We use cookies to collect general visitor statistics but not personal information. Privacy policy

A slave girl confronts Paul in Philippi

A fortune teller loses her power.
CC BY-NC-ND
Personal & teaching use permitted Personal & teaching useCommercial use prohibited Commercial useDerivative works prohibited Derivative worksA.I. adaptations prohibited A.I. adaptations
1
Paul and Silas were now in Philippi, a Roman colony in north-eastern Greece. – Slide 1
2
The marketplace (agora) was the social, political, and administrative centre of the city. In the Hellenistic world, marketplaces were adorned with statues and enclosed by colonnades, temples, and public buildings. Local Macedonian vendors set up temporary canvas awnings stretched between wooden poles, under which they display baskets filled with fresh olives, figs, grapes, loaves of bread, and pottery jars of olive oil and wine. A Roman citizen in a white toga negotiates with a merchant, while a slave nearby carries a heavy amphora on his shoulder. – Slide 2
3
Butchers and fishmongers would display fresh catches and cuts on marble slabs in small, single-room shops around the marketplace. Nearby, you can see merchants in tunics haggle over sacks of grain and spices, while a group of elderly men sits on stone benches, discussing news brought by travellers along the Via Egnatia. – Slide 3
4
Inside this shop, a merchant and his young assistant neatly arrange and fold garments on wooden shelves and tables. Prominently displayed are Roman and Greek-style garments, including several luxurious tunics and cloaks trimmed with deep Tyrian purple borders or dyed entirely in rich purple, along with folded bolts of fine fabric. Lydia was a trader in such cloths. – Slide 4
5
Butchers would ply their trade in these open-air markets. In this open-fronted stall, a raised white marble counter runs across the front. The butcher and his young assistant work at a wooden chopping block, neatly arranging fresh cuts of meat. Iron hooks suspended from the ceiling beams hold large cuts of pork and lamb, as well as strings of sausages. – Slide 5
6
Philippi was a under the municipal law of Rome, and governed by two military magistrates, the duumviri, who were appointed directly from Rome. They would hear cases in the marketplace. Here, a small crowd gathers near the speaker’s platform (bema) in front of a public building. The two magistrates (wearing togas), sit on a low stone platform and listen to a dispute between two shopkeepers, while a scribe records the proceedings on a wax tablet. Two Roman lictors stand behind the magistrates. – Slide 6
7
Roman lictors (lictores) were official attendants, bodyguards, and enforcers assigned to magistrates. They typically wore a scarlet (red) tunic or coat, sometimes decorated with a white stripe or other markings. Lictors cleared paths through crowds, protected the magistrate, summoned people, carried out orders (including arrests and punishments), and symbolised the governor’s authority. They were typically strong plebeian citizens, retired centurions, or freedmen. – Slide 7
8
Lictors carried the fasces over their right shoulders or in their right hands. The fasces was a bundle of birch (or similar) rods tied with red leather straps, often with a single-bladed axe protruding from the top or side. The fasces symbolised the magistrate’s power to punish (the rods for flogging, the axe for execution). Lictors served as a visible emblem of Roman authority throughout the empire, including during travel along roads such as the Via Egnatia in Macedonia. – Slide 8
9
Once when Paul and Silas were going to the place of prayer, they were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She followed Paul shouting, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.’ – Slide 9
10
Her activity reflected the widespread Greco-Roman belief in spirits that enabled prophecy, often linked to Apollo or similar cults. Such women commonly operated in marketplaces or wandered from place to place as prophets, blending pagan belief with exploitation by those who controlled them. – Slide 10
11
This slave girl had a demonic spirit within her. Such women would often enter a trance-like state and utter messages. This girl’s powers had brought considerable profit to her owners through her fortune-telling. – Slide 11
12
She kept this up for many days, following Paul and Silas and calling after them. Finally, Paul became so irritated that he turned around and said to the spirit inside her … – Slide 12
13
‘In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!’ – Slide 13
14
At that moment the evil spirit left her. She was free of its control. <br/>When her owners realised that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. – Slide 14
15
The claimed, ‘These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.’ The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. – Slide 15
16
After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. – Slide 16
17
Slide 17