The Montanist Milieu: History and Historiography in the study of Montanism. Bernard Gerard Frances Doherty BA Macquarie University, Sydney, 2006. MA Macquarie University, Sydney, 2007. A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Ancient History, Macquarie University, Sydney, 2011. Declaration. I declare that this thesis is my own original work and has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other university or institution. …………………… Acknowledgements. Like all research what follows could not have happened without the help of a vast number of people and institutions. Firstly I must express my thanks to Macquarie University for providing me with an MQRES scholarship in order to undertake this research. My sincere thanks to the Society for the Study of Early Christianity (SSEC) for selecting me for a Tyndale Fellowship in January 2009. My thanks to the residents and staff at Tyndale House Cambridge for an enjoyable and productive stay, in particular to the Warden Dr. Peter Williams for his research suggestions and help accessing W.M. Calder Archive at the University of Aberdeen. Thanks to the extremely friendly and helpful research staff at the University of Aberdeen Special Collections Library for allowing me to access W.M. Calder’s Archive which helped to provide invaluable access to much of unpublished material by the great Scottish scholar. I must also express my thanks to the Macquarie University Inter-Library Loans department for their help, particularly in their diligence in tracking down obscure articles in various languages. In addition I must thank Chris Harvey, library at St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Theological College, Sydney, for all his help in acquiring hard-to-find items and always being able to quickly recommend works on various topics without any reference to catalogues. Numerous individuals have helped to make this research both easier and enjoyable and provided a great deal of feedback and suggestions without which it would have been impossible to complete. Firstly I must thank all my teachers and colleagues in the Department of Ancient History at Macquarie University for all their help, to name all who have helped me would run the risk of forgetting someone. This said, a number of individuals I believe deserve a special mention for the ongoing commitment, support and friendship they have shown me through the course of this work, and indeed all my time at Macquarie University. First and foremost I must thank Prof. Paul McKechnie, who in his first months in Australia was confronted with a precocious and argumentative PhD student . Without Prof. McKechnie’s guidance and wisdom this work would not be what it is, but similarly he is certainly in no way responsible for our many good-natured disagreements on historical issues. I must also thank my associate supervisors, Prof. Alanna Nobbs, for all her support and encouragement, particular with regards to balancing teaching and research, and to Prof. S.N.C. Lieu, whose supervision during MA research helped to lay the foundations for this research and who despite his busy schedule was always willing to help with bibliographical items and advice. Also deserving of special mention are Dr. Frank Carrigan of the Department of Law, for being a great sounding board for ideas, Dr. Stephen Llewelyn, without whose sterling work all MQ PhD candidates would be in dire straits, Prof. Larry Welborn for his encouragement and help with difficult German texts, and finally Dr. Ken Parry for his encyclopaedic knowledge of all things Byzantium. No doctoral research is undertaken in isolation, and as students we learn as much from each other as from our supervisors. I have had the privilege of being part of an exceptional cohort of students at Macquarie University. In particular I have had the privilege of sharing workspace with Bev Miles, Mathew Almond, Dr. Helena Bolle, Min Seok Shin, Jack Tsonis and Mario Baghos, all of whom have been both great colleagues and great friends. Outside Macquarie University I must thank Prof. William Tabbernee, whose own research in the field of Montanism will remain the starting-point for a long-time to come and who has been extremely supportive in his advice and time in the preparation of this work. Similarly I must thank Prof. Rodney Stark, who despite his busy schedule and massive output took the time to read draft elements of this work and provide invaluable advice on sociological theory and its utility in the study of early Christianity. I must also thank Fr. Andrew Hamilton S.J. (UFT), Prof. Raymond Canning and Dr. Patrick McArdle (ACU) and Fr. Doru Costache (SAGOTC) for all their help over the years, particularly with regard to theological topics. Finally I must thank my family, without whose support, patience and love I would never have been able to undertake this research. In particular my parents, Michael and Frances Doherty, my sister Beth and my brother Joseph. Finally, I must thank my wife, Nicky, without whose love and infinite patience this work would never have been completed. Feast of SS. Artemius the Great Martyr of Antioch & Gerasimos of Cephalonia Ryde 2011. Bernard Doherty Abstract. The second century religious movement known to most historians as Montanism has attracted attention from historians of the early Church and historians of religion more generally since antiquity and since the Renaissance has been a topic of many speculations and theories. Unlike its contemporary ‘Gnosticism,’ with its abundance of literary sources and startling discoveries, the assessment of Montanism has been largely confined to a fixed catena of literary sources. However, since the nineteenth century epigraphic remains attesting the movement have come to light and an increasing amount of historical and archaeological data concerning the areas of rural Anatolia where Montanism thrived has come to light. Concurrently with this has been the great strides made in the research into indigenous religious movements and the interaction of religion and society across cultures. This study seeks to look anew at a series of historical theories proposed about Montanism and to assess their veracity in light of an eclectic historical and methodological approach. It is the major conjecture of this study that Montanism cannot be understood as a reified theological entity, but rather as a socio-religious phenomena inseparable from its socio-cultural surroundings. Table of Contents. Introduction: The Montanist Milieu and the Scope of this Study. pp. 1-17. Chapter 1. 1.1. Schwärmerei für die Montanisten: The historiography of Montanism from the Reformation until the Present. pp. 18-47. Chapter 2. The Geographic Milieu. 2.1 . The Holy Land of the Montanists. 48-50. 2.2 . The Problem of the Geographical Origins of Montanism 50-51 2. 3. ‘Ardabau, a small town in Phrygian Mysia.’ pp. 52-55. 2.4. Ardabau – A Place of Revelation. pp. 56-60. 2.5. The Epigraphic Theses. pp. 61-66. 2.6. Schultze’s ‘Holy Land of the Montanists.’ 67-71. 2b. A Geographical Tour of the Anatolian Mid-West. 2b. 1, Prolegomena. pp. 72-74. 2b. 2. Jews and Pagans in Roman Asia Minor. p. 75. 2b.3. The Jews in Asia Minor. pp. 76f. 2b. 4. Anatolian Indigenous Religion. pp. 78-91. 2b. 5. A Geographic Survey of Phrygia. pp. 92-131. Conclusion. p. 132. Chapter 3. The Rural Milieu. 3.1. The Rural Milieu: Religious Dissent in Peasant and Agrarian Societies. pp. 133f. 3.2. Montanism and Millenarianism. pp. 135-144. 3.3. The nature of the evidence. p. 145. 3.4. Methodological & Terminological Considerations. pp. 146-157. 3.5. The Average Anatolian Peasant: A Reconstruction. pp. 158-161 . 3.6. Agrarian Life in the Anatolian Mid-West. pp. 162-165. 3.7. The Structures of Roman Rule in Rural Asia Minor. pp. 166-192. Conclusion. p. 193 Chapter 4. The Historical Milieu: The Anatolian Mid-West during the Antonine Period. 4.1. Prolegomena. pp. 194-200 4.2. The ‘Misfortunes’ of the later Antonine Age. pp. 201-217. 4.3. Persecution Under the Antonines. pp. 218f. Conclusion p. 220. Chapter 5. ‘The Land of Heathen Orgies’: Ethnicity, Culture and Religion as the backdrop for Montanism. 5.1. Prolegomena. pp. 221-226. 5. 2 The Phrygian Cultural Milieu. pp. 227-239. 5.3. Phrygian Religion: A Classical Portrait. pp. 240-243. 5.4. ‘Phrygianism’: a History of Scholarship. pp. 244-246. 5.5. Elements of ‘Phrygianism’. pp. 247-278. Conclusion: Montanus the Pagan Priest? pp. 279-282. Chapter 6. Conclusion: The Revelations of the New Prophecy. Conclusion. pp. 283-291 6.1. The early Church and Social Science. pp. 291f. 6.2. A Theory of Revelations. pp. 294-296. 6.3. Montanus the Sociologists Prophet. pp. 297-312. Appendixes. Appendix 1. Phrygian Jews and Syncretism. pp. 313-317. Appendix 2. Martyrdoms under the Later Antonines. pp. 318-321. Appendix 3. Montanism and the State. pp. 322-336. Appendix 4. A Note on Ethnography, Geography and Religion. pp. 337-39 Appendix 5. Ritual Infanticide, Branding or Tattooing? A Question of Interpretation. pp. 340-358 Bibliography. Epigraphic Sources & Abbreviations. pp. 359-362. Primary Sources. pp. 363-367. Secondary Sources. pp. 368-398. A Note on Referencing. The epigraphic and literary references within this work follow a number of conventions. With regard to Greek Christian authors the abbreviations used are those found in G.W.H. Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon (Oxford ; New York : Clarendon, 1961). With regards to secular Greek authors the abbreviations used are those in the Liddell H. & Scott, R. A Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996 9th Edition) and listed in the bibliography. The abbreviations for Latin authors are those in P.G.W. Glare’s Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985). All epigraphic abbreviations follow the conventions in Horsley & Lee, ‘A Preliminary Checklist of Abbreviations of Greek Epigraphic Volumes,’ Epigraphica 56 (1994): 129-69 and McLean, B.H.