Acts 16 — Photo Illustrations (corrected)

What is the best way to correct a blunder? Shall I totally delete the post and start anew, or shall I edit the existing one? I decided to leave the existing one for the time being and post the correction here.

Forum/Agora. One reader suggests that I have incorrectly identified the forum at Philippi as the agora. Some sources indicate that the forum was primarily used for civic or judicial matters while the agora was considered the commercial center or market place.

My intention was to use both words because they are often used interchangeably. At Philippi, Corinth, and other places, these activities are not far removed from each other. In fact, the Forum at Philippi, and the Agora at Corinth contain a Bema (judgment seat) as well as numerous commercial shops.

I am not at home and do not have access to some of the sources I might normally use to check these things, but I have access to some dictionaries online.

The American Heritage Dictionary gives this definition for forum:

The public square or marketplace of an ancient Roman city that was the assembly place for judicial activity and public business.

The Compact Oxford English Dictionary defines the forum…

(in an ancient Roman city) a public square or marketplace used for judicial and other business.

The Wrong Photo. But my serious blunder was in the photo I labeled as the forum/agora. After publishing it I began to think I had uploaded the wrong photo. A friend has written privately to remind me that I have posted a photo of one of the basilicas at Philippi rather than the forum. I plead guilty. My oversight.

Here is a photo of a portion of the Via Egnatia (the Egnatian Way) in the forum at Philippi. Much of it is covered by several feet of earth. The modern road runs above the ancient one.

A portion of the Via Egnatia in the Forum at Philippi. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

The next photo shows a sign that once sat on the road.

Identifying the Via Egnatia in the Forum at Philippi. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Perhaps later I will post a photo of some of the shops in the forum.