Page 134 - Biblical Backgrounds

Apollo, Zeus, Aphrodite, Venus, and others. This photo shows the remains of the temple of Zeus at
Salamis. 179 Venus was said to have come ashore on a beach in Cyprus.

Asia Minor:
Asia Minor was the location of multiple deities, such as the
worship of Men, the moon god, and Cybele, the goddess of
fertility. Diana was a goddess of the Ephesians. They had a
temple to her that was a wonder of the ancient world. The
statue on the left is a 2 -century image of Diana. 180
nd

Asia Minor is also the location where the Imperial Cult began.
To not come under the displeasure of the emperor, the King of
Pergamum dedicated a temple to the city of Rome. Vos tells us
that “Soon other principalities followed suit. Alabanda in Caria
founded a temple to the Goddess Roma and established a
festival in her honor. Magnesia celebrated a festival in honor of
4
the Goddess Roma, with tragedies, comedies, and farces.
Pergamum and Ephesus also established temples to Roma
early on…Other regions quickly followed the example of Asia,
with the ruler cult expanding to other places in Asia Minor,
Macedonia, and as far away as Britain only six years after the
conquest of the island in AD 43.” 181 Vos makes some important
points about why the Imperial Cult matters to early Christian
backgrounds:

First, emperor worship dominated local public life. The calendar of the cult tended to bring
order to public affairs with the special observances of days, months, and seasons. The chief
citizens filled the priesthoods of the imperial cult. As priests, they sought to gain social and
political prestige by means of service to the emperor. So they wound up building temples and
other buildings, staging games and festivals, and gladiatorial shows for public entertainment in
his name. Commonly, the games and festivals held in a community were jointly sponsored by
the imperial cult and one of the other deities (e.g., Diana). The cult priests also made numerous
benefactions in terms of the distribution of grain and oil, and feasts and banquets for the less
fortunate.

What cities could offer their inhabitants commonly came as a result of the imperial cult. The
wealthy and ambitious could find through the imperial cult a means of impressing their

179 Image. Temple of Zeus. http://www.whatson-
northcyprus.com/interest/famagusta/salamis/zeus.htm#:~:text=Salamis%2C%20Near%20Famagusta%2C
%20North%20Cyprus,-
The%20temple%20of&text=Over%20the%20next%20two%20hundred,are%20from%20this%20Roman%2
0period.
180 Statuette of Diana of Ephesus. http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/9786/unknown-maker-statuette-
of-diana-of-ephesos-roman-2nd-century-ad/?dz=#b4d93d89b1a736e8af28c33bdc42d249b843d274

181 Vos, H. F. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible manners & customs: how the people of the Bible really lived (p.
515). Nashville, TN: T. Nelson Publishers.

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