Asiarch In Acts 19:31 RVm [Note: Vm Revised Version margin.] reads ‘Asiarchs’ for RV [Note: V Revised Version.] ‘chief officers of Asia’ and AV [Note: V Authorized Version.] ‘chief of Asia.’ The word is a transliteration of the Gr. Ἀ σιάρχης, derived from Ἀ σία, ‘province of Asia,’ and ἄ ρχειν, ‘to rule,’ and belongs to a class of names, of which Βιθυνιάρχης, Γαλατάρχης, Κα ππ αδοκάρχης, Λυκιάρχης, Ποντάρχης, Συριάρχης are other examples. The titles are peculiar to Eastern, Greek-speaking, Roman provinces. As the real rulers of these provinces were the Roman Emperor and the Roman Senate, with their elected representatives, it is clear that such titles must have been honorary and complimentary. With regard to the duties and privileges attached to the dignities thus indicated there has been much discussion. The titles occur rarely in literature, much more often in inscriptions; and the lessons we learn from inscriptions are in direct proportion to their number. Several scholars of repute have hold the view that the term Ἀ σιάρχης is equivalent to ἀ ρχιερε ὺ ς Ἀ σίας (‘high priest of Asia’), the president of the Diet of Asia (κοιν ὸ ν τ ῆ ς Ἀ σίας, commune AsiAE). This Diet of Asia was a body composed of a number of representatives, one or more of whom were elected by each of a number of cities in the province. The principal duty of the president of this body was to supervise the worship of Rome and the Emperor throughout the province (See under art. [Note: rt. article.] Emperor-Worship). Certain considerations, however, militate against the view ‘that the terms ‘Asiarch’ and ‘high priest of Asia’ are interchangeable. The word Ἀ σιάρχης is never feminine, whereas the title ‘high priestess of Asia’ is often applied to the wife of the high priest. There was only one ἀ ρχιερε ὺ ς Ἀ σίας (without further designation) at a time, whereas there were a number of Asiarchs. Another (civil) office could be held concurrently with the Asiarchate, but not with the chief priesthood of Asia. Further, the title ‘Asiarch’ was held only during a man’s period of office (probably one year* [Note: but See Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers, pt. ii. vol. iii. p. 412 ff.]), but he was eligible for re-election. The origin of the view that ‘Asiarch’ and ‘high priest of Asia’ are two convertible terms is to be found in the Martyrdom of Polycarp (a.d. 155), where two separate persons named Philippos have been confused: (1) Philip of Smyrna, Asiarch, who superintended the games; (2) Philip of Tralles, who was high priest of Asia (the latter had been an Asiarch a year or two before). It is clear, therefore, that the honorary position of Asiarch was inferior to the office of high priest of Asia. Yet there was a connexion between the two. The high priest presided over the games, etc., but the Asiarchs did the work and probably paid the cost. Their election by their fellow-citizens to this honorary position was rewarded by games and gladiatorial shows. Both the Asiarchs and the high priest disappear after the early part of the 4th cent., for the obvious reason that, as the Empire was henceforth officially Christian, the machinery for Emperor-worship had become obsolete.
When we come to study the connexion of the Asiarchs with the Acts narrative, we are puzzled. It seems at first sight so strange that men elected to foster the worship of Rome and the Emperor should be found favouring the ambassador of the Messiah, the Emperor’s rival for the lordship of the Empire. This is only one, however, of a number of indications that the Empire was at first disposed to look with a kindly eye on the new religion. Christianity, with its outward respect for civil authority, seemed at first the strongest supporter of law and order. Artemis-worship, moreover, hulked so largely in Ephesus as perhaps to dwarf the Imperial worship. Thus St. Paul, whose preaching so threatened the authority of Artemis, may have appeared in a favourable light to the representatives of CAEsar-worship, as likely to create more enthusiasm in that direction.
See also artt. [Note: rtt. articles.] Diana and Ephesus.
Literature.-C. G. Brandis, s.vv. ‘Asiarches,’ ‘Bithyniarches,’ ‘Galatarches,’ in Pauly-Wissowa [Note: auly-Wissowa Pauly-Wissowa’s Realencyklopädie.], Stuttgart, 1894ff.; J. B. Lightfoot, Appendix, ‘The Asiarchate’ in his Apostolic Fathers, pt. ii. vol. iii., London, 1889, p. 404ff.; W. M. Ramsay in Classical Review, iii. [1889] 174, and St. Paul the Traveler and the Roman Citizen, London, 1895, p. 280f.
A. Souter.
ASP (ἀ σ π ίς)
The Greek word occurs in the classical writings of Herodotus (iv. 191) and Aristotle (de Anim. Hist . iv. 7. 14), and generally represents the Heb. פָתָן (pethen) in the LXX [Note: XX Septuagint.] (pethen is translated ‘asp’ in Deuteronomy 32:33, Job 20:14, Job 20:18, and Isaiah 11:8, but ‘adder’ in Psalms 58:4; Psalms 91:13). In the NT the ‘asp’ is mentioned only once (Romans 3:13 : ‘The poison of asps [ἰὸ ς ἀ σ π ίδων ] is under their lips’). Here it is introduced in a quotation from Psalms 140:3 (139:4), where the Heb. word used עַכְשׁוּב (a ἅ παξ λεγ . and probably corrupt, perhaps read עַכָּבִישׁ, ‘spider’), but the LXX [Note: XX Septuagint.] word is ἀ σ π ίς, as in Romans. The general meaning of the passage is obvious (cf. James 3:8 : ‘The tongue can no man tame-a restless evil-full of deadly poison ’), and the position of the poison-bag of the serpent is correctly described.
The serpent referred to is without doubt the Naja haje, or small hooded Egyptian cobra, which, though not found in the cultivated parts of Palestine, is well known in the downs and plains S. of Beersheba (cf. Tristram, Natural History of the Bible, p. 270), and frequents old walls and holes in the rocks (cf. Isaiah 11:8 : ‘And the sucking-child shall play on the hole of the asp’). It does not belong to the viper tribe (ViperidAE) but to the ColubridAE, which includes the ordinary British grass-snake. The chief peculiarities of cobras are: (a) a clearly defined neck, which they can dilate at will, and (b) the equality in size of the scales on the back with those on the other parts of the body. There are about ten different species, of which the Naja haje, or Egyptian asp, and the Naja tripudians, or Indian cobra, are the best known. The latter is the species upon which Indian snake-charmers usually practise their skill, while the Naja haje is used for this purpose in Egypt.
See also Serpent, Viper.
Literature.-H. B. Tristram, Natural History of the Bible 10, London, 1911, p. 270f.: SWP [Note: WP Memoirs of Survey of Western Palestine.] vii. 146; R. Lydekker in The Concise Knowledge Natural History, 1897, p. 424; Baedeker’s Palestine and Syria 5, 1912, p. lvi; W. Aldis Wright, The Bible Word-Book 2, 1884, p. 50, for the use of the word; cf. also Sanday-Headlam, Romans 5, 1902, p. 79; Driver, Deuteronomy 2, 1896, p. 372; HDB [Note: DB Hastings’ Dict. of the Bible (5 vols.).], vol. iv. p. 459; EBi [Note: Bi EncyclopAEdia Biblica.], vol. iv. col. 4394; Murray’s DB [Note: B Dict. of the Bible.], p. 67; SDB [Note: DB Hastings’ Single-vol. Dictionary of the Bible.], p. 837.
P. S. P. Handcock.