Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Acts 28:11-16, The Twin Brothers and the road to Rome
After three months they sail in an Alexandrian ship with the Twin Brothers as its figurehead, land at Puteoli and walk the Appian Way toward Rome, where believers come out to meet Paul. In Rome he is allowed to live on his own with a soldier guarding him.
Acts 28:11-16, in every translation this tool compares.
After the winter they sail on another Alexandrian ship, one whose figurehead honors the twin sons of Zeus, Castor and Pollux, and land at Puteoli on the Italian coast. Believers there host them for a week. As they travel the road toward Rome, believers from the city walk out to meet them at two stopping points, and Paul thanks God and is encouraged. In Rome he is allowed to live in his own lodging, guarded by a single soldier.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/pagan-gods-and-idols\/","n":"Many gods and their images","s":"The Greek and Roman world was full of gods, each with temples, statues, priests and local stories. Jews and Christians called the images things made with hands, while holding that there were real powers behind them.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/hailing-a-king\/","n":"Hailing a king","s":"A colt nobody had ridden, cloaks on the road, waving branches, kneeling, the cry Hail, and the delegation that went out to meet a visiting ruler: the public gestures that greeted a king.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/roman-custody\/","n":"Prison, chains and Roman custody","s":"Roman prisons held people until trial or execution; they were not a punishment in themselves. How a prisoner was kept, in the stocks of an inner cell or lightly chained to one soldier, depended on his rank.","r":""}
The Twin Brothers were Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri, sons of Zeus whom sailors called on as protectors in storms, and ships were named for their patron deity, whose image served as the figurehead (Keener and his notes; the ESV and CSB Study Bibles). At Rhegium the ship waited for a south wind to carry it through the strait (the Zondervan Bible dictionary). Puteoli, near Naples, was a chief port of the Alexandrian grain fleet with an old Jewish community (Keener and his notes); Rome's official port was Ostia, but passengers from the east often landed at Puteoli, some 140 miles south, and went on by road (Wright; the Zondervan atlas). Delegations from a city normally went out to meet and welcome an important visitor; the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns lay roughly forty and thirty miles from Rome on the Appian Way (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener; the ESV Study Bible). Living on his own with one soldier showed that Paul was treated as a person of rank who posed no danger, and his guard was likely drawn from the Praetorian Guard (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener; the ESV Study Bible).
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Acts 28:11, 28:13, 28:15 and 28:16
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Acts 28:11, 28:13, 28:15 and 28:16
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on Acts 28:11, 28:15 and 28:16
- CSB Study Bible, note on Acts 28:11
- N. T. Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part Two, comment on Acts 28:11-22
- Carl G. Rasmussen, Zondervan Atlas of the Bible, The Journeys of Paul, Paul's Journey to Rome
- J. D. Douglas and Merrill C. Tenney, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entry Rhegium
