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Old 12-20-2007, 04:41 AM   #1
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Default Did "Early Christians" write dinner invitations?

Here are references to a dozen or more papyri
in which dinner invitations are recorded for
non-christians.

Did pre-nicene christians get invited to dinner by
written papyri, or was it too dangerous for these
prenicene christians to write to each other over
dinner?

Has anyone stumbled over any christian papyri
which are NOT dated paleographically, but by
other means -- such as the date written on the
fragment by the author, or other similar mechanism.


From a dissertation:

AN ANALYSIS OF CERTAIN FEATURES OF DISCOURSE
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOK OF I CORINTHIANS

Quote:
It was common in worshiping certain Greek gods for the devotee to share the sacrifice with the god and invite his or her friends to eat the worshiper's portion at a banquet, often in the temple of the god. The orator Aristides relates a dream that he had in which the god Asclepius commanded, "After this to go to the Temple and make a full sacrifice to Asclepius, and to have sacred bowls set up, and to distribute the sacred portions of the sacrifice to all my fellow pilgrims" (Sacred Tales 2.27). There was a temple of Asclepius near the gymnasium in Corinth (Pausanias Description of Greece, Corinth 4.5). In addition, on the road to the Acrocorinthus were temples to Isis and Sarapis (Pausanias Description of Greece, Corinth 4.6), who also were worshiped with meals in their temples. Fee (1987, 361) notes that there survive today at least thirteen papyrus invitations to cult meals. Willis (1985, 40-42) gives the Greek text and translations of nine of them. I have redone several of the following translations to make them consistent with one another (the original translations in Willis 1985 were done by Grenfell and Hunt 1916 [for (4), (5), (6), (7), and (10)], Willis 1985 [for (8) and (9)], Eitrem and Amundsen 1936 [for (11)], and Oates, Samuel and Welles 1967 [for (12)]). Six of them invite the recipient to the temple of a god: Sarapis, Thoeris, or Isis. They read as follows:

(4) Chaeremon asks you to dine at a table of the lord Sarapis in the Sarapian [temple] tomorrow, which is the 15th, from the 9th hour (P. Oxy. 110).

(5) Apollonius asks you to dine at a table of the lord Sarapis on the occasion of the coming of age of his brothers in the Thoerian [temple] (P. Oxy. 1484).

(6) Apion asks you to dine in the house of Sarapis at a table of the lord Sarapis on the 13th from the 9th hour (P. Oxy. 1755).

(7) Diogenes asks you to dine at the first birthday of his daughter in the Sarapian [temple] tomorrow, which is well-spread [pacwn, a variant (?) of pacewn 'thick'; cf. Liddell-Scott 1968, 1351], from the 9th hour (P. Oxy. 2791).

(8) The god invites you to a table in the Thoerian [temple] tomorrow from the 9th hour (P. Colon 2555).

(9) Sarapis asks you to dine at the sacred offering for the lady Isis in her [or, his] house tomorrow, which is the 29th, from the 9th hour (P. Fouad 76).

This last meal may be taken as either at Isis's temple or at Sarapis's house, depending upon how one understands the significance of the definite article preceding the word 'house'. But three of the invitations which Willis lists are definitely to meals at the host's house. They read as follows:

(10) Antonius, [son] of Ptolemaeus, asks you to dine with him at a table of the lord Sarapis in the [house] of Claudius Sarapion on the 16th from the 9th hour (P. Oxy. 523).

(11) Sarapion, former gymnasiarch, asks you to dine at a table of the lord Sarapis in his own house tomorrow, which is the 15th, from the 8th hour (P. Oslo. 157).

(12) Dionysios asks you to dine on the 21st at a table of Helios, great Sarapis from the 9th hour at his father's house (P. Yale 85).
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Old 12-21-2007, 11:37 AM   #2
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or was it too dangerous for these
prenicene christians to write to each other over
dinner?
If they didn't do it, a more likely reason was that it was too expensive.
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Old 12-21-2007, 12:07 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by Doug Shaver View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by mountainman View Post
or was it too dangerous for these
prenicene christians to write to each other over
dinner?
If they didn't do it, a more likely reason was that it was too expensive.
There were many grades of papyrus, some quite cheap. One kind was even used just to wrap merchandise. Many of the Oxy. fragments are notes much like what we would write today. More on papyrus here: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin...=head%3D%23814

Julian
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Old 12-21-2007, 01:02 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug Shaver View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by mountainman View Post
or was it too dangerous for these
prenicene christians to write to each other over
dinner?
If they didn't do it, a more likely reason was that it was too expensive.
Many apologetic and in some cases non-apologetic authors
of ancient history (and "Biblical History") quote the gravestone
of Marcus Aurelius Prosenes as "evidence of a christian grave".

The reasoning used to do this is something like:

Although nothing in the original inscription suggests Christian
identity, one freedman named Ampelius later inscribed on the
stone the fact that Prosenes was

"welcomed before God"
(receptus ad deum)
on March 3, 217,
an expression which may best
be explained in terms of Christianity.
(cf. Mazzoleni 1999: 153).


Now we know that Marcus Aurelius Prosenes was in fact
the manager of the Imperial Gladatorial Games in Rome,
under Commodus, and would have been paid well.

Marcus Aurelius Prosenes would not have found
it too expensive to invite people over for din din,
perhaps after the Gladiatorial Games ended in
the evening.

Best wishes,



Pete Brown
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Old 12-21-2007, 10:50 PM   #5
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There were many grades of papyrus, some quite cheap.
OK. Thanks
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Old 12-22-2007, 08:15 PM   #6
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Default dinner invitations is but one category, along with "NT literature", etc

Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug Shaver View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by mountainman View Post
or was it too dangerous for these
prenicene christians to write to each other over
dinner?
If they didn't do it, a more likely reason was that it was too expensive.
If we to generalise this question to include
categories of written communication between
extant dwellers of the "period of interest" in
antiquity, a rather large project would be
framed.

The project would then cover a list of all things
which had been discussed in the available papyri,
the acts of writing dinner invitations being only
one amidst many.

What I want to know is why we do not have
in our possession -- after this research ---
any unambigous "christian presence".

Not only are christians missing off the available
lists of dinner invitations in antiquity, the "nation"
(-- as described by its undoubtedly authoritative
fourth century historiographer, Eusebius --)
is not identifiable on any other list .... wait for it ..


of your choosing.


Where does this leave us in the fullness of time?

Another layer of conjectures, to expain the signature
of the absence of "our expectations" in the archaeology
of common "lists".

Eusebius tells us "early christians" were fond of writing
about "church heresies", and other subjects, which of
course would be on the list of things "discussed". But
we would have Eusebius' name beside these entries.

To be diligent in this before mainstream eyes the project
must include the subject matter of NT papyri, and their
dating and importantly -- their method of dating.

The category in the list of all things communicated in
writing preserved will thus include, along with "dinner
invitations", another category called "NT literature".

Enthusiasts can sub-categorise this to their heart's
desire, but must understand it is one item on a list
of items, such as "dinner lists", in the overall project.

Does anyone get the drift?

Best wishes,


Pete Brown
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