Corinth Publication: DeMaris, Numen 42:2, 1995 | Collection: | | Corinth | | Name: | | DeMaris, Numen 42:2, 1995 | | Title: | | Demeter in Roman Corinth: Local Development in a Mediterranean Religion | | Author: | | DeMaris, Richard E. | | Series Title: | | Numen | | Volume: | | 42:2 | | Month: | | May | | Date: | | 1995 | | Abstract: | | This study constructs a history of Demeter worship in Corinth and its environs based on archaeological finds from the Demeter and Kore sanctuary on Acrocorinth and elsewhere in the Corinthia. These finds document the changing character of Demeter devotion from the Greek to Roman period. Demeter worship survived the Roman sacking of Corinth in 146 BCE, but the reemerging cult changed: Demeter's chthonic aspect became dominant in the Roman period. The earlier Greek emphasis on fertility, substantiated by votive pottery finds from the Classical and Hellenistic periods, gave way to funerary and underwold emphases. Evidence both from the Demeter and Kore sanctuary on Acrocorinth and from Isthmia attests to the growing importance of Persephone and Pluto, the rulers of the dead, and of snake symbols, whose funerary and chthonic affinities were deeply rooted in ancient Mediterranean culture. This archaeologically based reconstruction of Demeter devotion in the Corinthia confirms the importance of local studies of religion and the need to qualify longstanding generalizations about Greek and Roman religion. In addition, this study provides context for, if not an explanation of, an unusual application of baptism among first-century Corinthian Christians. The Demeter cult's focus on the underworld in the Roman period appears not to have been unique in the Corinthia, for Corinthian Christianity exhibited a like concern in extending baptism to the dead (1 Corinthians 15:29). | | Page: | | 105-117 | | JSTOR: | | http://www.jstor.org/stable/3270170 |
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