*This is the eighth post of twelve in my #12saints12days series. Support The ☧ost by becoming a subscriber today!
Philippi
Acts 16 takes place mostly in Philippi, a military colony with unparalleled significance for Roman history. It was there, in 42 BCE, that the Republic died at the so-called Liberators Civil War, after which imperial commanders retired several cohorts of legionarii there. Octavian did it again fifteen years later, in 27 BCE, with aged prætorian guards and other high-status Italians.
Between then and the time of Jesus’ ministry, the colony was thoroughly militarized. Not only was it heavily populated by military families, but it was also “centuriated” (put on a square grid) and placed under the control of two military officers, duoviri, who answered directly to Rome. It is referred to in many sources as a ‘miniature Rome,‘ and governed under the municipal ordinances of the capital city rather than those of the local provincial administration.
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