This general historical sketch cautions us against importing later cultural practices and Roman influences directly into mid-first-century Ephesus, as is sometimes done in modern treatments of 1 Timothy 2. Pauline Ephesus must be understood from sources that are relevant to that period. As we will see, knowing the particulars of Ephesian institutions in the Pauline era plays an important role in understanding what Paul meant in his discussion of women in 1 Timothy 2. A thorough