Corinth, the First City of Greece: An Urban History of Late Antique Cult and Religion

186 Pages·2000·54.59 MB·English

by  Richard M. Rothaus

CORINTH: THE FIRST CITY OF GREECE
RELIGIONS IN
THE GRAECO-ROMAN WORLD
EDITORS
R. VAN DEN BROEK H.J. W DRIJVERS
H. S. VERSNEL
VOLUME 139
CORINTH: THE FIRST
CITY OF GREECE
An Urban History qf Late Antique Cult and Religion
BY
RICHARD M. ROTHAUS
BRILL
LEIDEN · BOSTON · KOLN
2000
7his series Religions in the Graeco-Roman World presents a forum for studies in the social and cul
tural JUnction of religions in the Greek and the Roman world, dealing with pagan religions both in
their own right and in their interaction with and influence on Christianity and Judaism during a
lengthy period off Undamental change. Special attention will be given to the religious history qf regions
and cities which illustrate the practical workings of these processes.
Enquiries regarding the submission of works for publication in the series TJW.Y be directed to Professor
H]. W Drijvers, Faculty of Letters, University of Groningen, 9 712 EK Groningen, 7he Netherlands.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rothaus, Richard M.
Corinth: the first city of Greece : an urban history oflate antique cult and
religion I by Richard M. Rothaus.
p. em.-(Religions in the Graeco-Roman world, ISSN 0927-7633;
v. 139)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9004109226 (hardcover: alk. paper)
I. Corinth (Greece)-Religion. 2. Corinth (Greece)-Antiquities.3.
Corinth (Greece)-Church history. 4. Christianity and other religious-
Greek. 5. Church history-Early church, ca. 30-600. I. Title. II. Series.
BL793.C6 R68 2000
292'.00938'7-dc21 00-026304
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
Rothaus, Richard M.:
Corinth: the first city of Greece I by Richard M. Rothaus
Leiden ; Boston ; Koln : Brill, 2000
(Religions in the Graeco-Roman world; Vol. 139)
ISBN 90 -04-I 0922-6
ISSN 0927-7633
ISBN 90 04 10922 6
© Copyright 2000 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, 7he Netherlands
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
... religion is the smile on a dog. ...
Edie Brickel (1986)
... Corinth is now the first city of Greece ....
John Chrysostom, Homily on
rr
Corinthians (c. 390)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
I. Reconsidering Late Antique Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
II. The Late Antique City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
III. Broken Temples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
IV. Kenchreai, Eastern Port of Corinth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
V. lsthmia and the Isthmian Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
VI. Christianizing the City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
VII. Images and Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
VIII. Nymphs and Angels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
IX. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Appendices
A. Archaeological Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
B. A Gazetteer of the Late Roman Korinthia ............... 151
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Index .................................................... 171

PREFACE
To acknowledge everyone who assisted in the creation of this book is, of
course, impossible. I have spent a decade reconsidering and reinterpreting
Korinthian history and the issues of religion in late antiquity; but this is
hardly enough time to understand the complexity of the issues; obviously I
have benefited by standing on the shoulders of others. My gratitude extends
to all, but I can mention only a few here. First, I must recognize Timothy E.
Gregory, with whom I spent many, many hours walking the Korinthia and
visiting sites, and too few pleasant afternoons eating halvah and oranges
while we tried to decide what it all meant. Without his continuing interest
in the world of late antiquity, and his steadfast agreement that there was
great knowledge to be gained from the re-examination of the scrawl in old
notebooks and dusty context pottery, this work would never have been seen
to completion.
Fieldwork and study was performed under the auspices of the American
School of Classical Studies at Athens and with the permission of the 4th
Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Archaeology. I have, frankly, mixed
feelings about the role of the American School in this process. The Ameri
can School is a private institution that by Greek law, must approve and act
as an intermediary with the Greek government for all American archaeo
logical projects, including the study of material previously excavated by
Americans. At times this works well, at other times it does not. Most seri
ously, the American School maintains a policy of restricting access to mate
rial ''under study." In practice this means that I was repeatedly denied the
right to study because scholars somewhere maintained an interest. This
would make sense until the time scale is revealed: some of the material I
could not see was excavated when I was in diapers, some twenty years be
fore I was born. The evidence is already fragmentary enough; it helps no
one to closet evidence away and take a proprietary stance toward primary
historical knowledge. A research institution is not really a research institu
tion if the guiding policy is maintenance of the past status quo at the ex
pense of present inquiry.
Many individuals, however, were most helpful in helping me pursue my
investigations. C.K. Williams II, former director of the American School of
Classical Studies Excavations at Corinth, opened the archives and store
rooms to me even at a time when I was unsure of what I was looking for.
Robert Scranton, former director of the University of Chicago/Indiana Uni
versity Excavations at Kenchreai, restored my faith at a time when access to