Looking at the walls of the cellar, one soon notices, among the figures which Vibia meets in her journey after-death, two singular characters who cannot but attract our attention: Mercurius <ref>DIOGENES LAERTIUS, ''Vit. Phil. ''VIII, 1, § 31, reproducing a I century B.C.E. apocryphal work, informs us that Hermes escorts the souls after their separation from the body to the Most-High (''epì tònHypsiston''); cf. CUMONT, “ Hypsistos”, p.11 and n.1 as well as “Les Mystères de Sabazius”, p.74 and n.4, for the mythological figure of Hermes ''psychopompos''.</ref>, who escorts her to Pluto’s (''Dis Pater'') transmundane court of justice, and a Good Angel (''Angelus Bonus'') <ref>The mention of Angelus Bonus, whom CUMONT (“Hypsistos” p.4 and ns.6-7, p.5 and n.1, “Les Mystères de Sabazius”, p.72 f. and ns.1-4) thought to be an evident sign of the connection of these Roman findings with the Jewish religious culture, has been long discussed, starting with JAMAR’s criticism (“Les Mystères de Sabazius”, p.43 ff.): the bibliographical references quoted in the last notes allow the reader to acknowledge the main partakers of the scholarly debate.</ref>, who introduces her to seven ''happy'' guests (''bonorum iudicio iudicati'') taking part in a banquet <ref>For a quite clear reproduction of these paintings, see JOHNSON, “The Present State of Sabazios Research”, p.1605; for the text, see LANE, ''Corpus Cultus Iovis Sabazii'', II, p.31 f.; exaustive bibliography in M.J. VERMASEREN, ''De onderlinge betrekkingen tussen Mytras-Sabazius-Cybele'', in ''Academiae Analecta'', Bruxelles 1984, p.34 ff. About Angels’ cult, see however below, pp. 29-31.</ref>. Is it a simple coincidence to find here some traditional figures of an Hermetic environment such as Hermes/Mercurius and Agathodaimon/Angelus Bonus, which all textual sources universally point to as being the two greatest Harranian prophets? <ref>The Harrànians claimed that Hermes and Agathodaimon were not only their own prophets, but also their first masters in their quality of mediators between men and the Holy Heavenly Beings and, above all, God, the absolutely transcendental “God of the gods” (for which definition see below p. 34 and n. 304): for Medieval Muslim sources, see GREEN, ''The City of the Moon-God'', at the relative chapter; GUNDUZ, ''TheKnowledge of Life'', p.157 f. (al-Nadìm, al-Mas’ùdì, al-Bìrùnì, al-Baghdàdì, Ibn Hazm, al-Dimashqì, al- Shahrastànì, Bar-Hebraeus), where different transcriptions of the names (''‘Adìmùn, ‘Agàdhìmùn,‘Aghàthàdhìmùn, ''etc.; ''Harmis'', ''Harmas, Haràmasah ''etc.) are recorded. For the equation Hermes-‘Idrìs, which is a traditional identification thorough Islamic exegetical tradition (cf. ''Qur’àn ''19, 56-7; 21, 85), and the further equation ‘Idrìs-‘''Aknùkh/Khunùkh ''etc. (= Biblical Henokh/Enoch, according to AL-BIRUNI, ''Chronology''., p.188, or to AL-MAQDISI, ''Kitàb al-bad’ wa al-ta’rìkh'', Paris 1899-1903, ed. and FT by C. HUART, ''Le Livre de la Création et de l’Histoire'', III, Paris 1903, p.12: “… Idrìs is no other than Enoch … He was the first prophet who received a mission after Adam ... He is the first who traced characters by means of pen … His name among the Greeks is Hermes” [we quote from W. SCOTT, ''Hermetica'', IV, Oxford 1936, p.252]), see M. PLESSNER, art. “Hirmis”, ''EI2 ''III, pp.479-81, or for example Y. MARQUET, “Sabéens et Ikhwàn al-Safà’”, ''SI ''24 (1966), p.36 and n.3, and p.56 ff.; for Agathodaimon, M. PLESSNER, art. “Agathùdhìmùn”, ''EI''2 I, p.244-5, whereas the identification with Adam’s son Seth (''Shìth'') is quite late, because it seems to have been firstly proposed only in the VI H./XII c. by AL-SHAHRASTANI, ''Milal'', GT by T. HAARBRUCKER, ''Religionspartheien und Philosophen-Schulen'', Halle 1851, II, p.3 (and then by ALDIMASHQÌ, ''Nukhbat al-dahr'', FT M.A.F. MEHREN, ''Manuel de la Cosmographie du Moyen Age'', Copenhague 1874, p. 46 f.; ABÙ AL-FIDÀ’, ''Al-mukhtasar fì akhbàr al-bashar'', ed. H: FLEISCHER, Vogel 1831, pp.14, 148; BAR HEBRAEUS, Ta’rìkh ''mukhtasar al-duwal'', ed. A. SALHANI, Beirut 1890, p.12); cf. G. MONNOT, “Sabéens et Idolàtres selon ‘Abd al-Jabbàr”, ''MIDEO ''12 (1974), p.30; R. REITZENSTEIN, ''Poimandres'', Leipzig 1904, p.170 ff.; but above all H. CORBIN, “Rituel Sabéen et Exegèse Ismaélienne du Rituel”, ''Eranos Jahrbuch ''19 (1950), pp.181-246, who does not waver in connecting such a phenomenon to Ismailism and to Ismailian Historiosophy.</ref>
But, provided that our basic hypotheisis is correct, we have more. The words composing Vincentius’ epitaph again attract our attention, since they are: ''Numinisantistes Sabazis Vincentius hic est qui sacra sancta Deum mente pia coluit''. Well, if the last words have a technical sense, if, consequently, the sentence ''colere Deummente pia ''defines a special class of believers, namely people close to a Monotheistic religious view as the equivalent Greek expressions ''sèbein/sèbesthai tòn theòn ''clearly do, and if, finally, the central meaning of Arabic ''Sàbi’ùn ''is precisely ''mid-Converts'' <ref>Obviously we use the expression in a non-technical sense, having already signalized its inaccuracy above, n.116. It is worth noticing the equation ''Sàbi’ ''– “Convert” proposed by De BLOIS, “Sabians in Arabia”, p.52, even if we cannot agree with him for the further identification ''Sàbi’ ''– “Manichaean”“[[Manichean]]”, nor, of course, with M. GIL who tries to prove the truthfulness of this relation in his study “The Creed of Abù ‘Amir”, ''IOS ''12 (1992), pp.9-57.</ref>, or rather ''people turning themselves towards the ''Theos Hypsistos’ ''cult'', because of the heavy, massive influence of the semantic bulk carried on by such Greek verbs and by the parallel Greek nouns (''sebòmenos/oi tòn theòn'', ''theosebès/èis'': we leave aside the corresponding Latin ones), we have found here a significant set of religious connections with Harràn and the Harrànian Sabians which, we believe, deserves further investigation.
==Tertium Genus==
Well, we perceived that a similar version of the facts suddenly opened a window on the truth: what more could one desire than this? It was the extremely plain description of the phenomenon of Proselytism in relation to the Jewish people <ref> The ''LXX ''normally traslate the Hebrew ''ger ''with ''prosèlytos'', even if often we have to do only with resident aliens, namely with stangers living in Palestine but not converted to Judaism (cf. for example the expression ''ha-ger ‘asèr yagur be-ysra’èl ''[''Ex''. 14, 7] which is rendered with ''oi proselyteuòntes en tò Israèl,'' “whoever among the strangers dwells in Israel”. In the course of centuries, though, the original connotation of the word took a socio-religious tract that will become the final meaning of the term (cf. the references quoted above n.60). It is worth noting the Greek transcription ''geìoras ''of the aramaean ''giyyorà ''(''Ex''. 12, 19; ''Is ''14, 1; but see also PHILO, ''Conf. ling''., 82; JUSTINUS, ''Dial''. 122, 1[''geòras ''beside ''prosèlytos'']; JULIUS AFRICANUS, ''Ep. ad Arist''., 5, in EUSEBIUS, ''Hist. Eccl''., I, 7, 13 [''geiòra''i = ''prosèlytoi'']), though, unfortunately, nothing similar happened in the Arab or Syriac versions of the ''Acts ''in relation to the word ''sebòmenos''/''o''i (''tòn theòn''): the ''Peshitta ''uses in fact in this case the participial form of the root ''DHL'', while Arabic uses the participle of the verbs ''‘abada ''and ''tawaqqa ''or ''ittaqa ''(''khàfa ''for ''oi phoboùmenoi''/ “fearers”). 194 bis) For the origins and the historical developments of Jewish Proselytism, an excellent but quite up-todate bibliography is contained in the already quoted art. “Proselyte, Proselytisme”, ''DB'', Suppl. VIII, cols.1353-6 (A. PAUL); see therefore also the bibliographical references quoted above n.60. It is to be stressed the semantic correspondence between the Greek verb ''prosèrkhomai'', “to go towards, to lean, etc.”, and the above observed semantic nuance of the Arabic verbs ''saba’a''/''sabà ''(p.8 f. and notes). Though noticing that “''Sàbi’ ''… came to serve as one of the several designations for ‘proselyte’ “, BUCK, “The Identity of the Sàbi’ùn”, p.173 – as well J. WANSBROUGH, ''The Sectarian Milieu: Content and Composition in IslamicSalvation History'', London 1978, p.102 – does not arrive to the same unavoidable conclusion of ours; but see also below n.197, for the meaning ''prosèlytos ''= “convert to Christianity” or more in general “a person approaching anything new”. For Abraham as a prototype of proselytes, see W. BOUSSET - H. GREESMANN, ''Die Religion des Judentums in spathellenistilichen Zeitalter'', Tubingen 19263, p.186; or also SIMON, ''Verus Israel'', p.205 n.5; actually Abraham, as well as Job, continues to be remembered as preeminently “God-fearing” (Abraham: ''4 Macc. ''15, 28; ''TNaph. ''1, 10; Anon. in EUSEBIUS, ''Praep. Ev''., ix, 17, 3; in ''Genes., ''22, 12, he is not “God-fearing”, but one who “fears God”; Job: Ps. ARISTEAS in EUSEBIUS, ''Praep. Ev''., ix, 25, 4). For the parallel between Job and Abraham, see also ''b. Sotah, ''31a, cited by WILCOX, “The ‘Godfearers’ in Acts”, p.106, who argues that Luke is putting Cornelius, like Simeon and Lydia, within this tradition. For Proselytes, see finally NOCK, ''Conversion'', p.61 f. and p.109.</ref>, of its first chronological manifestation … <ref>194 bis</ref>; or rather it was in this sense that we were tempted to interpret the excerpt: it seemed in fact to confirm on the whole our hypothesis about the equation Sabians–God-Fearers, by laying the foundation stone of the theoretical building. Though pointing to the same direction, however, the ''Chronology''’s text says literally something slightly different, but in order to understand what such a thing would be we have to look at al-Bìrùnì’s complementary definition of the Sabians which we started from, the one contained in his ''Kitàb altafhìm'', the ''Book of Initiation in the Elements of the Art of Astrology''.
Here, in the relevant section dealing with the ''Horoscope of Religions'' <ref>Cf. p.253 of the ET by R.R. WRIGHT, London 1934, who also provided the edition of the text. Here, not only a mutual relation Planets-Religions is drawn, each Religion being put in correspondence in its turn also with a single People. The “Horoscope of Religions” theme probably appears for the first time into a similar form in ABU MA’SHAR, ''Kitàb al-milal wa-l-duwal'', ed. and ET by K. YAMAMOTO - C. BURNETT, ''Abù Ma’shar, on Historical Astrology'', 2 Vols., Leiden–Boston–Koln 2000 (the first vol. contains the Arabic text and the ET; the second one the medieval LT by IOHANNES HISPANUS [''DeMagnis Conjunctionibus''], Glossaries and Indexes), whose close relationship with AL-KINDÌ (cf. O. LOTH, “Al-Kindì als Astrolog”, ''Morgenlandische Forschungen. Festschrift H.L. Fleischer'', Leipzig 1875, pp.263- 309), and consequently with Sabian-Harrànian milieu, is very well-known. This circumstance might have given rise to an unusual link of the word ''Hanpè/Hanìf ''which can be found in the 2nd Treatise, ''Differentia ''viii, of ''De Magnis Conjunctionibus'', where one reads: ''dixerunt quia Saturnus habuit significationem super ''hamf''ì'' (f. C viii r.). A marginal gloss of the Code Ms. Vaticanus Reginensis Latinus 1285 containing this work (folios 43r.– 99v.: the gloss in question is in folio 58r. l.29) – written by the same IOANNIS HISPANUS according to R. LEMAY, ''Abù Ma’shar and Latin Aristotelianism in the Twelfth Century'', Beirut 1962, p.14 n.4 - comments the expression as it follows: ''Super legem illorum a quibus Mauri ducunt legem suam, id estab illis qui fuerunt ''ab Abraam ''usque ad Moysen ex parte Ysmaelis, ''i.e. ''super legem Ismaelitarum''. A theoretical connection with Ismael’s progeny, namely more in general with ''Hunafà’''/Gentiles, doubles therefore the other one previously acknowledged (1st Treatise, ''Diff. ''iv, f. A vii r.; Vat. Reg. Lat. 1285, f. 46 v. a) Saturn-Judaism. In fact “Abraham through Ishmael was the progenitor of the Arabs. He therefore must have been the founder of the religion of the ''Hunafà’''” (R. BELL, “Who were the Hanìfs?”, ''MW ''20 [1930], p.124). In reality, there was a mistake, because the original text – according to the new edition of YAMAMOTO-BURNETT – displays the word ''khalifà’''/”caliphs” (Vol. I, p.152 l.8, ET p.153): but what might have given origin to the misunderstanding of the medieval translator, who exchanged a common term such as “caliphs” with a problematic one ? We reproduce here a skech-map of the main medieval sources treating the problem of the cosmic corrispondences Planets – Religions, since the end of the IX century (Abù Ma’shar/Al-Kindì) till up the XIII century (Roger Bacon): Placet Abù Ma’shar (Al-Kindì) De Planetarum patrocinniis (''CCAG ''VII) Al-Bìrùnì Gàyat al-Hakìm, III,1 Gàyat al- Hakìm, III,7 Roger Bacon Saturn Judaism Judaism Judaism (Judaism) Judaism Judaism Jupiter Faiths Christianity Christianity Christianity Christianity Faiths Mars Paganism Idolatry Idolatry Idolatry Idolatry Caldaean Religion Sun Idolatry Religion of the Magianism Mazdaeism Persian Aegyptian Fire .Brahamanism. Cult of Pneumatic Spirits Religion Religion. Cult of the Heavenly Army Venus Islam Islam Islam Islam Islam Mercury Christianity Judaism. Debate about Dogmatism [Heterodoxy] Heterodoxy Heterodoxy (Zindìk) Religion of Wise men. Heresy Christianity Moon Doubt, Development, Change and Desertion from one’s Faith Religion of the Greeks (Revelation of the Mysteries) Adherents of the prevailing Religion [Sabianism] Sabianism Revelation Religion of the Children and of the Youths [Harrànian Sabianism] Sect of the Antichrist (Bibliographical refernces: ABU MA’SHAR, op. cit., I, p.44 f.; ''CCAG'', VII, p.95 ff.; AL-BIRUNI, ''Kitàbal-tafhìm ''(''Book of Initiation in the Elements of the Art of Astrology''), p.253; ''Gàyat al-hakìm ''(ref. below n.296), p.156 ff., and p.206 ff.; ROGER BACON, op. cit. (above n.161), p.253 ff.). The relation Moon- Sabians does not deserve any comment, if one keeps in mind the role of Harràn as cultic capital of the Sumero-Babylonian Moon-God ''Sìn'': by this point of view, it is not too hazardous to suppose that the expression “the Religion of ''the Children and of the Youths''”, explicitly connected by the ''Gàya ''with Sabianism, may be a textual error: the writing of the Arabic words ''al-sabìàn wa- l-ahdàth'', in fact, is indeed very similar to the expression “the Sabians of Harràn” (''al-sàbiya bi-l-Harràn'') so that the former graphic sequence may easily changed with the latter. On the other hand, how can one explain the presence of such subjects as “the children and the youths” in this context ? </ref>, where the seven planets are put in correspondence with just as many universal religions, one finds the Moon - namely the lowest of the seven heavenly bodies, naturally associated with Harràn because of the Sumero-Babylonian cult of the Moon-God ''Sìn'' whose worship was still alive in this ancient city, proud of its religious traditions, during the Muslim Middle Ages <ref>Cf. above p.2 and n.15; below p.33 and ns. 291-2.</ref>– placed in parallel with the Sabians, just as one might have expected. But really surprising is the formula by which al-Bìrùnì delimits Sabianism, since Sabians become now the ''Adherents of the Prevailing Religion'' (''alladhìna bi-dìn kulli gàlibin'') <ref>AL-BIRUNI, ''Kitàb al-tafhìm'', p.253.</ref>. Perfectly fitting! Impeccable! It is impossible to define in a better way the idea of what has been called, to use a infelicitous expression indeed, ''mid-Conversion'' <ref>Cf. above n.116; p.18 and n.149. The circumstance that God-Fearers in certain Diaspora communities attended at synagoge’s assemblies “nicht als ‘Anhange’, sondern als - gegenuber Juden und Proselyten freilich ungleichwartige - Bestandteile der judischen Gemeinden” (BELLEN, “''Synagogé tès Ioudaìon kaìTheosebòn''”, p.172), makes SIMON think that “das stunde ziemlich in Analogie zu den Katechumenen der Alten Kirche, nur mit dem Unterschied dass der Katechumenat ein vorlaufiger Stand ist, wahrend bestimmte, ja sogar der Grossteil der ''sebòmenoi ''ihren Status das ganze Leben behalten” (art. “Gottesfurchtiger”, col.1068). It is interesting to notice a gloss to the word “Sabian” found in one Ms. of a summarized version of TABARÌ’s ''Tafsìr ''(''Tarjama i tafsìr i Tabarì'', ed. H. Yaghmàì, IV, p.1054) by De BLOIS, “Sabians in Arabia”, p.52 n.52, according to which ''Sàbi’ùn ''= ''[[Nighòshagàn]]'', ''i.e. ''a Persian word usually employed for denoting “Manichaean hearers” (it is well-known that Manichaeans divided the believers into a number of grades, the “hearers” being separated from “initiates” and having consequently a role similar to Christian ''katekhoùmenoi''), even if obviously we disagree with the French scholar’s opinion about the identity Sabians- Manichaeans; this fact does not mean, however, that the term ''Sàbi’ùn ''could not sometimes have included ''also ''Manichaean groups in Central Arabia and in the neighbouring regions. For the Christianizing of the term ''prosèlytos ''see P.B. BAGATTI, ''The Church from Circumcision. History and Archaeology of Judaeo-Christians'', ET by E. HOACLE, Jerusalem 1971, pp.237-39, and also (with J.T. MILIK) ''Gli scavi del'' Dominus Flevit ''(Monte Oliveto – Gerusalemme)'', I, Jerusalem 1958, p.21: the author supposes that the Judaeo-Christians had an institution called “Proselitate”, similar to a “Catechumenate”, but his hypothesis is considered quite hazardous. In ''The Church from Circumcision'', p.210 figs. 13, 17 and 13, 20, Bagatti also records, in a funerary context, the symbol ''S B + ''which he reads in the same way tentatively proposed by Du MESNIL Du BOISSON, ''MUSJ ''1959, namely that it “se lit vraiseblament ''S(otèr) B(oethòs) + (= Khristòs)''” (p.39, cf. p.42 no.138), who reproduced in addition the sequences, in Greek letters, ''Z a b ''(“au dessous, une palme dressée”) (p.16 no.34), and ''Z b E ''(p.31 no.104), which evidently contradict a similar possibility.</ref>. A general but not generic formula, where among many other things one recognizes also the devotional position of the four ''Hunafà’ ''whom we have met above: to make Conversion a well-identified phenomenon, one needs not only a private spiritual feeling enlarged to massive dimensions, but also a dominant religion, namely a cult able to have a prevalent position over the others. In any case, that was how the process developed in the course of history: only when a single religion, Christianity, became the official Religion of the Roman Empire, in fact, did Conversion begin to be acknowledged as a clear, unquestionable fact, representing a social and religious reality that people could eventually conceive without difficulties and therefore express without linguistic ambiguities.
Hypsistarii, Sebòmenoi/Phoboùmenoi (tòn Theòn), Theosebeìs, Massaliani,Euphemitai, Caelicolae, Hunafà. ''Adherents of the Prevailing Religion'': let us pay attention to the first term. ''Adherents'' simply means ''Symphatizers'' <ref>Cf above p.15 and ns.70-1 for a subtle theoretical distinction between these terms.</ref>, ''Close to'', ''To get ready for'', it does not mean ''Full Converts'', which is exactly the case of the God-Fearers. Probably al- Bìrùnì should have added to the last words of his definition the attribute ''Monotheistic'', since we always have to do with people who made the fundamental step to turn themselves to the faith in One Most-High God, in One Supreme Deity <ref>As we have said (above p.1 and n.2), that is the sense by which we assume the expression following MITCHELL, “The Cult of Theos Hypsistos”, p.119.</ref> in reference to whom the other lesser deities play often the role of heavenly messengers, of angels, as the Oracle from Oenoanda – that is from the Northern Lycian site where one of the rare ''Hypsistarii''’s cult-places has been found – explicitly states by Apollo’s mouth: ''Born of itself, untaught, without a mother, unshakeable, not contained in a name, known by many names, dwelling in fire, this is God. We, his angels, are a small part of God'' <ref>The Oracle was firstly published by G.E. BEAN, ''Journey in Northern Lycia 1965-67'', D. Ak. Wien Phil.-Hist. Klasse 104 (1971), pp.20-2 no.37; see the fine commentary by L. ROBERT, “Un Oracle Gravé à Oenoanda”, in ''Opera Minora Selecta'', V, Amsterdam 1972, pp.617-39 (previously published in ''CRAI ''1971); for a discussion about the Oracle here quoted, whose first three lines are also reproduced into the so-called ''Theosophy of Tubingen ''(late V c. C.E.) as well as into LACTANTIUS’ ''Divinae Institutiones ''(1, 7), see MITCHELL, “The Cult of Theos Hypsistos”, p.86 ff., where also the original Greek text and its translation are given. </ref>. But it is true, also, that after the final victory of Christianity God-Fearers’ communities – whose names historically range from ''Hypsistarii'', ''Hypsistariani'', to ''Theosebèis'', ''Sebòmenoi tòn Theòn'', ''Caelicolae ''etc. - but also the lonely individuals seeking after God known by the name ''Hunafà’ ''in the Near Eastern desert regions felt the attraction of Christianity by often achieving their spiritual way through a full Conversion to the Cross, while in previous times they were gravitating around the prevalent Monotheistic groups settled throughout the geographical areas where they lived, which as a rule were Jewish ones.
Al-Bìrùnì’s first-quoted text also turns the reader’s thought to the Jewish context, even if the Persian writer seems to believe that the Jewish presence along the Euphrates and Tigris valley is connected to a religious reality that will come along after several centuries, namely the migration from Palestine into Southern Mesopotamia of some Hemerobaptist sects as Elkesaits and Mandaeans <ref>The migration of these sects from Palestine has been often put in doubt: see for example E. PETERSON, “Urchristentum und Mandaismus (Nachtrag)”, ''ZNW ''27 (1928), pp.91-98. We wish to recall here that CHWOLSON’s identification (cf. ''Die Ssabier''’s Index, s.vs.) of the religious group called by al- NADIM, ''Fihrist'', ET p.811, the ''[[Mughtasila ]]''(“Those who wash themselves”), or ''[[Sàbat al-batà’ih]]'', with the [[Elkesaites ]] and the Mandaeans is valid only for the former group, as the discovery of the so-called ''Mani-Codex ''has demonstrated once for all: ''Der Kolner Mani-Kodex … ''kritische Edition … herausgegeben und ubersetz von Ludwig LOENEN und Cornelia ROMER, ''Papyrologica coloniensia ''14, Opladen 1988. </ref>. But if one interprets the information by means of al-Bìrùnì’s second excerpt, one sees rather the real influence that Zoroastrianism had on Hebraic religion, because it was precisely during the ''Babylonian captivity'' that some typical features of Hebraism such as the juxtaposition Good-Evil and God-Satan or concepts such as the Last Judgement and the Resurrection of the Dead came into being <ref>On the Jews in Babylonia, also during the Persian period, see the up-to-date bibliography in SCHURER-VERMES-MILLAR-GOODMAN, ''The History of the Jewish People'', III, § 31 ns.11 ff. </ref>. To sum up, we have supposed that al-Bìrùnì’s first text was only to be connected with such a historical phenomenon; on the other hand, it had relations with the historical rising of Jewish Proselytism, and reminded for example a well-known textual passage by Josephus mentioning the transfer of the Jews from Babylon to Asia Minor by Antiochus III at the end of the III century B.C.E. <ref>Antiochus settled two thousand Jewish families in Lydia and Phrygia: granting them the right to follow their own laws and other privileges. JOSEPHUS, ''Ant. Jud''., 12, 149-50, quotes the relevant passages of the letter of the king to his governor Zeuxix: for the authenticity of this document, see the discussion in SCHURER-VERMES-MILLAR-GOODMAN, ''The History of the Jewish People'', III, 1, p.17 n.33; TREBILCO, ''Jewish Communities'', p. 5 ff. </ref>: it was from this original bulk that many well-organized Jewish communities spread throughout Asia Minor and elsewhere, exerting a strong spiritual attraction on the surrounding Gentile milieu, as archaeological findings have proved with certainty. In Afrodisia <ref>We limit ourselves to quote again TREBILBO’s book, where large space is reserved to the most important Jewish communities in Asia Minor (Sardi, Priene, Acmonia, Apamea), with exaustive bibliography. </ref>, in particular, Gentiles’ involvement in the local synagogue appears to have been really massive, since more than half of the people attending the cult-place were Gentiles whose status range across the entire social spectrum, from the highest civic positions and liberal professions to craftsmen and simple workers <ref>See REYNOLD-TANNEMBAUM, ''Jews and God-Fearers'', pp.116-23, for a detailed analysis of “the trade designations” in Aphrodisia’s inscription. </ref>: it is worth noting, once again, that such people were not fullconverts, but plain ''theosebeìs'', God-Fearers, whereas only three individuals are recorded in the engraved inscription mentioning the donors’ names of the beneficent institution which they contribute to as ''proselytoi ''<ref>REYNOLDS-TANNEMBAUM, op. cit.: for the mention of ''prosèlytos ''see p.5, face A, ll.13, 17, 22 (“The important fact that 3 persons are explicitly called proselytes … in a period in which Jewish proselytism was forbidden by imperial decree, is a strong testimony of the powerful influence of the Jewish community of Aphrodisia”: P. W. Van der HORST, ''Essays on the Jewish World of Early Christianity'', p.171 [from the study “Jews and Christians in Aphrodisia in the Light of Their Relations in Other Cities of Asia Minor” contained in the same volume, pp.166-81, and firstly published in ''NedTTs ''43 (1989) pp.106-21]): Commentary pp.43-48, where also the problem of the imperial legislation is treated. </ref>, namely people legally converted to Judaism <ref>Cf. the previous note, and above p.12 and ns. 90-92. </ref>. Probably the Roman laws prohibiting circumcision and conversion to Judaism since Hadrian’s times played a significant role in such a meagre number of persons claiming explicitly that ''passing of the boundary'' which Juvenal so greatly feared and bitterly mocked: here, in fact, most of the no-Jews prefer to remain in the more neutral religious position of Juvenal’s ''pater metuens sabbata'', worshipping ''nubes et caeli numen ''and abstaining from ''carne suillam ''rather than that of the son who decides to make the last step and thus ''mox et praeputia ponit ''without any reserve <ref>Cf. above p.14 and n.113. </ref>.
Beyond such vague elements, we know very little about the God-Fearers’ cultic practices. From Oenoanda’s text one learns that sometimes their cult had solar features, because of the Oracle’s prescription to the faithful to pray in direction of the rising sun, namely facing east, gazing up at heaven and offering prayers to the allseeing Aether <ref>See the last two lines of the Oracle (refs. above n.201). The adjective ''epòptes'', “all-seeing”, is usually attributed to Helios (cf. S. MITCHELL, ''Anatolia: Land, Men and Gods in Asia Minor'', II, Oxford 1993, p.47), even if it is also applied to ''Theòs Hypsistos ''in a dedicatory formula from an Alexandria’s inscription virtually conflating the Highest god and the Sun god, or in another one from a Pergamum altar completely associating both divinities (dedication to ''Helios Theos Hypsistos''): texts in MITCHELL, “The Cult of Theos Hypsistos”, nos. 284 and 186. </ref>. A tendency to solar Monotheism comes also out from J. Ustinova’s speculations about the Iranian background of the religious position of the ''thiasoi'', the cultic associations – called ''eispoietoì adelphoì sebòmenoi theòn hypsiston'', but also ''synodos ''of ''thiaseitai ''or ''thiasòtai ''– worshipping ''Theòs Hypsistos ''in Tanais and in several other Greek colonies on the Northern shore of the Black Sea in the first half of the II c. C.E. <ref>Being collected within ''Corpus Inscriptionum Regni Bosporani ''(''CIRB''), eds. V.V. STRUVE ''et alii'', Moskow-Leningrad 1965, and firstly published by V.V. LATYSHEV in Russian, these inscriptions – as it is well-known – represent the key-stone of the old and influential study of E. SCHURER, “Die Juden im Bosporanische Reiche und die Genossenschaften der ''sebòmenoi theòn hypsiston ''ebendaselbest”, ''Sitzungberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften'', I, 1897, pp.220-5, but above all of the already quoted “Les Mystères de Sabazius et le Judaisme” of CUMONT, who pointed out to the syncretistic features of these religious communities and whose conclusions had been accepted and discussed by many scholars after him: E.R. GOODENOUGH, “The Bosporus Inscriptions to the Most High God”, ''JQR ''47 (1956-7), pp.1-44; B. LIFSHITZ, “Le Culte du Dieu Très Haut à Gorgippia”, ''RFIC ''92 (1964), pp.157-61; M. TATCHEVA HITOVA “On the Cult of Theòs Hypsistos on the Bosporus” (in Russian), ''VDI ''1 (1978), pp.133-42 (cf. ''SEG ''28 [1978], p.1648); MITCHELL, “The Cult of Theos Hypsistos”, pp.133-5 (nos.83- 104), are only few examples. A good edition and translation of the texts can be found in LEVINSKAYA, ''The Book of Acts in Its 1 c. Setting ''(Appendix 3), pp.226-46. </ref>, though we reject her general conclusions <ref>J. USTINOVA, “The Thiasoi of Theos Hypsistos in Tanais”, ''HR'', 31 (1991), pp.150-80 (cf. ''SEG ''42 [1992], p.726); Eadem, ''The Supreme Gods of the Bosporan Kingdom'', p.183 ff. (“Cult Associations on the Bosporus”). For a widespread tendency to solar Monotheism in Late Antiquity, the classical study of F. CUMONT, ''La Theologie Solaire du Paganisme Romain'', Paris 1909, is still to be considered a reference mark. For the solar character of the Harrànian popular religion, see TUBACH, ''Im Schatten des Sonnengottes'', ''passim''. </ref>. We should not dwell here on the connection established by E. Schurer more than one century ago between these groups of Monotheistic or quasi-Monotheistic believers and the ''metuentes'' attested by epigraphic and literal evidence in the Latin West <ref>''CIJ'', I, 2, nos. 5, 285, 524, 529, 642; (M. STERN, ''GLAJJ ''II, p.105, thought that ''metuens ''could be only an abridgment of the fuller formula ''deum metuens ''and hence was definitely used technically: “It is hard to conceive that either ''metuens ''or ''sebòmenos ''is used in the general sense of ‘religious’ ”). The participles ''metuens ''and ''timens ''can also be found in Christian inscriptions (E. DIEHL, ''ILCV'', Berlin 1961, nos. 3359a, 3416a, 4779, 6 [''metuens''], 1339-41, 1172 [''timens'']): in both cases, however, the formula would actually refer to God.fearers. For a Latin transcription of the Greek ''theosebès ''into Latin letters, cf. J.B. FREY, ''CIJ'', I, 2, Città del Vaticano 1936, no.228 (= D. NOY, ''JIWE'', II, no.207, Rome: Eparchia ''theosebes''; but cf. FELDMAN, “Jewish ‘Sympathizers’ in Classical Literature and Inscriptions”, p.204 n.24: “Frey, who is very eager to find ‘sympathizers’ in his inscriptions, is wrong in not recognizing a possible one here”), and ''CIJ ''I, 2, LIFSHITZ, ''Prolegomenon ''no.619a (= ''JIWE'', I, no.113, Venosa: Marcus ''teuseves''; cf. B. LIFSHITZ, “Les Juifs à Venosa”, ''RFIC'', 90 [N.S. 40] [1962], pp.367-71). For a discussion, besides ROMANIUK, “Die ‘Gottesfurchtigen’ im Neuen Testament”, ''passim'', and LAKE, “Proselytes and God-Fearers”, ''BC'', ''passim'', see LEVINSKAYA, ''The Book of Acts in Its 1 c. Setting'', pp.68-70. The references to ''metuen(te)s ''are collected by SCHURER-VERMES-MILLAR-GOODMAN, ''The History of the Jewish People'', III, 1, p.168 n.74. For literary evidence, see below n.217. The term ''Theosebés ''is an equivalent of ''Sebòmenos ''(''tòn theòn''): normally in inscriptions the former is preferred because of its shorter form. </ref>, but above all with the ''sebòmenoi ''(''tòn theòn''), the ''phoboùmenoi ''(''tòn theòn''), the ''Hellenes ''whom Saint Paul regularly meets in the course of his indefatigable mission <ref>God-Fearers in ''Acts. ''Chap. x: description of a model God-Fearer, ''i.e. ''the centurion Cornelius denoted as ''eusebès kaì phoboùmenos tòn theòn ''expressing his piety by means of almsgiving and costant praying (x, 2) and enjoing a good reputation among Jews (x, 22). It is worth noting with PINES, “The Iranian Name for Christians and God-Fearers”, p.147, as “according to the Acts of the Apostles, the first Gentile converted to Christianity was one of the God-fearers”. Cornelius’ episode is the turning point of the book: from here, ''Acts'' is the history of this mission. xiii, 16 (''phoboùmenoi tòn theòn''); 43 (''sebòmenoi prosèlytoi''): the passage has been long discussed, because of its apparent self-contradiction, the words used here by Luke denoting two different classes of believers. Generally two solutions to the problem have been proposed: the first one is that ''prosèlytoi ''is a wrong word, namely an ancient gloss or “a careless expression” (KUHN-STEGEMANN, ''RE'', Suppl. IX, col.1253; KUHN, ''TWNT'', VI [1968], p.743; E. HAENCHEN, ''Die Apostelgeschichte'', in ''KritischeexegetischeKommentar uber das Neue Testament'', III, Gottingen 1959, p.355 n.5 [ET, Oxford 1971, p.413 n.5]; ROMANIUK, loc. cit., p.81; LIFSHITZ, “Du Nouveau sur les Sympathisants”, p.80; H. CONZELMANN, ''Acts of the Apostles'', Philadelphia 1987, p.106); the second coincides with the position of the scholars who reject any technical sense of the word ''sebòmenoi ''(FOAKES-JACKSON, ''BC'', V, p.88; WILCOX, “The ‘God-Fearers’ in Acts: A Reconsideration”, p.181 f.). But particularly worth of interest is a third possibility, namely the suggestion of LEVINSKAYA, ''The Book of Acts in Its 1 c. Setting'', p.47, who argues “that ''prosèlytos ''is used here in the same manner as in Mattew in a basic ‘verbal’ sense of ‘coming to any-thing new’”: she had in fact checked a semantic value of the term/verb ''prosèlytos''/''prosèrkhetai ''present in some Christian texts such as the ''Homiliae ''of ASTERIUS OF AMASEA, the ''Praescriptio ''of MARIA OF CASSOBELA, and a passage of CLEMENS OF ALEXANDRIA, where “alongside the traditional meaning there began to develop another one, namely ‘a convert to Christianity’ ”, hence the more general “idea of approaching anything new”, by which interpretation obviously all contradictions cease to exist); 50; xvi, 14; xvii, 4, 17; xvii, 17; xviii, 6-7 (''sebòmenoi ''[''tòn theòn''] and ''sebòmenoi Hèllenes'': the abridged formula ''oisebòmenoi ''could also be explained by the commandment of not naming in vain God: cf. J. KLAUSNER, ''Von Jesus zu Paulus'', Jerusalem-Amsterdam 1950, p.55; LIFSHITZ, ''ibidem''). We should add to these items three passages mentioning “Greeks” (xiv, 1, xviii, 4 and xix, 10: ''Ioudaìous kaì Hellenas''), whose identity is certainly not different from the ''sebomènon Hellènon ''previously mentioned in xvii, 4 (cf. REYNOLDSTANNEMBAUM, ''Jews and God-Fearers'', p.51). For other direct or indirect Greek literary references to God-Fearers (Epictetus, Filo, Josephus), see BERTRAM, art. “Theosebès”, ''TWNT ''III, p.123 ff.; COHEN, “Respect for Judaism by Gentiles According to Josephus”, pp.416-9 (who counts as many as five instances in ''AJ'': 3, 217; 3, 318-9; 20, 34; 20, 41; 20, 195; and four in ''BJ'': 2, 454; 2, 463; 2, 560; 7, 45); MARCUS, “The ''Sebòmenoi ''in Josephus”, pp.247-50. Talmudic references to ''yere’i ash-shamayyim ''(“Heaven Fearers”, where “Heaven” is the traditional metonymy for God) are collected and discussed by I. LEVY, “Le Proselytisme Juif”, ''REJ ''50 (1905), pp.1-9; 51 (1906), pp.29-31; and by SIEGERT, “Gottesfurchtiger”, pp.110-27; add REYNOLDS-TANNEMBAUM, op. cit., p.48 f. and notes; FELDMAN, “Jewish Sympathizers”, p.207 f.; and the lemma ''jàre’'', ''TWAT'', s.v</ref>in the synagogues of Asia Minor and Greece where he preaches the evangelical message (but in other meetingplaces also, mostly after Paul’s last theological break with the Jews <ref>EPIPHANIUS, ''Panarion'', 80, 1-2, compares Messalians’ places of prayer with extra-mural Jewish sanctuaries, like the cultic place outside the city walls where Paul met the God-fearing Lydia, or another one built by the Samaritans in the shape of an open-air theatre, adding that they also used buildings similar to churches: cf. below p.26.</ref>: ''Thus I shall go to Gentiles'') <ref>''Acts'', xviii, 6.</ref>, and who consequently appear to be the original bulk of the emerging Christianity according to Luke’s ''Acts''.
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