This paper is a report from my creation of a vector database from all Ancient Greek texts in the Perseus project, in order to facilitate semantic and thematic similarity searches. As opposed to keyword searches, this approach is not dependent on exact wordings or phrases to identify relevant texts. Instead, the database can be searched for passages with thematic similarities, by searching with whole sentences or paragraphs in Greek or modern languages. I present the database, discuss the choice of embedding model, evaluate how the database performs for different kinds of searches, and suggest different ways in which vector databases based on embedding models trained on ancient languages can be useful for historians searching for relevant primary texts on a certain topic.

The prophet Elijah is such a prominent figure in second temple Judaism and early Christianity, that early Christian authors could trust their readers to recognize veiled allusions to the prophet, such as a leather belt or a sheepskin, even without mentioning his name. This paper argues that Elijah provides a similar subtext to the Acts of Andrew and Matthias and Acts of Peter, where Elijah’s deeds are used without his name to convey to the insightful reader that the apostles are powerful wonderworkers on the same level as Elijah.

In Christian fiction from late antiquity, Christ’s apostles are given bread by angels, provide an inexhaustible food source, part the waters, and raise a widow’s son from the dead right before challenging their opponent to a duel of miracles. Even though Elijah’s name is never mentioned, the insightful reader may recognize the allusions to 1–2 Kings, and the miracles performed by the old Tishbite. Elijah was a well-known figure in early Christian literature— enough so that the authors of the Gospel of Mark, the Epistle of James, and the Life of Antony could trust their readers to recognize veiled allusions to the prophet even without the aid of his name. This chapter argues that the Elijah cycle also functions as a subtext in the early Christian stories of Andrew and the cannibals (A. Andr. Mth.) and Peter’s confrontation with the magician Simon (A. Pet.), suggesting to the insightful reader that these two apostles are as powerful wonderworkers as the prophet Elijah.

Regardless of how we perceive Paul’s position vis-à-vis Judaism after his Damascus experience, he undoubtedly authored literary epistles in Greek, and thus participated in Greek literary culture. In addition to the practice of encapsulating oratory in written form, this culture encompassed methods for literary analysis such as textual criticism, grammatical analysis, discussion of the text’s external referents, and critique of style and meter. As a Greek author from Tarsus, which Strabo (63 BCE–24 CE) describes as surpassing even Alexandria in its literary education, Paul can be expected to be versed in Greek literary-critical learning. This paper offers a reading of First Corinthians from the perspective of literary culture arguing that Paul includes learned Greek grammarians when he specifies his opponents (1 Cor 1:20), that he applies literary-critical methods when he discusses the treading ox and the meaning of πάντα (”everything”; 9:9–10; 15:27), and that his enigmatic phrase μὴ ὑπὲρ ἃ γέγραπται (”not beyond what has been written”; 4:6) refers to a well-known principle in ancient literary criticism.

Regardless of how we perceive Paul’s position vis-à-vis Judaism after his Damascus experience, he undoubtedly authored literary epistles in Greek, and thus participated in Greek literary culture. In addition to the practice of encapsulating oratory in written form, this culture encompassed methods for literary analysis such as textual criticism, grammatical analysis, discussion of the text’s external referents, and critique of style and meter. As a Greek author from Tarsus, which Strabo (63 BCE–24 CE) describes as surpassing even Alexandria in its literary education, Paul can be expected to be versed in Greek literary-critical learning. This paper offers a reading of First Corinthians from the perspective of literary culture arguing that Paul includes learned Greek grammarians when he specifies his opponents (1 Cor 1:20), that he applies literary-critical methods when he discusses the treading ox and the meaning of πάντα (”everything”; 9:9–10; 15:27), and that his enigmatic phrase μὴ ὑπὲρ ἃ γέγραπται (”not beyond what has been written”; 4:6) refers to a well-known principle in ancient literary criticism.

Den som vill förstå hur aposteln Paulus tycker att kristna församlingar ska praktisera det han kallar profetians gåva i relation till det omgivande samhället behöver ge sig in i hans svårtolkade undervisning i 1 Kor 11:2–14:40. Den här artikeln analyserar hur aposteln navigerar mellan korinthiernas och det grekisk-romerska samhällets förväntningar, och argumenterar för att Paulus (1) förutsätter att både män och kvinnor profeterar, (2) prioriterar en bred kategori av undervisande gåvor framför mer uppvisande gåvor, och (3) rekommenderar att manliga profeters hustrur undviker att tillrättavisa sina makar offentligt.

In the fourth-century Latin Acts of Peter (Actus Vercellenses), the apostolic protagonist tells a story-within-the-story of how he has encountered his arch enemy Simon the Magician (cf. Acts 8:9–24), once before, and revealed him to be the evil genius behind an innovative theft of gold, where the perpetrators are turned invisible by magic. After three days of prayer and fasting, the apostle receives a vision revealing the identity of the thieves, their method, and where he will be able to apprehend them. This paper analyzes how the author of this story utilizes popular notions of invisibility spells and prophetic visions to construct his story.

In the extracanonical story about Paul and Thecla in Iconium, Paul’s host Onesiphorus (cf. 2 Tim 1:16; 4:19) is so radical in abandoning the concerns of this world that he camps out in a tomb without the means to feed his hungry children (Acts Paul 3.23–25). Where did he learn such a radical notion of voluntary poverty, and what is the reader supposed to make of it when nothing else in the story teaches the same ideal? This paper uses Kathryn Tanner’s theory of culture to argue that the Acts of Paul presents the abandonment of all personal earthly possessions as a subcultural ideal so established in early Christian culture that it can be taken for granted rather than argued for.