408 CALLIA RULMU specifically struck to commemorate his visit to Patras and Corinth (Adventus Aug(usti) Cor(inthi / Adventus Augusti); another example is the intentional Pauline use of the word apanthsiv ߥ (“ civic welcome”, 1 Thess 4,17), employed by Cicero in his account of Julius Caesar’s triumphal journey through Italy (49 BCE) : “Just imagine what apanthsiv he is receiving from the ߥ towns, what honours are paid to him!” (Ad Att. 8.16.2) 64. Harrison argues for a description of Christ in the epistles to the Thessalo- nians as counterpart to the “eschatological and cosmological expectation regarding Augustus” 65. Paul was preaching a gospel that required full and exclusive loyalty from the Thessalonian Christians 66. c) Imperial Cult and Benefaction Paul states that the Thessalonians have been noted among other believers (1 Thess 1,7-9), but they have also probably been noted by “outsiders” and fellow city-dwellers. Giving up the Cult of the Emperor and of the locally worshipped deity would also have created repercussions on the guild-members. There was a clear connection between honoring Rome God’s and benefaction. The Thessalonians honored Roman gods and even benefactors in order to “to attract and sustain influential Romans’ commitments and favours ” 67. Thessalonica adopted the cult of the goddess Roma during the first century BCE to honor its Roman benefactors. Many Roman patrons (benefactors) had set up inscriptions in the city, and in turn they were venerated along with Rome by the “priest of Rome . . . [and] of Roman benefactors” (cf. IG X/2 31, 32) 68. The For these two examples I am indebted to HARRISON, “Paul”, 83-85. 64 HARRISON, “Paul”, 90-91. See also E. STAUFFER, Christ and the 65 Caesars. Historical Sketches (London 1955) 99. In the last part of his article, Harrison explains Paul’s emphasis on the 66 descending from heaven of the returning Messiah “to bring to an end the pre- sent world order (1 Thess. 1.10; 4.16; 2 Thess. 1.7-8 [cf. 1 Thess. 3.13])” as somehow influenced by the belief that “the apotheosized Augustus was [...] residing in the heavens” (HARRISON, “Paul”, 93). HENDRIX, Thessalonians, 35-36. 67 ASCOUGH, Voluntary Associations, 52; F. PAPAZOGLOU, “Macedonia 68 under the Romans”, Macedonia: 4000 Years of Greek History and Civi- lization (ed. M.B. SAKELLARIOU) (Athens 1988) 192-207.