judge

Acts 22:28 relates a roman Tribune telling how he "had to pay a big price for his citizenship."

However I have seen it suggested that b selling nad buying citizenship wouls have been a nodious practice to Romans because of the way they viewed citizenship, and that therefore this probably did not happen.

There is one reference to this practice in Dio cassius, Roman History book 60,
For inasmuch as Romans had the advantage over foreigners in practically all respects, many sought the franchise by personal application to the emperor, and many bought it from Messalina and the imperial freedmen. For this reason, though the privilege was at first sold only for large sums, it later became so cheapened by the facility with which it could be obtained that it came to be a common saying, that a man could become a citizen by giving the right person some bits of broken glass
however it seems that it may have been an unusual practice, one perhaps that only happened under the rule of Claudius who was a weak ruler.

Does anyone know about this?

Magdlyn

Maccoby makes the assumption Paul buys himself a citizenship with some of the money from the collection for Jerusalem Xtians.

Then Paul springs the fact of his citizenship on his persecutors from time to time for maximum benefit.

This doesn't really answer your question, though!

mrmoderate

Rome allowed for anyone that abided by Roman law and paid enough for citizenship to become a citizen. According to the only details of Paul he was of a wealthy Jesish family from the Greek city of Tarsus. Since Paul is claimed to be the son of a Pharisee he would have been raised in the strict Jewish faith of his time. Since he lived in Tarsus, he would be familiar with the Greek pagan religion.

It is no coincidence that Paul was chosen to be an apostle. He could freely roam the Roman Empire because of his citizenship and had the background of the Pharisees to give him religious clout.

Magdlyn

MrModerate, Pual does not claim to be a son of a Pharisee, nor from Tarsus.

AofA, where he is made to say he is from Tarsus, is a fantasy.

All Paul claims of his upbringing is in Philemon:

Phl 3:5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law a Pharisee,

But Paul stretches the truth sometimes, so even these statements are suspect. There was no longer a distinct tribe of Benjamin in Paul's time. All tribes had become intermixed centuries before, due to wars and exiles and immigration.

SLD

Not from Tarsus? Why do you claim that this is a fantasy?

ACTS 22:3

I am verily a man a Jew, born in Tarsus, in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.

A. N. Wilson makes the point that Paul comes from a family of tent-makers, but I don't recall the source for that claim - I suppose it is somewhere in the bible, but I can't recall where right now. If this claim is true, it may also give us a clue as to how Paul got his citizenship. A tentmaker's primary customer at that time could very well have been the Roman Army. This would have put his father in some status in the community and probably gotten him Roman Citizenship quite easily. Even today, Defense Contractors have clout. His son, Paul, would have inherited that citizenship and would not have had to buy it.

Admittedly that's somewhat speculative, but it is a valid alternative.

SLD

wildernesse

Probably Acts 18:1-3.

judge

Thanks for this info. Do you have a reference for this?

Toto

Here is an old thread that may be helpful:

The Citizenship of Paul

and this link contained in one of Sauron's posts:

Roman Citizenship

SLD

Got it. Thanks.

SLD

mrmoderate

The two links that Toto posted are very good. My sources on this are reference books such as Who's Who in the Bible and writings by Paul Maier on Roman history at the time of Jesus.

Keep in mind that it was not that long before Jesus that Rome's governmental system had changed.