Fresh Epigraphic Light on the Martyrdom of Polycarp and the Date of Its Protagonist's Death

Abstract: The penultimate chapter of the Martyrdom of Polycarp states that Poly-carp of Smyrna was executed on the second day of the Asian month of Xanthicus, seven days ahead of the calends of March, in a year when the proconsul Statius Quadratus and high priest Philip of Tralles overlapped in their respective offices ( M. Polyc . 21). Since the publication of an influential note by Timothy D. Barnes in 1967, scholars have widely rejected this information as implausible. However, a reevaluation of the chronological information contained in M. Polyc . 21 by Barnes in 2010 has, more recently, suggested that the proconsulship of Statius Quadratus and high priesthood of Philip of Tralles are likely to have overlapped during the proconsular year of 156–57 c.e. The present article assesses Barnes's reevaluation of the veracity of the chronological information offered by M. Polyc . 21 based on neglected epigraphic evidence, which enables us to reconstruct not only the Smyrnaean festival calendar during January and February of 157 in considerable detail, but also the likeliest movement of the provincial officials mentioned in the M. Polyc . (the high priest/Asiarch Philip and the proconsul Quadratus) in relation to Smyrna at this time.