Bible Lexicons

ξένος, in the sense of ";stranger,"; is seen in such passages as P Magd 8.11 (B.C. 218) καταφρονήσας μου ὅτι ξένος εἰμι) (see the editor’s note), P Oxy XIV.1672.4 (A.D. 37–41) πεπράκαμεν χό (ας) λβ ̄ ξένοις προσώποις, ";we sold 32 choes to some strangers"; (Edd.), and ib. VIII. 1154.7 ff. late i/A.D.) μὴ ἀγωνιάσῃς δὲ περὶ ἐμοῦ ὅτι ἐπὶ ξένης εἰμί, αὐτόπτης γὰρ εἰμὶ τῶν τόπων καὶ οὐκ εἰμὶ ξέν [ο ]ς τῶν ἐνθάδε (for gen. cf. Ephesians 2:18), ";do not be anxious about me because I am away from home, for I am personally acquainted with these places and am not a stranger here"; (Ed.). In CR i. p. 5 f. Hicks illustrates from the inscrr. ξένοι as a term of Greek public life, denoting temporary sojourners who have not yet secured the rights of πάροικοι or μέτοικοι, e.g. CIG I. 1338 (Amyclae—mid. iv/B.C.) καὶ Μεγαλοπολειτῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ξένων κατοικοῦντες καὶ παρεπιδαμοῦντες ἐν [Ἀμύ ]κλ [α ]ις, ib. II. 3521 (Pergamon—iii/B.C.) τοὺς παρεπιδημοῦντας ξένους : cf. Acts 17:21. The phrase ἐπὶ ξένης is common, e.g. BGU I. 22.34 (A.D. 114) where a woman complains of an attack and robbery in the absence of her husband—τοῦ ἀνδρός μου ὤντος (l. ὄντος) ἐπὶ ξένης, ib. 159.7 (A.D. 216) Οὐαλερίου Δάτου κελεύσ [αν ]το [ς ] ἅπαντας τοὺς ἐπὶ ξένης διατρείβοντας εἰς τὰς ἰδίας κατεισέρχεσθαι, κατεισῆλθον, P Fay 136.10 (Christian letter—iv/A.D.) ἄμινον ῢ ̣̣μᾶς ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις ο ̣ἷ ̣ς ἐὰν τύχοι εἶναι ἢ ἐπὶ ξένης, ";it is better for you to be in your homes whatever they may be, than abroad"; (Edd.), and Cagnat IV. 293 ii. 10 κατωι [κονομ ]ήσατο [κ ]αὶ ἐν τῇ πόλει καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ξένης. These exx. along with the corresponding phrase εἰς τὴν ξένην in P Oxy II. 251.11 (A.D. 44), ib. 253.7 (A.D. 19) al. show, as the editors remark in their note to ib. 286.15, that the reference may be merely to residence outside the nome in which a person is registered : cf. Jouguet Vie municipale p. 91 ff. In P Tebt I. 118 (late ii/B.C.), the account of a dining-club, a distinction is drawn between the σύνδειπνοι, ";members,"; and the ξένοι, ";guests,"; and in P Hib I. 27.38 (a calendar—B.C. 301–240) the adj. has the wide sense of ";unfamiliar,"; ἵνα μὴ δόξω (=ῃ) μακ [ρὸν ] καὶ ξένον σοι κατα [νοῖν ?] ἡ τῶν μορίων ποικ ̣[ιλία ? ";in order that the intricacy of the fractions may not appear to you a long and unfamiliar thing to understand (?)"; (Edd.). For the compound ἐπίξενος, see the receipt for ";alien"; tax on an ostracon of A.D. 63 reproduced in LAE p. 111—ἀπέχων παρὰ σοῦ τέλες (l. τέλος) ἐπιξένου Θῶυθ καὶ Φαῶφι (δραχμὰς) β ̄, ";I have received from you alien tax (for the months) Thoyth and Phaophi 2 drachmae,"; and for ξενικός cf. P Hal 1.164 (mid. iii/B.C.) ἐν [τοῖς ] ξεν [ι ]κοῖς δικαστη [ρί ]οις with the editor’s note p. 95 ff. The subst. ξενιτεία, as in Wisdom of Solomon 18:3, is found in Aristeas 249 ἡ δὲ ξενιτεία τοῖς μὲν πένησι καταφρόνησιν ἐργάζεται, τοῖς δὲ πλουσίοις ὄνειδος ὡς διὰ κακίαν ἐκπεπτωκόσιν, ";residence in a foreign country brings contempt upon the poor man and disgrace on the rich, as though they were in exile for a crime"; (Thackeray), and for the verb ξενιτεύω cf. ib. 257 πρὸς οὓς ξενιτεύει, ";among whom thou sojournest"; (id.). Both subst. and verb are common in Vett. Valens. The subst. survives in MGr = ";foreign land,"; and the verb = ";emigrate."; MGr ξένος, ";strange,"; ";stranger.";