04_Peters_copiaaa_67-84 28/04/15 12:15 Pagina 73 CROWNS IN 1 THESSALONIANS, PHILIPPIANS, AND 1 CORINTHIANS 73 the god (“the area of the politeuma of the blessed Harthotes the Great of the supreme goddess Sachypsis”) to a gender specific gath- ering for a feast, when ritual time permitted women to have their own governance. Thus, Ascough believes that the Philippians un- derstood themselves as providing coronal honors to Paul as a vol- untary association 21. The difficulty with adducing the term politeuma along with the financial language in calling the crown in Philippians one of bene- faction is that one would then have to call the heavenly politeuma a voluntary association. It is much clearer to find one’s citizenship in heaven than one’s voluntary association in heaven. Paul’s crown can borrow both from the voluntary association and the city be- cause Paul’s metaphor is not developed. Moreover, benefactions themselves were polyvalent as they could also take place at a civic or inter-civic level. An important official Greek inscription from Corinth, the only such one found there in the first century C.E., at- tests the multiple political bodies that could provide honors to indi- viduals. The inscription praises Junia Theodora, who was a Roman citizen and a generous patron living in Corinth (c. 43 or 57 C.E.) 22. Her name appears on five separate Lycian decrees or official letters that were compiled on this single inscription erected in Corinth. In the first decree, from the Federal Assembly of Lycian Cities, the letter promises to send her a crown of gold, a standard honor for benefactors, “for the time when she will come into the presence of the gods” (4 ll.9-11). The second decree shows similar concerns for her funerary needs and anticipated apotheosis in its resolution to give her five minas of saffron for her burial and “honor her with a portrait painted on a gilt background” 23. The unified inscription shows a resident of Corinth being hailed as a patron and given eter- nal honors by individuals politically organized in a federation com- prised of other cities. Tacitly, then, Junia Theodora was also being honored by the citizenry of Corinth itself, since the Corinthians per- mitted the inscription to be officially erected. The inscriptions of decrees honoring Junia Theodora make a good comparison for Paul’s rhetoric to the Philippians because they, 21 LÜDERITZ, “What is the Politeuma?”, 189-190. 22 B. WINTER, Roman Wives, Roman Widows. The Appearance of New Women and the Pauline Communities (Grand Rapids, MI 2003) 181-211. 23 WINTER, Roman Wives, 186.