θηριομαχέω

θηριομαχέω — thēriomachéō

θηριομαχέω, θηριομάχω: 1 aorist ἐθηριομάχησα; (θηριομαχος); to fight with wild beasts (Diodorus 3, 43, 7; Artemidorus Daldianus, oneir. 2, 54; 5, 49); εἰ ἐθηριομάχησα ἐν Ἐφέσῳ, 1Co 15:32 — these words some take literally, supposing that Paul was condemned to fight with wild beasts; others explain them tropically of a fierce contest with brutal and ferocious men (so θηριομάχειν in Ignatius ad Rom 5:1-21 [ET] (etc.); ὁιοις θηρίοις μαχομεθα says Pompey, in the Appendix, bell. 104:2,61; see θηρίον). The former opinion encounters the objection that Paul would not have omitted this most terrible of all perils from the catalog in 2Co 11:23 ff