Euphemos and Antipas’s Letter

Euphemos of Pergamum and Antipas of Tyre and Caesarea, benefactors of the people and loyal subjects of the emperor;

To Luke of the house of Calpurnius in Ephesus, scholar, historian, friend;

Greetings.

Euphemos and Antipas have the pleasure of presenting Lysanius Paullus of Miletus with a celebratory offering on the occasion of his appointment as regional Asiarch [promoter of the imperial cult]. We would be in your debt, friend, if you made provisions for our servants Domnos and Kuseron in their travels through Ephesus to and from Miletus. A small gesture of thanks accompanies this request.

May the gods be gracious to you.

Luke,1 I must thank you for your helpful letter. Euphemos and I wonder, however, whether you might be somewhat uncomfortable in your association with Christians. Their reputation throughout the empire is suspect. If our understanding is correct, they proclaim a different lord than the emperor and promote a different empire than that of Rome. They frequently stir up trouble and have the blame for ravaging Rome, the imperial city, with fire [64 CE]. Certainly your association with them does not enhance your honor. Please excuse our frankness of speech; you are clearly worthy of being treated as a friend, and so we speak boldly on this matter.

Your monograph about the god of the Christians will no doubt be of interest. I am afraid we have not been able to study it yet; it arrived only a few days ago. How very impressive it looks!

The older I get, the more I am aware of the speed with which time passes. The spring gladiatorial contests are soon upon us. Preparations for this one-day event are on course, and we are expecting a fine occasion, with approximately 130 gladiators now enlisted for the afternoon combat alone. Of course, the Pergamene amphitheater does not have the infrastructure to support the kind of extravaganzas that are so popular in the great Flavian amphitheater of Rome [known later as “the Colosseum,” which was opened by the emperor Titus of the Flavian dynasty in 80 CE]. For instance, we will not even attempt to orchestrate the water battles in which condemned men reconstruct great sea battles as the means of their execution. Filling the basin of the amphitheater with water would itself involve a tremendous feat of engineering, and the workforce and material resources required would increase the cost of the event substantially. But although the Pergamene contests will not be on the same scale as the emperor’s extravagant shows in Rome, the attractions will still have a high entertainment value.

I will send Stachys to you with the return of the Alexandrian edition of Homer in the near future. My scribes are now copying it for deposit in the libraries of Pergamum.

May you continue to prosper.