A highlight of a tour of Turkey that my wife and I went on in June 2012 was a visit to the Lycus valley in ancient Phrygia, home of Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis. All three of these cities are mentioned in Paul’s letter to the Colossians (Colossians 4:13). Laodicea is also well known from Revelation as home of the “lukewarm” church (Revelation 3:14–22). But the main attraction for me was the area’s connection with Paul’s Philemon 1. It is from this valley that the slave Onesimus fled, somehow encountered Paul in prison, was converted and eventually returned with the letter we know today as Philemon. After almost 20 years of researching and writing about slavery and the New Testament, it was exhilarating finally to see the place where it had all begun. I had thought a lot about Onesimus over the years; I felt as if I knew him.
What I was not prepared for, however, was getting to know another slave from the region. Fifty-five miles southwest of the Lycus valley sits Aphrodisias, an important Roman-era city well known to BAR readers.a It was here that I was first introduced to Zoilos, a former slave turned wealthy benefactor. Unlike Onesimus, Zoilos is not someone we read about in ancient literature. What we know of him has been pieced together from archaeological evidence. Excavators at Aphrodisias have discovered Zoilos’s name on the dedicatory inscriptions of Aphrodite’s temple, the north portico of the agora and the theater. One inscription refers to him as “savior and benefactor of his country.” For a time archaeologists assumed he was part of a local aristocratic family. But their perspective changed with the discovery of the theater inscription that identifies him as “Gaius Julius Zoilos, freedman of the divine Julius’s son Caesar.” Zoilos was not an aristocrat by birth but a slave.
Zoilos was probably a native of Aphrodisias, kidnapped or captured in war and sold as a slave to Julius Caesar. When Caesar died, Zoilos passed to Octavian, who eventually manumitted, or freed, him. We know Zoilos was close to the emperor because Octavian once wrote in a letter to Stephanus of Laodicea: “You know how fond I am of my Zoilos.”1 He must have been intelligent and resourceful, somehow amassing a great deal of wealth that he later used to benefit his hometown. When he died sometime in the 20s B.C.E., the people of Aphrodisias established a large monument in his honor.
Zoilos’s life is the type of story we enjoy reading about: someone who climbed up from the bottom and ended life on top. And his life in slavery adds the kind of twist to the story we can all appreciate. But his story is unusual. For every Zoilos there were thousands who never escaped slavery, lived a long life or became the wealthy benefactor of an important Roman city. In most cases, we neither know nor remember their names as we do Onesimus and Zoilos.
In the Roman Empire, one was either slave or free, two statuses central to the social and legal fabric of the Roman world. Unlike more recent experiences, however, slavery was not based on race or ethnicity. Anyone could become a slave—a condition that terminated marriages, family ties, business partnerships and any public or private offices held. Slaves could not be debtors or creditors; their testimony was admissible only when gained through torture; and they could be sold or loaned out at the will of the owner. Modern historians sometimes describe slavery as a type of social death, an assessment supported by the comments of one ancient Roman jurist who said: “As far as concerns the civil law, slaves are regarded as not existing … We compare slavery closely with death.”2
How a slave was treated depended on the owner. Some, like Zoilos, seem to have fared reasonably well. Many, however, worked on farms, in mines and in other types of industry where life expectancy was typically short.b Punishment could be cruel because owners faced few restrictions on how they could deal with their human property. Slaves were shackled, flogged, branded and maimed, and sexual abuse was not uncommon.
But slavery was not necessarily a permanent situation. Emancipation was possible, and, if certain requirements were met, those owned by Roman citizens could become citizens. Becoming a freedman meant the possibility of acquiring various advantages. Some remained attached to their masters’ houses and received social, economic and political boosts not normally available to poor free persons.
057
Newly acquired freedom did have its drawbacks, however, since the master still controlled aspects of a former slave’s life. Along with various social obligations, freedmen were required to work for their former masters for a set number of days each year. In some ways, the freedman was still a slave but without the benefit of the former master’s provision. Even if freed slaves managed to escape most of the negative aspects of their new status, the aristocracy generally considered people like Zoilos to be social climbers causing chaos within the social classes.
While visiting Aphrodisias I couldn’t help but think again about Onesimus, who lived nearby some 80 years after Zoilos. I suspect he knew Zoilos’s story. Like Zoilos he, too, had a friend and benefactor who wrote a letter describing his affection for the slave. But while we remember Onesimus because of Paul’s letter, we have no evidence for his becoming rich. We don’t even know the outcome of that letter. Did Philemon emancipate Onesimus or not? Some identify him with an Onesimus who became bishop of Ephesus, but it’s impossible to say for sure. And for every Onesimus there were thousands more who never had anyone intercede on their behalf. Slavery was a horrible life for most, and their names are long forgotten.
But Zoilos is one who came up from slavery. We are fortunate to know his story and learn about one of those who survived slavery for a better life. He became a generous benefactor to his city and created a legacy that could be recovered for us only through archaeology.
A highlight of a tour of Turkey that my wife and I went on in June 2012 was a visit to the Lycus valley in ancient Phrygia, home of Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis. All three of these cities are mentioned in Paul’s letter to the Colossians (Colossians 4:13). Laodicea is also well known from Revelation as home of the “lukewarm” church (Revelation 3:14–22). But the main attraction for me was the area’s connection with Paul’s Philemon 1. It is from this valley that the slave Onesimus fled, somehow encountered Paul in prison, was converted and eventually returned with the […]
You have already read your free article for this month. Please join the BAS Library or become an All Access member of BAS to gain full access to this article and so much more.
We don’t have a copy of the actual letter but know of its existence because the letter’s contents were later inscribed on column 4 of the archive wall in the theater at Aphrodisias, which benefited from Zolios’s generosity. Zoilos not only boasted in his status as a former slave, but also his friendship with the emperor. (See Joyce Reynolds, Aphrodisias and Rome [London: Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, 1982], pp. 96–97; R.R.R. Smith, Aphrodisias I The Monument of C. Julius Zoilos [Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1993], p. 10.)
