68 W e know frustratingly little about the early expansion of Christianity in the east- ern Mediterranean world before the fourth century. The New Testament texts provide us with valuable information about how their authors in the second half of the first century understood the beginnings of their movement, and how early disci- ples began to travel away from Jerusalem in order to proclaim their beliefs to others. In the sources for the second and third centuries, we occasionally hear of prominent bishops, of persecutions and martyrs, of notable heresies, and, occasionally, we are lucky enough to possess the surviving writings of isolated authors. But we hear little or nothing of the means or agency by which Christianity was spread in cities, towns, and villages, we have no statistics for the numbers of converts, and we know little about contemporary church organisation. Only in the fourth-century sources do we start to receive a clearer picture, and even then it is far less than we would like. Take for example the city of Antioch, one of the three greatest cities of the Roman Empire, whose emerging church is better documented than most (Downey 1961: ch. 11–12). The Acts of the Apostles tell us that early followers of Jesus fled there from Jerusalem (Acts 11:19), that Barnabas (Acts 4:36), later joined by Paul (Acts 11:22–26), taught there for more than a year, and that it was in Antioch that the fol- lowers of Jesus were first called Christians (Acts 11:26), presumably in the early 40s. Simon Peter (Kephas) was the first of the twelve apostles to visit Antioch (Gal 2:11), though it is only later tradition that describes him as the first bishop of Antioch (at a time when Peter and Paul had been claimed for Rome, Mark for Alexandria, and James for Jerusalem). After the end of the apostolic age, we have the seven let- ters written by bishop Ignatius during his journey to Rome, where he was martyred during the reign of Trajan, perhaps in December 116, and we have the apology Ad Autolycum of bishop Theophilus (d. pre 188), and we know of the martyrdom of bishop Babylas (ca. 250), preserved in a highly legendary form. In 256, Antioch was captured by the Persians and bishop Demetrianus was taken into exile along with numerous skilled craftsmen (Peeters 1924). In 260, when Antioch was again taken by the Persians, Paul of Samosata was made bishop, and was soon accused of financial and moral corruption, and heterodox theology, which led to his expulsion in 270. There is then little to report until the outbreak of the Diocletianic persecution of the CHAPTER FOUR THE COMING OF CHRISTIANITY TO MESOPOTAMIA David G. K. Taylor