05.03 - MANAËN.

3. MANAËN. In 1Ma 1:6, according to the common reading, mention is made of παῖδεςσύντροφοίἀπὸνεότητος of Alexander the Great, and, in 2Ma 9:29, of a certain Philippos as σύντροφος of King Antiochus IV. Epiphanes; similarly, in Acts 13:1, the esteemed Antiochian Christian Manaen¹⁰³²is distinguished by the attribute Ἡρώδουτοῦτετραάρχου σύντροφος. In the first passage, however, we have good authority Alexandrinus, Sinaiticus, etc., for συνέκτροφοι, a word not found elsewhere, “but which, precisely on that account, may have been displaced by συντρ.”;¹⁰³³ the addition of ἀπὸνεότητος seems to us to give additional support to the assumption that συνέκτροφοι was the original form.¹⁰³⁴ Accordingly 0. F. Fritzsche, in his edition, has also decided for συνέκτροφοι. The meaning of the word is unquestionably one reared along with another in the proper sense.¹⁰³⁵ The case is different with the σύντροφος of the other two passages. The commentaries give, in connection with Acts 13:1, the alternative meanings foster-brother and companion in education;¹⁰³⁶ but the former explanation is forthwith rendered void by the frequent occurrence (to be established presently) of the expression in connection with a king’s name, if we but think what strange inferences would follow from it! We should have to assume, for instance, that in the most diverse localities, and at times most widely apart, the newly-born crown-princes had very frequently to be entrusted to the care of healthy citizens, and, further, that the son of the plebeian nurse was still alive when his conlactaneus ascended the throne of his father. The interpretation companion in education is better: one might in this connection compare the play-mates of the Dauphin, who were, as a matter of course, taken from the best families, and of whom, later on, one or another continued, so far as consistent with the reverence that “cloth hedge a king,” to be the intimate friend of the prince, now come to man’s estate. But this hypothesis is likewise too special; σύντροφος τοῦβασιλέως is a court title, which is of course to be explained by the fundamental meaning of the word, but in the usage of which this fundamental meaning had disappeared, having given place to the general meaning of intimate friend. The case is on all fours with that of the title of king’s relative.¹⁰³⁷σύντροφοςτοῦβασιλέως is established as regards Pergamus by Polybius, xxxii. 25 10; further by the Pergamenian Inscriptions, Nos. 179 3, 224 2, 248 6 and 28,¹⁰³⁸ all of pre-Roman times (before 133 B.C.). “It appears to have been in general use throughout the Hellenistic kingdoms.”¹⁰³⁹ In regard to Macedonia, Frankel cites Polyb. v. 9 4; for Pontus, he refers to the Inscription, Bulletin de correspondance hellenique, vii. (1883), p. 355; for Egypt, to the observations of Lumbroso.¹⁰⁴⁰ But the Inscription of Delos (first half of 2nd cent. B.C.) given above,¹⁰⁴¹ in which the title is established for Syria also, is the most instructive of all in connection with the passage in Acts; Heliodorus, probably an Antiochian likewise, is there invested with the honorary title σύντροφος τοῦβασιλέωςΣελεῦκουΦιλοπάτορος. And in the same way it was allowable to speak of Manaen as the intimate friend of Herod Antipas; nothing further is implied by the technical term, and any inference drawn from it regarding the antecedents of the man, or regarding any tender relationship between his mother and the infant Herod, would be very precarious. In the context of the narrative the attribute, when understood in this sense, is of course still more honourable for Manaen and the church at Antioch than would be the case according to the traditional interpretation.