Town Clerk
Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words [1]
"a writer, scribe," is used in Acts 19:35 of a state "clerk," an important official, variously designated, according to inscriptions found in Graeco-Asiatic cities. He was responsible for the form of decrees first approved by the Senate, then sent for approval in the popular assembly, in which he often presided. The decrees having been passed, he sealed them with the public seal in the presence of witnesses. Such an assembly frequently met in the theater. The Roman administration viewed any irregular or unruly assembly as a grave and even capital offense, as tending to strengthen among the people the consciousness of their power and the desire to exercise it. In the circumstances at Ephesus the town clerk feared that he might himself be held responsible for the irregular gathering. See Scribe.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary [2]
Grammateus . An officer originally appointed to record the laws and decrees of the state, mid to read them in public; but in Asia Minor, under the Roman empire, authorized to preside over popular assemblies and submit questions to their vote, as inscriptions on marbles testify; in short, governors of single cities and districts, and named as such on the coins; sometimes also entitled "chief priests"; a kind of state secretary. The town clerk at, Ephesus appeased the mob gathered by Demetrius the silversmith against the gospel preachers ( Acts 19:35-41).
His speech is a model of judiciousness, and perfectly carried his point. Such excitement, he reasons, is undignified in Ephesians, seeing that their devotion to Diana of Ephesus is beyond question. It is unreasonable, since the men apprehended are neither church robbers nor blasphemers, so ye ought to do nothing rashly; if even there were grounds against them, there are legal means of redress open, without resorting to illegal; lastly, we are in danger of being called in question by Roman authority for this uproar (see Proverbs 15:23). Boeckh mentions an Ephesian inscription, No. 2990 C. and H. ii. 80. "Munatius the townn clerk and ruler of Asia" (Asiarch).
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [3]
Town Clerk . In Græco-Asiatic cities under the Roman Empire the grammateus (tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘town clerk’) was responsible for the form of decrees presented to the popular assembly. They were first approved by the senate and then sent to the assembly, which formally passed them. At Ephesus ( Acts 19:35 ) the clerk feared that he would have to account to the Roman governor for the irregularly constituted assembly.
A. Souter.
Smith's Bible Dictionary [4]
Town Clerk. The title ascribed, in our version, 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 original service of this class of men was to record the laws, and decrees of the state, and to read them in public.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [5]
klûrk , klark ( γραμματεύς , grammateús ): The word "clerk," "writer," "town clerk," "scribe," is found in this meaning only in Acts 19:35 , "when the townclerk had quieted the multitude." Cremer defines the word as signifying a "public servant among the Greeks and the reader of the legal and state-papers" ( Lexicon of the New Testament ). There was considerable difference between the authority of these "clerks" in the cities of Asia Minor and of Greece. Among the Greeks the grammateı́s were usually slaves, or at least persons belonging to the lower classes of society, and their office was a nominal, almost a mechanical, one. In Asia, on the contrary, they were officers of considerable consequence, as the passage quoted indicates (Thucidydes vii. 19, "the scribe of the city") and the grammateus is not infrequently mentioned in the inscriptions and on the coins of Ephesus (e.g. British Museum Inscriptions , III, 2, 482, 528). They had the supervision of the city archives, all official decrees were drawn up by them, and it was their prerogative to read such decrees to the assembled citizens. Their social position was thus one of eminence, and a Greek scribe would have been much amazed at the deference shown to his colleagues in Asia and at the power they wielded in the administration of affairs. See, further, Hermann, Staats Altertum , 127, 20; and Ephesus .
