Tags: domitian, apostle john, patmos, revelation, sabastoi temple, ephesus, zeus, jupiter--> This article was first published in the Spring 1999 issue of Bible and Spade.Emperor Domitian, the self-proclaimed “Lord and God” and ruthless dictator, reigned from AD 81 to 96. He was the son of Emperor Vespasian and the brother of Titus, the conquerors of Jerusalem in AD 70. Late in life, Domitian become very superstitious. In fact, on the day before he was murdered, he consulted an astrologer. During this time he also consulted Apollo, the god of music and poetry, as well as light, truth and prophecy! Commemorating his superstition, the emperor minted coins depicting Apollo on one side and a raven, associated with prophecy, on the other (Jones 1989: 266).The ancients believed a bird’s flight could foretell the future (Kanitz 1973–1974: 47) and Domitian looked to the raven to foretell his immediate future. Ironically, Suetonius, a Roman historian and senator, records, “A few months before he (Domitian) was killed, a raven perched on the Capitalium and cried, ‘All will be well,’ an omen which some interpreted as follows: . . . a raven . . . could not say, ‘It is well,’ only declared ‘It will be well’“ (Rolfe 1992: 385). Emperor Domitian died soon after and all was well!The Apostle John, exiled to the island of Patmos about AD 95, received a more sure word of prophecy. Not from a raven or Apollo, but from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The Book of Revelation begins, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place” (Rv 1:1). He goes on to say, “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is near” (Rv 1:3).Emperor Domitian minted coins with the head of Apollo, (right) and the raven (left). He consulted Apollo, Roman god of music, poetry, light, truth and prophecy, for knowledge of the future. Depicted as a handsome young man, Apollo was also identified with Helios, the Greek sun-god. Emperor Domitian consulted the raven because its flight pattern was believed to predict the future. Christians have a “more sure word of prophecy.”The Book of Revelation is a polemic against Emperor Domitian and the Roman world. While Domitian looked to Apollo and the raven to foretell the immediate future, the omniscient Lord Jesus Christ, infinitely greater than Domitian, revealed the future of the world in this book. He instructed John to:write the things which you have seen [the vision of the glorified Son of Man—Rv 1], and the things which are [the situation of the seven churches in Asia Minor at the end of the first century AD—Rv 2–3], and the things which will take place after this [all the future events recorded in Rv 4–22] (1:9).This article will examine several aspects of Domitian’s reign and John’s exile to Patmos.In the 19th century, Bible scholars, linguists, pilgrims, travelers and military intelligence officers from America, England and the Continent began visiting the lands of the Bible. They described sites, recorded manners and customs, drew maps and sketched landscapes. This research began to open up the world of the Bible, making it no longer just a theological treatise, but a Book about real people, events and places. Another dimension these explorers provided students back home was intelligence information for European countries awaiting the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.Remains of a gate built by Emperor Domitian at Hierapolis (modern Pamukkale) 6 mi north of Laodicea, Turkey. While he had his name inscribed on the gate when it was constructed, Domitian’s name was removed after his death, by edict of the Roman Senate.At the turn of the 20th century, Sir William Ramsay explored, excavated and wrote about Asia Minor. Among his important works was Letters to the Seven Churches, about the world of Revelation 2–3. An important recent study on the setting of Revelation 2–3 is Colin Hemer’s Ph.D. dissertation under F.F. Bruce at the University of Manchester in 1969, entitled The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia in their Local Setting.I have tried to “follow in the footsteps” of these great explorers. First, by reading the accounts of their travels and, secondly, traveling to the places they visited, making my own observations and taking pictures. From this perspective, we will consider the historical setting of Revelation 1:9 and the Apostle John’s exile to Patmos. I begin with the assumption that Revelation was written in AD 95, during the reign of Emperor Domitian, not in the reign of Nero (Thomas 1994: 185–202).A dedicatory inscription for the Sabastoi Temple in Ephesus. The name of Emperor Domitian had been chiseled out of the top four lines as a result of the damnatio memoriae issued by the Roman Senate.The Self-Deified EmperorEmperor Domitian had a definite ego problem! In Imperial Rome the senate would deify an emperor upon death (Kreitzer 1990: 210–17). However, like Gaius Caligula, and well attested by ancient writers, Domitian could not wait until death and deified himself.Seutonius (AD 75-ca. 140), in his Lives of the Caesars, wrote: "With no less arrogance he began as follows in issuing a circular letter in the name of his procurators, ‘Our Master and our God bids that this be done’" [Dominus et deus noster hoe fieri iubet] (Rolfe; 1992: 367).He also delighted in the adulation of the people in the amphitheater when they shouted “Good Fortune attends our Lord and Mistress” [Domino et dominae feliciter] (Rolfe 1992:367).In Panegyricus (33.4), Pliny the Younger (ca. AD 61–113) wrote a tribute to Emperor Trajan:He [Domitian] was a madman, blind to the true meaning of his position, who used the arena for collecting charges of high treason, who felt himself slighted and scorned if we failed to pay homage to his gladiators, taking any criticism of them to himself and seeing insults to his own godhead and divinity; who deemed himself the equal of the gods yet raised his gladiators to his equal.Dio Cassius, in his Roman History, wrote:For he even insisted upon being regarded as a god [theos] and took vast pride in being called ‘master’ [despotus] and god [theos]. These titles were used not merely in speech but also in written documents” (Cary 1995: 349).Elsewhere he wrote:One Juventius Celsus . . . [conspired] . . . against Domitian . . . When he was on the point of being condemned, he begged that he might speak to the emperor in private, and thereupon did obeisance before him and after repeatedly calling him “master” [despoton] and “god” [theon] (terms that were already being applied to him by others) (Cary 1995: 349).Later writers repeat the same claim and even embellish it (Jones 1992: 108). However, in Silvae 1.6:83–84, Statius claims Domitian rejected these titles. Other contemporary evidence seems to support the view that Domitian claimed deity. Unfortunately, no inscriptions with such titles on them have been discovered. Dio Cassius again adds an important detail, when he wrote:After Domitian, the Romans appointed Nerva Coceius emperor. Because of the hatred felt for Domitian, his images, many of which were of silver and many of gold, were melted down: and from this source large amounts of money were obtained. The arches, too, of which a very great number were being erected to this one man, were torn down (Cary 1995: 361).Upon his death, the Roman Senate was:overjoyed . . . [assailed] the dead emperor with the most insulting and stinging kind of outcries . . . Finally they passed a decree that his inscriptions should everywhere be erased, and all record of him obliterated (Rolfe 1992: 385).This decree, the damnatio memoriae, destroyed all the statues and inscriptions of Domitian, such as Domitian’s arch at Hierapolis and dedicatory inscriptions at the Temple of the Sabastoi in Ephesus (Friesen 1993a: 34).A coin minted by Emperor Domitian in AD 84, depicting Jupiter, chief deity of the Roman pantheon.
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