Stephen,
Am not sure that whatever you described could be reflective of the Acta of a Roman official. These were the personal property of the officeholder, meant to be taken back to Rome to use in his defense should he end up being accused of wrongdoing, especially regarding matters of life and death.
The higher ranking official does not make these notes himself, but would have "people" do that for him. Extracts from this personal diary would be posted publicly in the markets should the official make a decree or had someone executed for cause. "Don't let this be you!" the posts imply.
In Rome, I understand that some parties were keeping track of the posted materials, and some selections were published as a form of gazette. Relatives of officials, sent off to far away posts for a few years, would send copies to them to let them keep up on local Roman gossip.
There were also supposed to be "Acts" of Jesus published by same partisans of Maximinus as published the Acts of Pilate. This suggests, to me, that they wanted the reader to think that Jesus was keeping a war journal because, as a rebel general, he was involved in matters of life & death.
The "Acts" of Pilate and Jesus may have been presented as extracts in a narrative framework, as a form of expose if one wants to call it that. The Acts of the Apostles is all narrative, there are no official extracts involved, although he or she used a couple major sources.
DCH
Am not sure that whatever you described could be reflective of the Acta of a Roman official. These were the personal property of the officeholder, meant to be taken back to Rome to use in his defense should he end up being accused of wrongdoing, especially regarding matters of life and death.
The higher ranking official does not make these notes himself, but would have "people" do that for him. Extracts from this personal diary would be posted publicly in the markets should the official make a decree or had someone executed for cause. "Don't let this be you!" the posts imply.
In Rome, I understand that some parties were keeping track of the posted materials, and some selections were published as a form of gazette. Relatives of officials, sent off to far away posts for a few years, would send copies to them to let them keep up on local Roman gossip.
There were also supposed to be "Acts" of Jesus published by same partisans of Maximinus as published the Acts of Pilate. This suggests, to me, that they wanted the reader to think that Jesus was keeping a war journal because, as a rebel general, he was involved in matters of life & death.
The "Acts" of Pilate and Jesus may have been presented as extracts in a narrative framework, as a form of expose if one wants to call it that. The Acts of the Apostles is all narrative, there are no official extracts involved, although he or she used a couple major sources.
DCH
Statistics: Posted by DCHindley — Tue Sep 03, 2024 4:42 pm
