PAULINE PRESCRIPTS AND GRECO-ROMAN EPISTOLARY CONVENTIONS E. Randolph Richards A study of Paul’s letters “must take its starting-point from analysis of the formal epistolary structures of the Hellenistic world,” as Loveday Alexan- der aptly notes in her helpful study of Philippians. In fact, Alexander calls this “axiomatic in recent years.”  Clearly rst-century Mediterranean let- ters are Paul’s context. Letters in the Mediterranean world were remark- ably consistent in format from about 300  to 300 , whether written in Greek, Latin or even provincial languages like Aramaic. The last century has seen scholars focus on Greco-Roman letters. Indeed, generalizations about Greco-Roman letters are not without basis.  1. G-R L W The study of the Greco-Roman letter has enjoyed consistent attention since the early 1900s when Deissmann  introduced Biblical scholars to the recently discovered Egyptian papyri. The early euphoria and sweeping statements were followed with nuanced studies by Francis Exler, J.G. Win- ter, Otto Roller, and Paul Schubert.  Specialized studies of particular aspects  L. Alexander, “Hellenistic Letter-Forms and the Structure of Philippians,” JSNT 37 (1989): 87–101; reprinted in Stanley Porter and Craig Evans, eds., The Pauline Writings: a Sheeld Reader (BibSem 34; Sheeld: Sheeld Academic Press, 1995), 232.  Unication under various empires from the Seleucid to the Roman can account for only part of this standardization. As White concluded, this conformity was most likely caused by widespread elementary training in letter writing; John White, “The Ancient Epistolography Group in Retrospect,” Semeia 22 (1981): 10; so also Abraham J. Malherbe, “Ancient Epistolary Theorists,” Ohio Journal of Religious Studies 5 (1977): 4–5. The widespread use of secretaries by all levels of society for all types of letter writing was also a major force in standardizing the format and content of letters; see E. Randolph Richards, The Secretary in the Letters of Paul (WUNT 2.42; Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1991).  E.g. Adolf Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East: The New Testament Illustrated by Recently Discovered Texts of the Graeco-Roman World (trans. L.R.M. Strachan; London: Hod- der & Stoughton, 1912).  Francis X.J. Exler, The Form of the Ancient Greek Letter: a Study in Greek Epistologra- phy (Washington D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1922); John G. Winter, Life and