as to whether his use of the term di·aʹko·nos (“minister”) is in a governmental sense, as at 1 Timothy 3:8 and Philippians 1:1, or is simply in a general sense. Some translators view the term in an official sense and hence render it as “deaconess” (RS, JB). Goodspeed’s translation views it in a general sense and translates it as “helper.”

The basic idea conveyed by di·aʹko·nos, as also by the verb di·a·ko·neʹo, is that of rendering personal service to another, as with one waiting on a table. (John 2:5, 9; Luke 12:37; 17:7, 8; 22:27) Women are described a number of times as ministering to Jesus in this general sense, doubtless preparing and serving food, perhaps caring for clothing and rendering similar personal services. (Matt. 27:55; Mark 15:41; Luke 8:3; John 12:2) In the parable of the sheep and the goats, Matthew uses di·a·ko·neʹo to embrace not only the providing of food and drink but also such activities as providing clothing and visiting one sick or in prison. (Matt. 25:44) It would appear that Phoebe was a “minister” in this basic sense, for there is no indication in the Scriptures that women were appointed to office as were those men designated as di·aʹko·noi. Though the term di·a·koʹnis·sa (“deaconess”) does appear in ecclesiastical writings, these are from the late second or third centuries C.E. at the earliest and evidently represent a later development at a time when the Christian congregation was already well along in the foretold apostasy.

Cenchreae, as a major port for the prominent city of Corinth, would be a location giving many opportunities for displaying hospitality to persons passing through there, including the apostle Paul. (Acts 18:18) Some suggest that it was in this sense that Phoebe served as “a defender of many.” Nevertheless, the term translated “defender” (pro·staʹtis) has the basic sense of “protectress” or “succorer,” so that it implies not mere cordiality but a coming to the aid of others who are in need. It may also be rendered “patroness.” Phoebe’s freedom to travel and to render notable service in the congregation may indicate that she was a widow and possibly a woman of some material wealth. So, she may have been in position to use influence in the community on behalf of Christians who were being wrongly accused, defending them in this way; or she may have provided refuge for them in time of danger, serving as a protectress. The record gives no details.

PHOENICIA

(Phoe·niʹcia) [Gr., Phoi·niʹke, perhaps from phoiʹnix, meaning date palm].

That strip of coastland along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean between Syria and Palestine that was bounded on the E by the Lebanon mountains. It roughly corresponded with the modern country of Lebanon. For many years the principal city of ancient Phoenicia was Sidon, but later it was eclipsed in importance by Tyre, a city founded by a colony from Sidon.—See SIDON, SIDONIANS; TYRE.

GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES

The coastal plains of this long, narrow country were interrupted in a few places by the foothills of the mountains that reached down to the sea. The plains were well watered by a number of streams originating in the mountain range that formed the natural boundary along the eastern frontier. Here were several peaks over 10,000 feet (c. 3,000 meters) high, the highest over 11,000 feet (3,352 meters), peaks that were snowcapped a good part of the year. Extensive forests and orchards at one time covered much of the land—the cedar and pine as well as the oak, beech, mulberry, fig, olive and the date palm.

ORIGIN AND NAME

The history of the Phoenicians begins after the Flood with Noah’s grandson Canaan, a son of Ham. Canaan became the progenitor of eleven tribes, one of these, the Sidonians, being the descendants of Canaan’s firstborn, Sidon. (Gen. 10:15-18; 1 Chron. 1:13-16) The Sidonians were therefore Canaanites. (Josh. 13:4-6; Judg. 10:12) They themselves and others too, called their land Canaan. On a coin of the time of Antiochus Epiphanes the Syrophoenician city of Laodicea is described as “a mother city of Canaan.”

However, in time the Greeks preferred to call these Canaanite Sidonians by yet another term, Phoenicians. So it was that Canaanite, Sidonian and Phoenician were names sometimes used interchangeably for the same people. In Isaiah’s prophecy, for example, Phoenicia is termed Canaan.—Isa. 23:11; JP, NW (1958 ed., ftn.), RS.

LAND OF SEAFARING TRADERS

The Phoenicians were among the great seafaring peoples of the ancient world. Their ships were very seaworthy for their size. They were high both at the bow and stern, of wide beam, and could be powered by both sails and oars. (Ezek. 27:3-7) Phoenician vessels handled much of the commerce on the Mediterranean. In the eleventh century B.C.E. Solomon employed Phoenician “servants of Hiram” to accompany his ships going to Tarshish (Spain). (2 Chron. 9:21) Phoenician sailors were also used aboard Solomon’s fleet sent from Ezion-geber to Ophir. (1 Ki. 9:26-28; 10:11) In the seventh century B.C.E. Phoenician vessels were still sailing to Tarshish and bringing back silver, iron, tin and lead.—Ezek. 27:12.

ARTS AND CRAFTS

Phoenician metalworkers were skilled in casting, hammering and engraving gold and silver objects. Other artisans specialized in carving wood and ivory, fashioning glassware, weaving wool and linen, and dyeing cloth. Phoenicia was especially noted for her purple-dye industry. Royal or Tyrian purple robes commanded the highest prices, for many thousands of murex shellfish, each yielding but a single drop of dye, were needed for a few yards of cloth. The dye varied in hue, depending on where the shellfish were found along the shores of the Mediterranean, and this fact, plus the special skills of the Phoenician dye masters who often used a double- or triple-dyeing process, resulted in many varieties of costly fabrics that were sought after by those of rank and nobility.—Ezek. 27:2, 7, 24.

In the time of David and Solomon the Phoenicians were famous as cutters of building stones and as woodsmen skilled in bringing down the stately trees of their forests.—2 Sam. 5:11; 1 Ki. 5:1, 6-10, 18; 9:11; 1 Chron. 14:1.

RELIGION

As Canaanites, the Phoenicians practiced a very base religion centered around the fertility god Baal, and involving sodomy, bestiality and ceremonial prostitution, as well as abhorrent rites of child sacrifice. (See CANAAN, CANAANITE [Basis for Extermination].) The Phoenician city of Baalbek (some 40 air miles [64 kilometers] NE of Beirut) became one of the great centers of polytheistic worship in the ancient world, in Roman times great temples to various gods and goddesses being erected there, the ruins of which can be seen today.

In the spring of 31 C.E., certain residents of Phoenicia demonstrated faith by traveling inland to Galilee to listen to Jesus and to be cured of their ailments. (Mark 3:7-10; Luke 6:17) A year or so later Jesus visited the coastal plains of Phoenicia and was so impressed by the faith of a Syrophoenician woman living there that he miraculously cured her demon-possessed daughter.—Matt. 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-31.

When persecution broke out in Judea following the martyrdom of Stephen, some Christians fled to Phoenicia. There, for some time, they proclaimed the good news only to Jews. But following the conversion of Cornelius congregations began to spring up along the Phoenician coast having a mixture of Jews and non-Jews, as in other parts of the Roman Empire. The apostle Paul visited some of these congregations in Phoenicia during the course of his travels, the last recorded visit with believers there being at Sidon on his way to Rome as a prisoner in 58 C.E.—Acts 11:19; 15:3; 21:1-7; 27:1-3.

PHOENIX

(Phoeʹnix) [date palm].

“A harbor of Crete.” (Acts 27:12) The grain boat on which Paul was traveling as a prisoner to Rome attempted to sail from Fair Havens to Phoenix for winter anchorage. Seized by a storm, it was subsequently wrecked on the island of Malta.—Acts 27:13–28:1.

As to the location of Phoenix, the Acts narrative indicates only that it was W of Fair Havens, on the S side of Crete, and that it provided safe winter anchorage. Two sites have therefore been proposed. One is Loutro, on the E side of a cape, some forty miles (64 kilometers) W of Fair Havens, and the other Phineka, on the opposite side of this cape. The literal Greek text describes the harbor at Phoenix as “looking down [ka·taʹ] the southwest wind and down [ka·taʹ] the northwest wind.” Scholars favoring Loutro interpret this to mean looking “along” or “toward” (ka·taʹ) the direction in which the SW and NW winds are blowing. (See NW, 1950 ed., ftn.) By this understanding the harbor is said to open ‘toward the NE and the SE’ (RS, NW), a description that could fit the large semicircular entrance to the harbor at Loutro. Phineka, because of its structure, is not used as a harbor today, though geologic changes in the vicinity may have affected its formation. However, Phineka does have two inlets, one facing SW and the other NW. Thus, those favoring this site understand the expression “looking down” to mean facing the direction from which the winds originate rather than that in which they blow. While there is some question as to the winter safety provided at Loutro, the inlets at Phineka appear to be capable of affording good winter shelter for boats.

According to the fourth-third century B.C.E. Greek writer Theophrastus, palm trees were indigenous to the Phoenix area; these possibly were the source of its name.

PHRYGIA

(Phrygʹi·a).

A country or region in central Asia Minor. The geographical boundaries of Phrygia fluctuated greatly over the years, so it is difficult to define the area encompassed unless one refers to a specific period. In the first century “Phrygia” was an inland area in the Roman provinces of Galatia and Asia, covering the plateau country N of the Taurus range, from the Halys River one the E to the upper valleys of the Hermus and Meander Rivers on the W. It was an agricultural and pastoral area of oil and wine and also exported wool and marble. The apostle Paul traveled through portions of Phrygia on at least two of his trips.—Acts 16:6; 18:23; 19:1.

It is commonly believed that the Phrygians spread S from Greece toward the close of the second millennium B.C.E. and gained control of much of central and western Asia Minor N of the Taurus Mountains, from the Halys River to the Aegean Sea. Archaeological evidence points to Gordion as their capital and King Midas as one of their prominent rulers. A noteworthy aspect of the religion of the people of early Phrygia is the worship of a mother-goddess (Rhea Cybele).

The western part of Phrygia came under the control of the Attalid kings of Pergamum. This kingdom became the Roman province of Asia, but the SE portion is often referred to as Asian Phrygia. (See ASIA.) The king of Galatia ruled the more easterly section of Phrygia and it eventually formed a part of the Roman province of Galatia. This eastern section is sometimes termed Galatian Phrygia; it was N of Pisidia and NW of Lycaonia. Depending on the point of view of the writer and the time period involved, Antioch and Iconium might be called Phrygian cities, though often Antioch is connected with Pisidia, and Iconium with Lycaonia.—Acts 13:14; see ANTIOCH No. 2; ICONIUM.

The population of Phrygia included many Jews, their presence having been encouraged by the Seleucid rulers in Syria. According to Josephus, Antiochus III (223-187 B.C.E.) transported “two thousand families of Jews, with their effects, out of Mesopotamia and Babylon” to Lydia and Phrygia in order to stabilize conditions among the seditious people there. (Antiquities of the Jews, Book XII, chap. III, pars. 1, 4) And Jews evidently continued numerous in Asia Minor under the Romans. On Pentecost 33 C.E. there were present in Jerusalem Jews from “the district of Asia, and Phrygia and Pamphylia.”—Acts 2:9, 10.

On his second missionary tour Paul and his companions, coming NW through Cilicia and Lycaonia, “went through Phrygia and the country of Galatia, because they were forbidden by the holy spirit to speak the word in the district of Asia.” (Acts 15:41; 16:1-6) So they had entered the eastern part of old Phrygia (this by Paul’s time being Galatian Phrygia), but instead of continuing W through the province of Asia (containing Asian Phrygia) they went N toward the province of Bithynia and then W to Troas.

Paul’s third tour took him through Galatian Phrygia and Asian Phrygia. He left Antioch in Pisidia and “went from place to place through the country of Galatia and Phrygia.” (Acts 18:23) The account also says that he “went through the inland parts and came down to Ephesus” on the Aegean coast. (Acts 19:1) It seems that he did not travel the main road to Ephesus, passing down the Lycus River valley and by the Phrygian cities of Laodicea, Colossae and Hierapolis (Col. 2:1; 4:13), but, instead, took a more direct route somewhat to the N.—See COLOSSAE.

PHYGELUS

(Phy·gelʹus) [a fugitive].

One from the district of Asia who “turned away from” Paul.—2 Tim. 1:15; see ASIA, p. 147.

PHYSICIAN

See DISEASES AND TREATMENT.

PI

[Π, π].

The sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. Derived from the Hebrew peʼ and corresponding in sound to the English “p.” As a numeral, accented pi (π΄) signifies eighty, with the subscript (,π), 80,000.

PIBESETH

(Pi·beʹseth) [house of the goddess Bastet or Bast].

A city mentioned along with On (Heliopolis) at Ezekiel 30:17 in a prophecy directed against Egypt. The Septuagint rendering of the text identifies Pibeseth with Bubastis, an ancient city of the Delta region, the remains of which are at Tell Basta, about forty-five miles (c. 72 kilometers) NE of Cairo, near the modern city of Zagazig. The name of the ancient city as it appears on Egyptian inscriptions shows a clear similarity to the Hebrew Pibeseth.

Pibeseth or Bubastis was the seat of the worship of the goddess Bastet or Bast, a feline goddess often represented with the head of a cat. The presence of a large burial ground for cats near the city testifies to the prominence of her worship there. An annual festival was held in honor of Bastet, drawing thousands of adherents from all parts of the land.

While Pibeseth was the capital of the eighteenth nome (or district) of Lower Egypt, it reached its greatest political prominence with the line of Libyan rulers over Egypt begun by Pharaoh Shishak, a contemporary of Solomon and Rehoboam. (1 Ki. 11:40; 14:25, 26) Pibeseth was a royal city of Shishak. Ezekiel’s prophecy relates to the Babylonian conquest of Egypt when Pibeseth would be overrun. The Persians later destroyed the city, and today only ruins remain on the ancient site.

PIG

See SWINE.

PIGEON

[Heb., yoh·nahʹ, goh·zalʹ; Gr., pe·ri·ste·raʹ].

As noted under the heading DOVE, the same Hebrew