.

*
In Gk. a part. used as noun ( to be supplied). The word occurs already in Hdt., 4, 110
( ); cf. also Demosth., Aristot., inscr. and pap.1 What is meant

before the heading of an article indicates that all the New Testament passages are
mentioned in it.
*
. Liddell-Scott, 1205; Moult.-Mill., 443; J. Kaerst, Die antike Idee der Oikumene in
ihrer politischen u. kulturellen Bdtg. (1903); J. Vogt, Orbis Romanus, Zur Terminologie d.
rmischen Imperialismus (1929); Preisigke Wrt., II, 163f. (where we also find ,
relating to the Roman world).

Gk. Greek.

part. participle.

Hdt. Herodotus, of Halicarnassus (c. 484425 B.C.), the first real Greek historian, described as
early as Cicero as the father of history. His work deals with the conflicts between the Greeks
and the barbarians from earliest times to the Persian Wars, ed. H. Kallenberg, 1926 ff.

Demosth. Demosthenes, of Athens (384322 B.C.), ed. F. Blass, 1903 ff.

Aristot. Aristotle, of Stageiros (c. 384322 B.C.), with his teacher Plato the greatest of the Greek
philosophers and the founder of the peripatetic school, quoted in each case from the
comprehensive edition of the Academia Regia Borussica, 1831 ff.

pap. Papyrus, shortened to P. when specific editions are quoted.

1
The concept of the is first geographical, but then becomes cultural and political.
Religion, philosophy and politics (e.g., the concept of dominion in Alexander the Gt.) combine
to create the idea of a generally binding human society. There thus arises the cosmopolitanism
of later Hell. culture with its philosophical understanding of humanity: The ideally Hellenic is
as such the cosmopolitan, which represents true humanity; severed from its specific local
background, it embraces the world. Even the originally non-Hellenic, understood as the
generally human, is now assimilated into the Hellenic; under the concept of the rational it is
elevated into the sphere of the ideally Hellenic. The antithesis between the Hellenic and the
barbarian shifts. The Hellenic gives up its national restriction to rule over the oecumene. The
world of culture is identical in principle with the oecumene; non-culture is on the frontiers of
the oecumene (Kaerst, 18). In Hellenism the takes the place of the ancient ,
the or that of the ancient . In the imperial period the
philosophical concept of the Hellenic fuses with the political and legal structure of
the Roman Empire; the idea that the Empire embraces the is a Gk. conception.
While Roman political leaders after the Second Punic War allowed the almost unavoidable
extension of Roman power in the East almost unwillingly, apart from a few bold innovators like
the older Scipio, the Gks. were quick to recognise the Roman expansion in its total significance.
The invasion of Asia, the third continent, by Roman power, seemed to them to be a decisive
step on the way to world conquest, and the victory over Antiochus of Syria an epoch in the
history of the known world. kinder the impress of this event envoys from the East greeted the
Romans as lords of the oecumene. Others proclaimed in inspiring visions the dawn of a
universal Roman empire replacing Macedonian dominion (Vogt, 10, with refs. to C. Trieber,
Herm., 27 [1892], 337 ff.; W. Weber, Der Prophet u. sein Gott [1925], 57 ff.). The oldest Roman
from the very first is the inhabited world as distinct from the (relatively) uninhabited; so Hdt.,
also Aristot. Meteor., 362b, 26. Limitation to the world of (Gk.) culture is secondary
[Debrunner]. The term then embraces the Roman Empire (P. Oxy., 7, 1021, 5 ff.:
,
[] [] . Ditt. Or., 666, 3
ff.: [] ,
668, 5:
. These formulae in the imperial style are stereotyped, cf.
Preisigke Sammelbuch, 176, 2 with ref. to Marcus Aurelius:
, 1070 (Abydos) with ref. to a deity [Besa ?]:
. Also magical invocations: P. Lond., 121, 704:
, P. Leid., 5, 2, 9: (== ) ,
. For further material CIG, II, 2581; III, 4416.
The word also occurs in the LXX for Heb. , , , . Cf. 17:15; 18:4;
23:1; 32:8 48:1; 49:12 etc.; Is. 10:14, 23; 13:5, 9, 11; 14:17, 26 etc. Philo, too, uses it
frequently, e.g., Leg. Gaj., 10; Vit. Mos., I, 157, 195, 255, though with him it has primarily a
general rather than a political sense, i.e., inhabited land as distinct from uninhabited, and even

ref. to Roman dominion over the earth is Rhetorica ad C. Herennium, ed. F. Marx (1894), 4, 9,
13: nedum illi imperium orbis terrae, cui imperio omnes gentes, reges, nationes partim vi,
partim voluntate consenserunt, cure aut armis aut liberalitate a populo Romano superati
essent, ad se transferre tantulis viribus conarentur. An important witness for this view is Cic.
pro Murena, 9, 22: haec (sc. rei militaris virtus) nomen populo Romano, haec huic urbi
aeternam gloriam peperit, hacc orbem terrarum parere huic imperio coegit Off., 2, 27: illud
patrocinium orbis terrae verius quam imperium poterat nominari. For further material cf. Vogt,
12 ff.

Meteor. Meteorologicum.

P. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, ed. B. Grenfell and A. Hunt, 1898 ff.

Ditt. Or. W. Dittenberger, Orientis Graecae Inscriptiones, 1902 ff.

Preisigke Sammelbuch F. Preisigke, Sammelbuch griechischer Urkunden aus gypten, 1915 ff.

P. Lond. Greek Papyri in the British Museum, ed. F. G. Kenyon and others, 1893 ff.

P. Papyri Graeci Musei antiquarii publici Lugduni-Batavi, ed. C. Leemanns, 1843 ff.

CIG Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, 1828 ff.

Heb. Hebrew.

Leg. Gaj. Legatio ad Gajum.

Vit. Mos. De Vita Mosis.

the universe.2 Cf. Jos. Ant., 11, 196, 292; Bell., 1, 633; 5, 187. The word occurs sometimes in
the Rabb.: ( ikumini? read iekumini), the inhabited earth: Gn. r., 32, 5; Jalkut Gn.
56; Qoh. r. on 6:3.3
The word is fairly common in the NT. We find it in the prophecy at Mt. 24:14:

. This is more solemn and liturgical in comparison with Mk. 13:10;
the formula derives from current Hellenistic usage.4 It is certainly
not to be linked here with political imperial style. The reference is simply to the glad
message which is for all nations and the whole earth.
On the other hand Lk. 2:1 perhaps has in view the Roman claim to tax the whole
world ( ).5 Lk. likes the term and uses it again in
4:5: (Mt. 4:8:
). In 21:26 he has
in the apocalyptic prophecy. Behind this is the Aram.
== come on the whole earth (Heb. ) .6 Perhaps the same Aram.
or Heb. tradition underlies Ac. 11:28:
, and Rev. 3:10:
. That is

2
E.g., Philo Som., 2, 180: But you will find this, not by traversing long and untrodden paths or
journeying across unnavigable seas or hastening with breathless speed to the borders of earth
and sea, for it has not moved off to the far distance or fled from the frontiers of the inhabited
land, but as Moses says (Dt. 30:1214) the good is nigh thee and is closely linked with thee,
made up of three most important parts. Jos. Bell., 1, 633 adopts the political style:
,
.

Jos. Flavius Josephus, Jewish author (c. 3797 A.D.) in Palestine and later Rome, author in
Greek of the Jewish War and Jewish Archaeology, which treat of the period from creation to
Nero, ed. B. Niese, 1887 ff.

Ant. Antiquitates.

Bell. Bellum Judaicum.

Rabb. Rabbis,

Gn. r. Genesis rabba (Bereshit rabba), Midrash on Genesis (Strack, Einl., 209 ff.).

Qoh. r. Qohelet rabba, Midrash on Ecclesiastes (Strack, Einl., 213).

3
S. Krauss, Griech. u. lat. Lehnwrter in Talmud, Midrasch u. Targum, 2 (1899), 281.

NT New Testament.
4
Jos. Ant., 11, 196:
5
Kl. Lk., 31: Hyperbolically of the orbis terrarum comprised in the Roman Empire.

Aram. Aramaic.
6
Str.-B., II, 255; IV, 799976.
current Gk. may be seen from Ac. 17:6:
, though the LXX has had an influence here,
as may be seen plainly from 17:31:
.7 Also in keeping with current usage is Ac. 19:27:
, cf. 24:5:
.8
It is worth noting that Paul does not use the term except in the quotation from 18:4
in R. 10:18: .
On the other hand Hb. 1:6:
, and 2:5: , betray
the influence of current Hell. usage. Hb. 2:5 clearly represents the old apocalyptic
phrase . Also to be seen as a rendering of ancient apocalyptic tradition into
current Hellenistic usage are Rev. 12:9: , and 16:14:
. There is within the NT no
disputing of the political understanding of the Roman Empire, not even in
Rev.
In prayer 1 Cl., 60, 1 equates the concept with the understanding: ,
, . Perhaps the term includes not only the world of men and living
creatures, but also that of spirits and angelic powers.9 The LXX provided a basis for the
adoption and interpretation of in this sense in 1 Cl., 60.
Michel
1

7
Preuschen Ag. (1912), 110: v. 31 is a quotation from 9:8 == 95:13 == 97:9, though
elsewhere the address, in accordance with its purpose, has very few quotations from the OT
8
Cf. Jos. Ant., 12, 48:
. To the last-named, as to all Jews scattered in
the world, I will render a service.

1 Cl. Epistle of Clement

9
Pr.-Bauer3, 931.

Michel Otto Michel, Halle (Vol. 3), (Vol. 4), Tbingen (Vol. 59).
1
Kittel, Gerhard (Hrsg.) ; Bromiley, Geoffrey William (Hrsg.) ; Friedrich, Gerhard (Hrsg.):
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. electronic ed. Grand Rapids, MI : Eerdmans,
1964-c1976, S. 5:157-159