
that
the
poorer
people
often made
amulets
out of
small
coins.
Some
years
ago
Mr. Harold
Mattingly published
a
Mithraic
tessera
made from a
silver
denarius of
Augustus.2
In
that
instance the
inscription
of
the
reverse
was
obliterated,
but the
type
design,
Tarpeia
half
buried
under the
heap
of
shields,
was allowed
to
remain
and
serve,
strangely
enough,
for a
representation
of
the
birth of Mithra from
the
rock. The obverse
was
completely
smoothed
off,
and
now carries
a
brief
inscription,
MiOpas
'Qpo,taru8rs
p'qv,
which combines the names of
Mithra,
the
Persian
supreme
god,
and the
Egyptian
sun
god.
The
coin
described
by
Mr.
Seyrig
was
bought by
him from a
dealer
who came
from
Tortosa,
the
ancient
Antarados. If
the
amulet was made
in or
near
that
town,
as seems
likely,
it is
not
surprising
that the
in-
scription
should
fall
within
the
sphere
of
Judaeo-Christian
religion,
and
in
fact the coin
may
be called
a Christian
amulet,
although
it is evident
that the
maker or
his
employer
had
not shaken off
pagan
habits
of
thought.
The letters are
of
a kind much
used on
magical gems
of
Roman times.
Several of their
forms are
assigned
by
Larfeld to
his
Period XVII
(A.D.
I20-2Io),3
and
there
seems
to be
no
need to
consider a
date
later
than
300.
It
would
not
be
easy,
however,
to
place
the
inscription
at
any
particular
point
in
the
preceding century
and a
half.
1
On
Roman coins
of
the
Empire,
galleys propelled
by
oars
were
usually
shown
with
the
oars at the end
of the
stroke,
the
blades
sloping
towards
the
stern
of
the
vessel. On earlier coins, as on Greek vases, this convention was not regularly
observed.
2Numismatic
Chronicle,
1932,
pp.
54-57.
Larfeld,
Handb. der
griech.
Epigraphik,
II,
pp.
490-495.
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7/24/2019 Bonner,Reminiscence of Paul
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HARVARD
THEOLOGICAL
REVIEW
The
construction
of the text
is
continued from the obverse
to the
reverse.
Obverse. E7rTKaXovLeO
aytov KE pIeytTOV
ov ovoa 'vav OL
rvepyfl
7ravTa
oara
0e'Ow.
Reverse.
iva
OLt
7
oraT
7t raVav
avOpwovrlvv 7jiLpav.
Read
E7rTKaXov,at,Kai,
7rroTraTacn.
he cross stroke of
alpha
has
been
omitted
in
five
instances,
as is
often done
in
the
lettering
of
magical
amulets;
and similar
negligence
has been noted on more
pretentious
monuments.4 The
bottom
of
the
omega
at the end
of the obverse
in-
scription
is worn
away.
For the
construction
of
avvepyj
compare
Xen.
Mem.
3.5.I6,
avvepyElv
avrTOt rTa
crvtkepovTa.
Translate,
"I
invoke
the
holy
and
greatest
name
that
it
may help
me
accomplish
all that
I
wish,
that
it
may
give
me
the
upper
hand
in
every
human
judgment" (literally,
"may
subject every
human
day
to
me").
'E7rLKaAXoViaL
s
the normal
Greek word
for
"invoke,"
"call
upon,"
but
with
ovofa
as
object
it
is
Jewish
and
Christian,5
and
aywto
as
an
epithet
of
God is
in
general
Oriental,
and
especially
Semitic.6
The
Name,
which in
Jewish
contexts
often stands
for
God,7
is
appropriately
called
a-yLos
and
/Edyaa.8
The
circumstance that the
Hebrew
expresses
the
superlative
by
other means than inflection
may
at least
partly
account
for the fact
that
neither
God nor
his
name is called
/eg7L-TOS
in
the
Septuagint
version
of
the canonical
books,
but we have
1,eytfros
as an
epithet
of
OEo&
n II
Macc.
3.36,
III
Macc.
I.9
(the
reading
of
V),
I6,
and
elsewhere.
In
PGM
II,
I27,
&Mpov
/tOL
EtoprY'/c
TrV TOV
/jeyItrTov
crOV
ovojuaTro
yvorLtv,
the
adjective
probably
does
not
merely
express
greatness
in
a
high
degree,
but means the
greatest
name
by
which the
god
could
possibly
be called.
Comparison
with that text
might
seem
to lend our
coin inscription the color of pagan magic; but the invocation of the
Name
(God)
'va
%ot*
avvepyry
preserves
the
Jewish atmosphere.
However,
the
formula of the
reverse
is
distinctly
pagan
in
its associa-
tions.
The
verb v{roraro-ow is used
in
charms
intended
to
subject
demons
or
human
beings
to
the
operator's
will,
as
in
PGM
V, 164-I65,
v7rorTaov
/OL
rTVTa
TO
SaL/tLOVta;
P.
Masp.
i88,
3,
v7rrratoT
/Lov
7rav 7rva
SatlLOVLwv;
PGM
X,
50,
VTroTatov
ot
rov
SeWva;
V
324,
7TroTreaytL7Evo5
e
/LOt
T(o.
The
special
interest
of
this amulet lies
in
iraaav
JavOpo7rtvrv
/l.epav,
which is a reminiscenceof the words of the Apostle Paul in i Cor. 4.3,
Larfeld,
p.
495;
0.
Gueraud,
Bull. soc.
arch.
Alex.
32
(1938),
21.
E.g.,
Gen.
4.26,
Ps.
1I6.I7,
I Cor.
1.2.
oE.
Williger,
Hagios
(RGVV
I9,I),
esp.
8o-Io8.
7Strack-Billerbeck,
Kommentar
zum
N.T. aus Talmud
und
Midrasch,
II,
316;
McCasland
in
JBL 68,
p.
o09.
Ps.
33.
3
;
76.I;
III.9;
I
Clem.
58,
64;
Herm.
Vis.
4.I.3.
166
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REMINISCENCE OF
PAUL
ON A COIN AMULET
167
eLol
E
ELs
eeXaXLtrrov
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7/24/2019 Bonner,Reminiscence of Paul
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HARVARD
THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
passage
in
Paul's letter.
His use of it would be
all
the more natural
if
a
Jewish
training
had accustomed
him
to the
contrast,
implicit
in
Paul's
words, between a human court and God's Day of Judgment. He was
probably
a
Jewish
Christianwho had not
given up
the
language,
perhaps
not even
the
practice,
of
magic.
Since
the
foregoing
paragraphs
were
written
A.
D.
Nock has called
my
attention
to Romans
8.28,
rois
aya7Trwav
rTv
Oeov
iradvTa
arvvpyEL
ELg
ayaOov,
where
I
had overlooked
the fact that a
strongly
held
opinion,
in
fact the now
prevailing
one,
understands
0Eo'
as the
subject
of
avvepyEt
and
7ra'vTra
s
its
object.
With
that
interpretation
it
would
appear
that
the phrase of the Seyrig amulet,
Eva
IJot
avvEpyryrdvra,
may be another
Pauline
reminiscence.
It would
scarcely
be
convincing
in
itself,
but it
gives
welcome
support
to
the inference
drawn
from
avOpwoTwvrvi jupav.
It is unfortunate that so little is left of
the
reverse
design
that it
cannot be
positively
identified. Even
if
all
its
details could be
recognized
it
would
give
little
help
towards
dating
the
inscription.
A
coin chosen
for conversion to
an
amulet
would
probably
have circulated for
many
years,
since a
piece
already
worn smooth would
naturally
be
preferred
to one fresh
from
the mint. A denarius of Hadrian struck
in an
eastern
mint has on
its
reverse
a
galley
moving
to
the
right;14
such a coin
might
have
provided
the
metal
for this amulet.
CAMPBELL
BONNER
UNIVERSITY
OF
MICHIGAN
1 H.
Mattingly,
Coins
of the
Roman
Empire
in
the British
Museum, III,
P1.
68,
I9;
date ca. A.D.
125-128.
168