Acts 28:11

τρεῖς μῆνας : no account is given of St. Paul's doings in Malta, or of his preaching or founding a Church, but the writer's interest is centred on the Apostle's journey to Rome, and what immediately concerns it. ἀνήχ., see above on Acts 13:13; in the earlier part of February, as the shipwreck took place probably before the middle of November (Ramsay), but Blass thinks March, as he places the shipwreck about the commencement of December, but with a favourable wind the ship would risk the voyage, even before the regular sailing season commenced (so Wendt and Ramsay). Ἀλεξ.: very likely a corn ship, driven for refuge by the same gale; on the accent here and in Acts 27:6 see Winer-Schmiedel, p. 73. παρακεχειμακότι : only in Luke and Paul in N.T., cf. Acts 27:12; 1 Corinthians 16:6; Titus 3:12, and in classical Greek. παρασήμῳ Διοσκ.: “whose sign was the Twin Brothers,” R.V., i.e., Castor and Pollux; or perhaps in a ship “marked with the image or figure of the Dioscuri,” or the latter word in the dative may be a dedicatory inscription marked “To the Dioscuri,” i.e., in honour of them, so Wendt, Holtzmann, Grimm-Thayer. Others take παρας as a noun, so Alford, Page, quoting from an inscription found near Lutro and given by J. Smith, in which reference is made to a Dionysius of Alexandria as gubernator navis parasemo Isopharia. Phryn. prefers the form Διόσκοροι Blass has ᾧ ἦν παράσημον Διοσκούρων, see critical note and Blass, in loco; cf. for the word 3Ma 2:29. Castor and Pollux were best known as the tutelary gods of sailors, and probably at this date they were both the insigne and the tutela of the ship. St. Cyril of Alexandria tells us that it was always the Alexandrian method to ornament each side of the prow with the figures of deities, probably in this case Castor and Pollux, one on each side of the vessel; and we may further note that the twin brothers were specially honoured in the district of Cyrenaica, not far from Alexandria (Schol., Pind., Pyth., v., 6). For other classical notices cf. Hor., Od., i., 3, 2; iii., 29, 64; Catull., iv., 27; lxviii., 65; Eur., Helen., 1663, and “Castor and Pollux,” B.D. 2, and “Dioscuri,” Hastings' B.D. The mention of the ship's sign shows the minuteness of the information of an eyewitness, and the fact that an Alexandrian ship thus wintered in the island is a strong piece of incidental evidence in favour of the identification of the island with Malta; the latter would be a natural harbour for a ship of Alexandria on the way to Italy, but Meleda would be altogether out of the course (see J. Smith, p. 278, fourth edit.).