Was Pednelissos a “Galatian Polis”? A Note on SEG II 710 and the Debate on the Location of Paul’s Galatians
Loading...
Date
2020-12-15
Authors
Coskun, Altay
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
DergiPark Akademik
Abstract
Scholarship is divided whether Paul’s Letter to the Galatians addresses ethnic Galatians
in or around Ankyra (North Galatian hypothesis) or other inhabitants in the south of the
Roman province (South Galatian hypothesis). The South Galatian hypothesis, so it is argued,
should no longer draw on a lex sacra from Pisidian Pednelissos, which was traditionally dated
to the 1st century (BC or AD), though should rather be considered early-Hellenistic. In this, citizens
allegedly self-identify as πόλις Γαλατῶν (SEG II 710, l. 9). Γαλατῶν is neither an ethnic
nor a compliment of πόλις, but defines the ten candidates that the community is to preselect from
among the sanctuary’s neokoroi (Γαλατῶν δε[κ]άδ[ος συναχθείσης]). A lot was then to decide
which of them would be the next Galato, the most prominent sacred official of Pednelissos,
probably the priestess of the (Eleusinian) triad Pluto(s), Kore and Demeter.
Description
Keywords
Apostle Paul, Letter to the Galatians, North- and South-Galatian hypothesis, Pednelissos