Bible Lexicons

For πολίτευμα = ";citizenship,"; or ";franchise,"; we may compare Syll 238 (= .3 543).6 (B.C. 219), where King Philip orders the authorities at Larisa to pass a vote giving πολιτεία to Thessalians or other Greeks resident in the city, until he shall have found others ἀξίους τοῦ παρ᾽ ὑμῖν πολιτεύματος. This is followed by a further rescript, ib. 239.7 (=.3 543.32) (B.C. 214), in which Philip says that there are some States, ὧν καὶ οἱ Ῥωμαῖοί εἰσιν, οἳ καὶ τοὺς οἰκέτας ὅταν ἐλευθερώσωσιν προσδεχόμενοι εἰς τὸ πολίτευμα : he warns the Larisaeans to restore εἰς τὴν πολιτείαν those whose names they had erased. It seems that πολιτεία here is the actual ";franchise"; in the abstract, πολίτευμα being a less technical, more general word, rather like our ";community"; in its capacity of becoming either abstract or collective.

Other quotations all favour ";community"; or ";commonwealth."; Thus the famous decree set up by the Jewish community at Berenike in Cyrenaica in honour of the Roman Governor M. Tittius, CIG III. 5361 (B.C. 13), runs—ἔδοξε τοῖς ἄρχουσι καὶ τῷ πολιτεύματι τῶν ἐν Βερενίκῃ Ἰουδαίων : the names of the nine ἄρχοντες who stood at the head of the πολίτευμα are given at the head of the decree : cf. OGIS 658.3 (B.C. 3), where there is a reference to a πολίτευμα which the Phrygians had set up in Alexandria : see also Aristeas 310 τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ πολιτεύματος, ";some members of the Jewish community"; (Thackeray).

In Syll 472.7 (i/B.C.) ὅπως [οὖν κ ]αὶ ἡ πόλις τοὺς εὐνοοῦντας προ [καλ ]εσαμένη πρὸς εὔνοιαν αὔξῃ τὸ [π ]ολείτευμα τῶν προγόνων, the meaning, as Dittenberger notes, is ";ut populus rem publicam ampliorem et opulentiorem reddat. quam a maioribus accepit."; In a rescript of Alexander the Great, ib. 150 (=.3 383.3) (B.C. 333–2) we read πολίτευμα δὲ [εἶ ]ναι ἐν Χίωι δῆμον = ";that the constitution in Chios should be a democracy.";

According to Cos p. 123 No. 74.5 (= OGIS 192) three officials put up a monument ὑπὲρ τοῦ πολιτεύματος : where, the editors note, the word πολίτευμα points to Africa and Egypt. We may also recall the inscr. found at Pompeii, but certainly of Egyptian origin, of date B.C. 3, cited by Hicks (CR i. p. 6), where πολίτευμα is ";employed of an association of Phrygians, whom we must suppose to have resided in some Egyptian town or district in the enjoyment of their own laws, religion, and administration of justice."; The inscr., CIG III. 5866 c, runs as follows—

Γάϊος Ἰούλιος Ἡφαιστίωνος

υἱὸς Ἡφαιστίων ἱερατεύσας

τοῦ πολιτεύματος τῶν Φρυ -

γῶν ἀνέθηκε Δία Φρύγιον, κτλ.

For a papyrus ex. of the word see P Tebt I. 32.9 (B.C. 145 ?), where reference is made to a letter written by Sosus and Aegyptus τῶν. . . [προ ]χειρισθέντων ὑπὸ τ [ο ]υ ̣̑ πολιτε ̣υ ̣ματ [ος τῶν Κρητῶν, cf. .17. See also Archiv iii. p. 129, v. p. 107.

The way was thus prepared for Paul’s metaphorical application of the term in Philippians 3:20 (RV ";citizenship,"; RV marg. ";commonwealth";). Holding that πολίτευμα sometimes denotes a settlement whose organization is modelled on that of the mother-city, many modern commentators would translate ";we are a colony of heaven."; But we should like clearer evidence that πολίτευμα can be used in this distinctive sense, and, further, such a translation reverses the relation presupposed between the colony and the mother-city.