Lulianos and Paphos

In rabbinic literature, two wealthy Jewish brothers who lived in Laodicea Lulianos and Paphos (alt. sp. Julianus and Pappus, second-century CE) were two wealthy Jewish brothers who lived in Laodicea on the Lycus in Anatolia, contemporaries with Joshua ben Hananiah, and who suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Roman legate. An anecdote about the lives of these two illustrious Grecian-Jewish citizens has come down in the Midrashic literature stating that, during the days of Hadrian, the emperor mulled over the thought of rebuilding Israel's Temple. When the news reached Lulianos and Paphos who were very wealthy, they set-up tables from Acco to Antioch, hoping thereby to allow Jewish pilgrims to exchange their local currency for coins in specie, or else provide other basic needs for the people before proceeding on to Jerusalem. In the Babylonian Talmud is mentioned the "slain of Lydia" [sic] (another name for Laodicea on the Lycus) and which Talmudic commentators have explained to be referring to two Jewish brothers with Hellenized names, Julian (Lulianos) of Alexandria and Paphos, the son of Judah, who willingly made themselves martyrs to save the entire Jewish population of Laodic