Town-Clerk
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament [1]
The town-clerk of Ephesus ( Acts 19:35-41), who displays tact and also points out the illegality of the whole proceedings of the crowd, with the proper means of redress if there be a real grievance, was a typical official of a Greek city with the Athenian type of constitution. In cities like Ephesus, which were the headquarters of a Roman governor, the town-clerk appears to have acted also as a kind of intermediary between the proconsul (with his staff) and the municipal authorities. The Acts narrative is in fact a precious document for the understanding of the town-clerk’s position. With the advent of the Empire the free democratic constitution of most provincial cities was suspended. The assemblies could be held only with the permission of the governor, who was an Imperial official (cf. Acts 19:38-41). No longer could a citizen bring a proposal before the assembly personally, but only through the presiding official. The old council of annually elected citizens remained, as did the old magistracies. These offices were held only by the rich, as no salary was attached to them. The στρατηγοί (see Magistrate, Praetor) and the γραμματεὺς τοῦ δήμου formed the magisterial board of the city. Every measure to be brought before the people must first have had their approval and support. These magistrates seem to have presided over the assembly in rotation. A decree passed by the assembly required the confirmation of the governor before it could become law. The high importance of the town-clerk appears from the fact that his name alone is frequently given as a means of dating a decree, and, if it is his second period of office, inscriptions indicate that in the usual way. An inscription of Branchidae in the same province of Asia as Ephesus ( Greek Inscriptions in the British Museum , no. 921) provides the best illustration of the import of this riotous assembly in Ephesus (C. G. Brandis, in Pauly-Wissowa[Note: auly-Wissowa Pauly-Wissowa’s Realencyklopädie.], ii. [1896] col. 1551). A citizen of Branchidae in 48 b.c. is celebrated on it as having gone on an embassy to Rome and restored to the people of Branchidae their former assembly and laws. Under the Empire privileges were apt to be taken away from cities if they were abused. This had happened in the case of Branchidae, and only the intervention of a prominent citizen, who took the journey to Rome and doubtless spent a large sum of money, was able to recover their old rights for the populace. So in Ephesus and elsewhere the local officials were most careful to avoid punishment from the Roman authorities on account of assemblies illegally summoned.
Literature.-O. Schulthess, s.v. γραμματεῖς in Pauly-Wissowa[Note: auly-Wissowa Pauly-Wissowa’s Realencyklopädie.], vii. [1912] cols. 1708-1780; J. Menadier, Qua conditions Ephesii uri sint inde ab Asia in formam provinciae redacta , Berlin, 1880; H. Swoboda, Die griechischen Volksbeschlüsse , Leipzig, 1890; W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen , London, 1895, pp. 281 ff., 305.
A. Souter.
Morrish Bible Dictionary [2]
γραμματεύς. A man in authority at Ephesus, perhaps what would now be called 'recorder,' but he evidently possessed considerable influence. Acts 19:35 .
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [3]
( Γραμματεύς , A Scribe, as elsewhere often rendered) is the title ascribed in the A. V. to the magistrate at Ephesus who appeased the mob in the theatre at the time of the tumult excited by Demetrius and his fellow- craftsmen ( Acts 19:35). The other primary English versions translate in the same way, except those from the Vulg. (Wycliffe, the Rhemish), which render "scribe." A digest of Bockh's views, in his Staatshaushaltung, respecting the functions of this officer at Athens (there were three grades of the order there) will be found ‘ in Smith's Dict. Of Class. Ant. s.v. "Grammateus." The Γραμματεύς , or "town-clerk," at Ephesus was, no doubt, a more important person in that city than any of the public officers designated by that term in Greece (see Creswell, Dissertations, 4:152). The title is preserved on various ancient coins (Wettstein, Nov. Test. 2, 586; Akermann, Numismatic Illustrations, p. 53), which fully illustrate the rank and dignity of the office. It would appear that what may have been the original service of this class of men, viz. to record the laws and decrees of the state and to read them in public, embraced at length especially under the ascendancy of the Romans in Asia Minor, a much wider sphere of duty, so as to make them in some instances, in effect the heads or chiefs of the municipal government and even high-priests (Deyling, Observ. 3,. 383; Krebs, Decreta Rom. p. 362). They were authorized to preside over the ‘ popular assemblies and submit votes to them, and are mentioned on marbles as acting in that capacity. In cases where they were associated with a superior magistrate, they succeeded to his place and discharged his functions when the latter was absent or had died. "On the subjugation of Asia by the Romans," says Baumstark (Pauly, Encyclop. 3, 949), Γραμματεῖς were appointed there in the character of governors of single cities and districts, who even placed their names on the coins of their cities, caused the year to be named from them, and sometimes were allowed to assume the dignity, or at least the name, of Ἀρχιερεύς . See Schwartz, Dissertatio De Γραμματεῦσι , Magistratis Civitatum Asiae Proconsulis (Altdorf, 1735); Van Dale, Dissertat. 5, 425; Spanheim, De Usu Et Prcest. Numm. 1, 704'; New-Englander. 10 :144;' Lewin, St. Paul, 1, 315. (See Asiarch).
It is evident, therefore, from Luke's account, as illustrated by ancient records, that the Ephesian town-clerk acted a part entirely appropriate to the character in which he appears. The speech delivered by him, it may be remarked, is the model of a popular harangue. He argues that such excitement as the Ephesians evinced was undignified, inasmuch as they stood above all suspicion in religious matters ( Acts 19:35-36); that it was unjustifiable; since they could establish nothing against the men whom they accused ( Acts 19:37); that it was unnecessary, since other means of redress were open to' them ( Acts 19:38-39); and, finally, if neither pride nor a sense of justice availed anything, fear of the Roman power should restrain them from such illegal proceedings ( Acts 19:40). (See Ephesus); (See Paul).
