PTOLEMAIS

16. IS 39 42_ 2 Ti 1'. Tit l", He 9'- " lO^' 13", 1 P 2" 3'5- 21), and is an instance of tlie influence of the Stoic ethics on ' the moral vocabulary of the civilized world at the time of the Christian era.' This distinction of the intellectual and the moral functions of personality is the nearest approach in the NT to the modern science; but the analysis is not carried far. It must be observed that in poetic parallelisms 'soul,' 'spirit,' 'heart' are often used as synonymous, in contrast to 'flesh' (Ps 63' 842, Ec 11»» 12', Ezk 44'- »). The Bible dis-tinguishes the material and the immaterial, the crea^. turely and the creature, man in his individuality and his dependence on God, but always in the religious interest, that he may recognize his own insufficiency, and his sufficiency in God. Alfeei) E. Gakvie.

PTOLEMAIS (Ac 21')-— The same as Acco (Jg 1"), now the port 'Akka, called in the West, since Crusading times. Acre or St. Jean d'Acre. Acco received the name Ptolemais some time in the 3rd cent. B.C., probably in honour of Ptolemy 11., but although the name was in common use for many centuries, it reverted to its Semitic name after the decline of Greek influence. Although so very casually mentioned in OT and NT, this place has had as varied and tragic a history as almost any spot in Palestine. On a coast peculiarly unfriendly to the mariner, the Bay of 'Akka is one of the tew spots where nature has lent its encouragement to the buUding of a harbour; its importance in history has always been as the port of Galilee and Damascus, of the Hauran and Gilead, while in the days of Western domination the Roman Ptolemais and the Crusading St. Jean d'Acre served as the landing-place of governors, of armies, and of pilgrims. So strong a fortress, guard-ing so fertile a plain, and a port on the highroad to such rich lands to north, east, and south, could never have been overlooked by hostile armies, and so we find the Egyptian Thothmes in., Seti i., and Rameses 11., the Assyrian Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and Ashurbanipal, and several of the Ptolemys engaged in its conquest or defence. It is much in evidence in the history of the Maccabees, — a queen Cleopatra of Egypt holds it for a time, and here some decades later Herod the Great entertains Ceesar. During the Jewish revolt it is an important base for the Romans, and both Vespasian and Titus visit it. In later times, such warriors as Baldwin i. and Guy de Lusignan, Richard Coeur de Lion and Saladin, Napoleon i. and Ibrahim Pasha are associated with its history.

In the OT it is mentioned only as one of the cities of Asher (Jg 1"), while in Ac 21' it occurs as the port where St. Paul landed, 'saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day,' on his way to the new and powerful rival port, Ceesarea, which a few decades previously had sprung up to the south.

The modern 'Akka (11,000 inhabitants) is a city, much reduced from its former days of greatness, situated on a rocky promontory of land at the N. extremity of the bay to which it gives its name. The sea lies on the W. and S., and somewhat to the E. The ancient harbour lay on the S, and was protected by a mole running E. from the S. extremity, and one running S. from the S.E. corner of the city. Ships of moderate dimensions can approach near the city, and the water is fairly deep. The walls, partially Crusading work, which still surround the city, are in the ruined state to which they were reduced in 1840 by the bombard-ment by the English fleet under Sir Sidney Smith. Extending from Carmel in the south to the ' Ladder of Tyre' in the north, and eastward to the foothills of Galilee, is the great and well-watered 'Plain of Acre,' a region which, though sandy and sterile close to the sea, is of rich fertility elsewhere. The two main streams of this plain are the Nahr Na'man (R. Bel us), just south of 'Akka, and the Kishon near Carmel.

Under modern conditions, Haifa, with its better

776

PUDENS

anchorage for modern steamships, and its new railway to Damascus, is likely to form a successful rival to 'Akka. E. W. G. Masterman.

PTOLEMY V. (Epiphanes). — 'Ptolemy' was the dynastic name of the Macedonian kings who ruled over Egypt B.C. 305-31; during the whole of this period Egypt was an independent country; it was not until the great victory of Augustus at Actiura (b.c. 31) that Egypt again lost her independence and became a prov-ince, this time under Roman rule. Ptolemy v. reigned B.C. 205-182. He married Cleopatra, the daughter of Antiochus iii. the Great; this matrimonial alliance between the Ptolemys and the Seleucids is alluded to in Dn 2". During his reign Palestine and Coele-Syria were lost to Egypt, and were incorporated into the kingdom of Syria under Antiochus in.; this is probably what is alluded to in Dn 1113-18; gee Jos. Ant. XII. iii. 3, iv. 11. W. O. E. Oesteblbt.

PTOLEMY VI. (VII.) (Philometor),— Son of the fore-going, who reigned b.c. 182-146; in 170 the kingdom was divided between him and his brother Ptolemy vii. (Physcon); peace was made between them by the Romans, and they continued as joint kings. In the year 170, while Ptolemy vi. was still sole king, he attempted to reconquer the Syrian, provinces which had been lost during his father's reign; the attempt was, however, abortive, and he was defeated by Antiochus iv. It was only through the intervention of the Romans that Antiochus was prevented from following up this victory by further conquests. References to Philometor are to be found in 1 Mac I's 10='2- ll'-i* IS'^-'", Dn ll«-8i>; and see Jos. Ant. xiii. iv. 5-9.

W. O. E. Oesteklet.

PUAH. — 1. One of the Hebrew midwives (Ex 1"). 2. Father of Tola (Jg IQi). In Gn 46'=, Nu 26a' [Puvah], 1 Ch 7', he is Tola's brother.

PUBLICAN'. — This term is a transliteration of a Latin word, which strictly meant a member of one of the great Roman financial companies, which farmed the taxes of the provinces of the Roman Empire. The Roman State during the Republic relieved itself of the trouble and expenseofcollectingthe taxes of the provinces by putting up the taxes of each in a lump to auction. The auctioneer was the censor, and the buyer was one of the above com-panies, composed mainly of members of the equestrian order, who made the best they could out of the bargain. The abuses to which this system gave rise were terrible, especially as the governors could sometimes be bribed to wink at extortion; and in one particular year the provincials of Asia had to pay the taxes three times over. These companies required officials of their own to do the business of collection. The publicans of the Gospels appear to have been agents of the Imperial procurator of Judaea, with similar duties (during the Empire there was State machinery for collecting the taxes, and the Emperor had a procurator in each province whose business it was to supervise the collection of revenue). They were employed in collecting the customs dues on exports. Some Jews found it profitable to serve the Roman State in this way, and became objects of detestation to such of their fellow-countrymen as showed an impotent hatred of the Roman supremacy. The Gospels show clearly that they were coupled habitually with 'sinners,' a word of the deepest contempt. A. Souter.

PUBLIUS, or PopliuS.— The 'first man' of Malta, whose father was cured by St. Paul of fever and dysentery by laying on of hands (Ac 28"). The title PrStos ('first man') at Malta is attested by inscriptions; it occurs also at Pisidian Antioch (Ac 135», cf. 25^).

A. J. Maclean.

PUDENS. — Mentioned by St. Paul as sending greet-ings from Rome to Timothy (2 Ti 42': 'Pudens and Linus and Claudia'). For the suggested relationship of these persons and identification of the first and of the