Enslaved girl holding doll from a broken funerary monument from the 4th century B.C.E. National Archeological Museum in Athens, Greece (Inv. 1993) [Photo by Charlie Goldberg].

If the Bible was written in a patriarchal context where an ideology of slavery permeated the culture, how were enslaved women treated? How do we read and interpret gender alongside slavery in the ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman world? Can we reject the institution of slavery and the repercussions of the history of slavery yet read and interpret a set of texts that were written within a historical context where slavery was not questioned or condemned? Enslaved characters and analogies to slavery appear throughout biblical literature without clear condemnation of systemic slavery. Biblical tolerance of slavery leads some readers to assume that slavery in the ancient world was not as cruel as forms of enslavement found in the modern context. Scholars have actively worked to disprove this assumption using material culture, legal texts, and narratives to show just how brutal an institution slavery was in the ancient world and its persistence throughout the history of Christianity. In addition to the hierarchy of status in this literature, we must also acknowledge the gendered hierarchy present within biblical texts.[1]

My recent book, Slavery, Gender, Truth, and Power in Luke-Acts and Other Ancient Narratives, offers a theoretical and exegetical response to such questions through an interpretation that engages feminist hermeneutics, material culture, and literary theory. Following the work of feminist biblical scholars such as Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and Melanie Johnson-DeBaufre, I center women in the texts that I read. I highlight their voices and fill in narrative gaps using information from historical and literary sources. Luke-Acts is my primary focus, and in these two narratives there are three enslaved female figures, each labeled a paidiske, in the Greek. Paidiske is a diminutive for the word pais meaning child, but it often referred to an enslaved female or even an enslaved girl. While many people in the Roman world were enslaved at a young age, the use of paidiske did not always imply that the enslaved person was young. Often, a paidiske worked in a domestic setting for an elite free woman or inside a home. In Luke-Acts, the author incorporates three paidiskai into the text at important parts of the narrative: Luke 22 during Peter’s Denial, Acts 12 when Peter escapes from jail in Jerusalem, and Acts 16 when Paul is visiting Philippi. Each of these enslaved female characters engage in conversation with or find themselves in proximity to an elite free male character (Peter and Paul). My feminist interpretation focuses on these three biblical figures and highlights their words and actions, instead of those of the elite male characters.

The second part of my methodology incorporates material culture into the analysis of these narrative segments from Luke-Acts. While there are few texts from the Greco-Roman world written by enslaved persons, there is an abundance of material culture, or archaeological data, that provides possible insight into the lives, work, and difficulties of enslaved persons in Greek and Roman contexts. One such form of material culture is funerary monuments. In the Greek and Roman world, it was not unusual for an elite free person’s gravestone to carve enslaved figures into the stone along with a frieze or depiction of the deceased free person. Funerary monuments were also erected for deceased enslaved persons as well as formerly enslaved persons who were manumitted.[2] These gravestones provide insight into the ways in which enslaved persons were viewed in antiquity, both by their enslavers and by viewers of the monuments. When conducting research for Slavery, Gender, Truth, and Power, I gathered and examined hundreds of pictures of funerary monuments that included enslaved women on them. Then, I placed these images alongside the narratives from Luke-Acts in order to inform our understanding of the way these paidiskai would have been viewed in antiquity. An analysis of these depictions reveals both the use and abuse of enslaved persons and also provides a glimpse into the lives of female domestic workers, enslaved yet working with their enslavers in often intimate ways.

For example, this gravestone is dedicated to Platthis, Euobios’ daughter, and is dated to the second or third century CE and on display at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum in Turkey.

“Gravestone of Eubios’ Daughter, Platthis” in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. 4839 T [Photo courtesy of author].

The elite woman under the umbrella is Platthis, the deceased, and the taller woman depicted beside her is likely a grieving relative. But I focus on the two smaller figures flanking the elite women. These enslaved female figures are depicted as unrealistically smaller than the elite women, a typical strategy to portray those with lower social status, such as enslaved persons. There is no way to know if these enslaved figures depict real people. But it is likely that these enslaved figures were included on Platthis’ funerary monument to signify her wealth, status, and perhaps even to testify to her virtue by expressing grief at her death. The enslaved figures, holding an umbrella over the elite deceased woman (on the left) and grieving for Platthis through the depiction of her arm over her stomach (on the right), likely elicited a response from the viewers of this gravestone; Platthis was beloved, both by her family and by her enslaved workers.

Analysis of material objects like this funerary monument provides us with both a physical portrait of a free woman alongside enslaved attendants and a glimpse into how a society’s art used enslaved people for their labor in life and after death. When reading stories from Luke-Acts, such as the one in Acts 12 where a free woman, Mary, has an enslaved woman, Rhoda, working in her household where Christians were meeting, material culture can aid in our understanding and interpretation of this biblical narrative. Perhaps Rhoda would have held an umbrella over Mary’s head as they walked through the streets of Jerusalem. Perhaps after Mary’s death, Rhoda would have been depicted as grieving on Mary’s own funerary monument. Thus, material evidence can enhance our reading of ancient and biblical texts by providing a portrait of relationships, or perceived relationships, between literary characters. This produces a visual and textured description for the reader, especially when passages are brief, as is often the case concerning enslaved characters.

The third methodological framework for my research is Bakhtinian theory, which when applied to these narratives provides literary space for the paidiske to speak for themselves through theoretical concepts such as polyphony, carnival, and focalization.[3] Each of the three paidiske that I focus on enters Luke-Acts at a pivotal moment in the plot and functions as a truth-teller within the narrative. For example, in Acts 12 Rhoda is working in the house of Mary who is inside praying for the release of the imprisoned Peter. After being miraculously released from prison, Peter goes to Mary’s house and knocks on the gate. Rhoda recognizes Peter’s voice and is so excited that she doesn’t open the door for Peter but instead runs inside to tell the others. At first, they do not believe her and say she is “out of her mind.” Rhoda insists, but the group still does not believe her, suggesting it must be Peter’s angel instead. Finally, when they go to see who is knocking Rhoda’s testimony is validated – Peter is indeed alive and knocking on the door.

Traditionally, Rhoda’s role in this short story in Acts was minimized. Rhoda was called a “maid” and was understood to be a part of the early Christian community gathered in the house. Scholars also highlighted the humor of this passage, suggesting that Luke is utilizing a trope from Greco-Roman theater called the servus currens where the enslaved character runs in and out of the story and elicits a laugh from the audience.[4] My reading incorporates the humor in this story but emphasizes the reality of Rhoda’s enslavement and her voice in the narrative. After Rhoda insists to the group that she was right that Peter was alive and at the gate of the house, she is proven correct. She is not out of her mind, nor is she only a tool used for humor. She, the enslaved female character in this story, is the only one who recognized the truth. After this story, Peter disappears from the narrative of Acts and is replaced by Paul who then moves the setting of Acts into the broader Mediterranean world. In my reading, Rhoda appears in the narrative, marginalized by both her gender and her status, to push the plot past the elite free male apostle and even the group of free believers who are praying. She is a truth-teller, and in this brief moment in Luke-Acts she is proven correct.

Equipped with the insights of material evidence and theoretical reflection, I thereby approach Luke-Acts as a text ripe for re-valuation. My readings do not erase the brutality of slavery present in the biblical text or in the world in which these texts were written. Instead, I provide literary space for Rhoda, and those like her, to enact her agency within the narrative, offering a counterpoint to readings where only the voices of the elite free characters matter. This strategy proposes ways to read a biblical text that recognizes and identifies the brutality of slavery yet emphasize enslaved characters within the narrative, especially enslaved women. Using a feminist lens, material culture, and literary theory, these enslaved female characters are highlighted and empowered to be truth-tellers within the biblical story.

Christy Cobb is Assistant Professor of Religion at Wingate University.

[1] Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza coined the term kyriarchy in order to name the ways that patriarchy is also affected by other forms of oppression such as status. Reading with attention to kyriarchy highlights the ways that men oppress women, women oppress other women, and free persons oppress enslaved persons.

[2] My analysis of funerary monuments highlights enslaved figures, but other scholarship abounds on the inscriptions, art, and use of these funerary monuments. To read more, see Linda Maria Gigante, “Funerary Art” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, ed. Michael Gagarin (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010): 433-457 and G.J. Oliver, ed. The Epigraphy of Death: Studies in the History and Society of Greece and Rome (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2000).

[3] For those who are unfamiliar with Bakhtinian theory, polyphony is found in literature when multiple voices or perspectives are present within the text. In Luke-Acts, I see polyphony in the texts of Luke and Acts especially through the prologue where the voice of the author enters yet other sources are mentioned, as well as the so-called “we” passages in Acts. Carnivalesque literature is typically humorous and includes elements that indicate a hierarchy has been momentarily disrupted. Focalization, in narrative theory, highlights the perspective of a character through which the narrative is viewed.

[4] The servus currens motif, which is included in plays and described by Greek and Roman playwrights, usually includes an enslaved character who runs onto the stage, delivers a monologue, expects to be rewarded for their successful errand, and then is unable or forgets to complete the task. This trope incited laughter for an ancient audience, most likely from the moment the enslaved character runs onto the stage, as the onlookers anticipated the enslaved character’s inevitable failure. For more on the way this motif functions in Acts see, Albert J. Harrill “The Dramatic Function of the Running Slave Rhoda (Acts 12.13-16): A Piece of Greco-Roman Comedy” in New Testament Studies (46.1 January 2000): 150-157; for a feminist reading see Kathy Chambers “Knock, knock-Who’s There? Acts 12.6-17 as a Comedy of Errors” in Levine, Amy-Jill (ed) A Feminist Companion to the Acts of the Apostles (London: T&T Clark, 2004).