B-Greek: The Biblical Greek Forum

βραβεῖον, ου, τό (s. βραβεύω; Menand., Monost. 124 J.=653 Meineke [IV p. 359]; Ps.-Oppian, Cyn. 4, 197; Vett. Val. 174, 21; 288, 8; ins: Étude Delphiques [BCH Suppl. IV] ’77, 103–21, line 40 [III b.c.]; IPriene 118, 3 [I b.c.]; CIG 3674, 15 al. [Nägeli 37, 3]; horoscope in PPrinc 75, 13; PGM 4, 664) ‘prize’, but ἆθλον and νικητήριον are more common in Gk. lit. an award for exceptional performance, prize, award
ⓐ of competition in the games, the prim. sense 1 Cor 9:24
ⓑ of moral/spiritual performance, fig. ext. of a (cp. Herm. Wr. 18, 10; GrBar 12:6; Philo, Praem. 6; SibOr 2, 149) of the award of victory of Christians β. τῆς ἄνω κλήσεως the prize that is the object of (and can only be attained in connection with) the upward call Phil 3:14; (w. στέφανος) β. ἀναντίρρητον incontestable prize MPol 17:1. Gener. reward ὑπομονῆς β. reward for endurance 1 Cl 5:5 (cp. Menand., loc. cit. β. ἀρετῆς).—AEhrhardt, An Unknown Orphic-Writing … and St. Paul, ZNW 48, ’57, 101–10.—DELG s.v. βραβεύς. M-M (add. reff. APapathomas, NTS 43, ’97, 234 n. 48). New Docs 2, 78f. TW.

For β. = “prize,” as in 1 Cor 9:24, Phil 3:14, see Priene 1188 (i/b.c.) τοῖς νικήσασιν ὡς] ἀσφαλέστατα πρὸς πάντα τὸν χρόνον γενηθῆναι τὰ βραβ[εῖα, CIG 3674 (a.d. 166) τιμηθεὶς χρυσείῳ βραβείῳ. The word is used by Vettius Valens p. 17421 κἀκείνοις τὸ βραβεῖον ἀπονέμειν, and similarly p. 2888. [An instance of βραβεια appears in BGU IV. 1027xxvii. 18 (iv/a.d.) in a fragmentary context; but Wilcken’s revision, Chrest. I. p. 502, shows that the word is βρέβεια = brevia.] Nägeli, p. 37, cites Menander and late poets, with some inscrr. of ii/iii a.d., and the Paris Zauberpapyrus 662.