Erastus Inscription in Corinth

Three persons by the name of Erastus are mentioned in the New Testament. One is mentioned alongside Timothy as a helper of Paul in Ephesus (Acts 19:22), and another is said by Paul to have remained at Corinth (2 Tim 4:20), though Paul continued his trip. Since Paul mentions him in his epistle, Timothy likely knew him. Last of all, Paul sent greetings from a man known as Erastus to the recipients of the apostle’s letter to the Romans, “Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus greet you.” (Rom 16:23b HCSB). Paul identified this person as the ὁ οἰκόνομος τῆς πολεῶς, (ho oikonomos tes poleos) the treasurer, manager, or administrator of the city.¹ The first and second Erastus listed above very likely are the same person because of the nexus with Timothy, and persons two and three are the same because of the connection to Corinth. Consequently, all three are probably the same person.²

Gillman has argued that the latter Erastus may have been a city slave,³ the likelihood is that Erastus had an important status in Corinth to warrant Paul’s mention of him as the οἰκόνομος, in the view of Thiessen.⁴ The Roman colony of Corinth would have had a Roman municipal structure, with the οἰκονομος as the Greek equivalent of the Latin office of aedilis. 

     One finds at Corinth a startling connection with Romans 16:23 in a grassy area not normally visited by tour groups today. At the head of a pavement is a long slab about a person named Erastus. Scholars agree that the inscription dates to the middle of the first century A.D. The pavement is located east of the city theater. An aedilis was commissioned with the task to manage public markets. If indeed this builder of the pavement is the same person mentioned by Paul, Erastus and Paul may have become acquainted while Erastus was about his duties of collecting rent or taxes, according to Murphy-O’Connor.⁵

The inscription regarding Erastus reads, “Erastus laid this pavement at his own expense, in appreciation of his appointment as aedile.”⁶ Only two of the three slabs of the inscription have been found. The central slab found in situ in April 1929, reads: 

     ERASTUS.PRO.AED

     S.P.STRAVIT

Two portions of right slab were found in March 1928 and August 1947, allowing more complete reading,

     ERASTUS.PRO.AEDILITatE

     S.P.STRAVIT⁷

Thus the extant text reads in Latin, 

     ERASTUS PRO AEDILITATE

    S.P. STRAVIT

However, Clarke, with likely wording of missing first slab, renders the inscription “Praenomen nomen Erastus in return for his aedileship laid (the pavement) at his own expense.”⁸

This entry is based on an article I wrote on the Erastus Inscription for a book edited by Joseph M. Holden and Norman Geisler, The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture (2013), 358-359. I have retained copyright in the article. © 2013 H. Wayne House. All Rights Reserved.