Corinthian Matters

A Resource for the Study of the Corinthia, Greece

Category: Conferences and Presentations

Three new papers on the Roman Corinthia and Isthmus

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A new book on Hellenistic to Roman Corinth called Corinth in Contrast: Studies in Inequality is now in the works.  The volume is edited by Friesen, James, and Schowalter and is based on the conference in Austin in early October which brought together archaeologists, historians, and New Testament scholars to discuss the topic of inequality and contrast in the ancient city.  Two earlier posts about the conference can be found  here and here.

If you’re interested in the Roman Corinthia or Isthmus, three working papers have been posted online.  These are drafts that will undoubtedly change as the papers are reviewed and edited, but they provide a sense of how the Isthmus fits well within a discussion of inequality and contrast.  Agriculture and land use, commerce and transit, and imperial monuments.  That about sums up the common conceptions of the isthmus in antiquity.

Guy Sander’s piece, “Landlords and Tenants: Sharecroppers and Subsistence Farming in Corinthian Historical Context,”  examines documentary evidence for peasant farming, land use, sharecropping, and land and taxes in the Peloponnese in recent centuries (16th-19th) and makes comparisons to the growing Roman colony of the first century.

Bill Caraher’s chapter, “The Ambivalent Landscape of Christian Corinth: The Archaeology of Place, Theology, and Politics in a Late Antique City,” examines the theme of resistance to imperial action evident in the landscape of the Corinthia in the 6th century AD, and discusses the early Christian basilicas of territory, settlement patterns (from the Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey), the Hexamilion fortification wall, and Corinthian theology.

My piece, “The Diolkos and the Emporium: How a Land Bridge Framed the Commercial Economy of Roman Corinth,” examines ancient conceptions for how the Isthmus shaped the economy of the city.  I argue that the diolkos played almost no role in ancient conception while the emporium in the harbors of Kenchreai and Lechaion were central to the ancient image of the economy of the city.  The piece can be downloaded here, and I’ve embedded it in the document below.

The Corinthia at the AIA 2011

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A great weekend in San Antonio at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, which included some good (and bad) Tex-Mex fare, a trip to the Alamo (which triggered some deep nostalgia for Texas history and 7th grade Texas history classes), the annual Isthmia reunion dinner, and numerous strolls with Kate and baby along the Riverwalk which was a pile of mud because it was being drained for its annual cleaning.

I wanted to follow up an an earlier post about the Corinthia related talks at the session.  The organizing committee unfortunately scheduled all the Corinthia related talks at the same time (Friday morning) which meant that I missed most of them while attending my own session on post-antique travelers to Greece.  But from speaking with others who attended and reading the abstract guide on my flight home, here’s a little summary of how the Corinthia appeared at this year’s meeting.

Spatially, the presentations covered the Corinthia.  While most (8) of the 12 talks centered on the urban excavations at Corinth, there were also papers on the sites of Nemea and Isthmia, the Isthmus in general, and the area near Korphos.  The papers covered the period from Late Bronze Age to the modern era: Prehistoric (2 papers), Archaic-Classical (2), Classical-Hellenistic (2), Early Roman (5), Byzantine  (2).

A brief summary of papers:

“Niketas Ooryphas Drags his Fleet: Portaging the Corinthian Isthmus in 872 A.D.” (David K. Pettegrew, Messiah College).  Discussed the case of the Byzantine admiral Niketas Ooryphas who allegedly dragged his ships over the isthmus in the late 9th century.  I’ll be posting this paper in a series of blogs this week along with the remaining translations of these texts.

“Medieval Pilgrimage to Corinth and Southern Greece” (Amelia R. Brown, University of Queensland).  An excellent overview of Christian pilgrimage to Corinth and the Peloponnese from the 4th to 15th century.  Amelia was not able to make the conference but she used Lectopia to record her voice to her presentation and it worked splendidly.  Included discussions of a number of traveler accounts to Corinth by guys like Saewulf (early 12th century), King Sigurd of Norway (12th century).  The paper also included a  discussion of some of the material remains related to post-antique Christian pilgrimage to Corinth, including the medieval church on the speaker’s platform in the forum and the church of Quadratus the martyr.

“Showing Off for the Neighbors: Wealth and Display in Archaic Corinth” (Angela Ziskowski, Bryn Mawr College).  Taking as departure Elizabeth Pemberton’s 1996 article “Wealthy Corinth: The Archaeological Evidence for Cult Investment at Greek Corinth,” Ziskowski’s talk offered a survey of the religious offerings, dedications, and monuments in the urban center, the territory, and the broader Greek world.  The question that framed her talk was whether the Corinthians in the Archaic era actually invested resources in the urban center.

“The Archaic Temple in Roman Corinth: Civic Identity in the Capital of Achaia” (Ann Morgan, University of Texas at Austin).  The paper examined the incorporation of the old Greek  Archaic Temple of Apollo into the civic landscape of the 1st century Roman colony.  Morgan considered the Roman modifications of the temple as well as the new prominent Temple E, patterns she connects to recent scholarship highlighting the “blended” or “dual identity” (Greek and Roman) of the early colonists.

“Pre-Roman Remains at the East End of the Forum of Corinth: Recent Findings” (Paul Scotton, California State University Long Beach).  A report on the pre-Roman remains at the east end of the forum around the Julian basilica and the Southeast Building, including a house or workshop of Archaic-Classical date, and an east-west structure of unknown function that determined the layout of the Southeast building.

“Urbanization and Roman Residential Architecture Southeast of the Forum at Corinth” (James Herbst, ASCSA Corinth Excavations).  Herbst reported on some marble ionic capitals of 1st century AD date recovered in the destruction debris of a 3rd century house excavated at the Panayia Field.  Herbst associates these capitals with a poorly-preserved residential phase in the area dating to the later 1st century.

“Further Notes on the South Stoa at Corinth: The Roman Interior Colonnade and the Monumental Entrance to the South Basilica” (David Scahill, University of Bath) discussed the archaeological evidence and phasing for a monumental entrance to the South Basilica, with particular attention to the roofing of the stoa.

“The Captives Facade at Ancient Corinth” (Aileen Ajootian, University of Mississippi), examines the famous 2nd century AD “Captives Facade” in Corinth, with its colossal statues of captives at the northeast corner of the forum.  On the basis of newly discovered fragments from the status (discovered in the museum itself!), Ajootian argued that the facade can be associated with the Emperor Lucius Verus’ victory over the Parthians in 165 AD.  Verus had visited Corinth in 162.

“Kraters and Drinking Practices in Hellenistic Corinth” (Sarah James, University of Texas at Austin).  James examined the question of whether the communal symposium continued in Corinth in the Hellenistic period based on an examination of drinking vessels (kraters).  James examined not only the continuing popularity of the krater in Hellenistic Corinth but also changing contexts (public vs. private).  The decline of kraters in public contexts may relate to shift to metal vessels in Greece more broadly.

“Old Excavations and New Interpretations: Recent Investigations in the Sanctuary of Poseidon on the Isthmus of Corinth” (Jon Frey, Michigan State University, and Timothy Gregory, Ohio State University).  A first report on the investigations of Frey and Gregory who, in recent years, have been examining old records for 4-decades old excavations at Isthmia and resolving architectural relationships between the Roman Bath, the Hexamilion and the Fortress, and earlier buildings.  In their talk, Frey demonstrated that later phases of the trans-isthmus wall (5th century AD) actually preserved (not destroyed) the architectural plans on earlier Roman buildings at the site, including a very long colonnade that belonged to a “stoa-like building,” and a room that has been tentatively interpreted as a latrine(!).  This new interpretation promises to fill in the gap for the earlier periods at Isthmia.

“New Excavations at Nemea: The 2010 Season” (Kim S. Shelton, University of California, Berkeley), presented a preliminary report on the first season of new investigations at the Sanctuary of Zeus.  The first season was directed to examining the prehistoric and early historic use of the site especially related to the question of how this site developed as a panhellenic sanctuary.

“Untangling Mycenaean Terracing: Landscape Modification and Agricultural Production at Korphos-Kalamianos” (Lynne A. Kvapil, University of Cincinnati), presented on a series of agricultural terraces documented by the Saronic Harbors Archaeological Project in the southeast Corinthia near Korphos.  By examining the relationship of terrace walls and forms of construction, Kvapil linked the terracing to the settlement’s agricultural activities in the Late Bronze Age.

Corinth at the Archaeological Institute of America – January 2011

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The annual meeting of the AIA in San Antonio is now only 3-1/2 weeks away.  As usual, there will be a range of papers related to the archaeology of Corinth and the Corinthia.  A summary below, and I include abstracts when available.

SESSION 1D: Colloquium: Travel to Greece between Antiquity and the Grand Tour (Friday, Jan 7, 8:30 AM-11:30 AM)
“Niketas Ooryphas Drags his Fleet: Portaging the Corinthian Isthmus in 883 A.D.” (David K. Pettegrew, Messiah College)

Abstract:

In 883 AD, the Byzantine admiral Niketas Ooryphas dragged a fleet of ships over the Isthmus of Corinth in a naval engagement with Arab pirates.  The episode, preserved in the chronicles of Theophanes Continuatus and the Chronicon Maius of George Sphrantzes, has always created problems for scholars interpreting the use of the Archaic-period diolkos road between the Corinthian and Saronic Gulfs.  Did Niketas actually portage 100 ships in the ninth century AD on the road built by Periander?  Or is the account a literary invention by clever Byzantine writers aware of their ancient history?  If the former, the portage road remained in semi-use for a period of 1,600 years since its construction; if the latter, the texts suggest nothing about the actual operation of the trans-isthmus road.

In this paper, I explore the meanings of this portage episode in terms of literary contexts, the historical tradition of ship transfers, and the physical remnants of the diolkos road.  On the one hand, the accounts state that Niketas constructed a way across the isthmus that suggests he did not use Periander’s road; we will consider his remarkable feat in light of the texts and physical landscape.  On the other, the chronicles highlight the heroic accomplishment of Niketas dragging his fleet and the strategic role of the isthmus for deciding naval engagements.  The episode fits within an ancient literary tradition of using ship portaging as a device for highlighting brilliant tactical maneuvers at key points in historical narration.

“Medieval Pilgrimage to Corinth and Southern Greece” (Amelia R. Brown, University of Queensland)

Abstract:

Today Christian pilgrims often travel to Corinth and southern Greece in the footsteps of Saint Paul. This modern pilgrimage developed only in the last century, alongside archaeological excavation and mass-market tourism to Greece. The Medieval pilgrims who preceded these modern ones, however, are barely studied at all, though sources for them do exist. In this paper, I explore the textual, epigraphic and archaeological evidence for Christian pilgrimage to Corinth and southern Greece from Late Antiquity into the Middle Ages. Though southern Greece generated few saints or monks, the cults of Corinthian martyrs Leonidas and Quadratus each drew pilgrims from outside of Greece to their basilicas. Awareness of Paul’s ministry is also apparent in Corinthian epigraphy, letters of Byzantine bishops, and the placement of churches at Corinth and Athens. Though southern Greece did not compete with the Holy Land or Constantinople as a pilgrimage destination, Corinthians and Athenians did successfully construct both churches and local stories over several centuries to attract Christian travellers. The tangible results of their efforts deserve study, shed new light on the Byzantine cities of Corinth and Athens, and illustrate the phenomenon of Christian pilgrimage to Medieval Greece.

SESSION 1G: Corinth  (Friday, Jan 7, 8:30 AM-11:30 AM)

“Showing Off for the Neighbors: Wealth and Display in Archaic Corinth” (Angela Ziskowski, Bryn Mawr College)

“The Archaic Temple in Roman Corinth: Civic Identity in the Capital of Achaia” (Ann Morgan, University of Texas at Austin)

“Pre-Roman Remains at the East End of the Forum of Corinth: Recent Findings” (Paul Scotton, California State University Long Beach)

“Urbanization and Roman Residential Architecture Southeast of the Forum at Corinth” (James Herbst, ASCSA Corinth Excavations)

“Further Notes on the South Stoa at Corinth: The Roman Interior Colonnade and the Monumental Entrance to the South Basilica” (David Scahill, University of Bath)

“The Captives Facade at Ancient Corinth” (Aileen Ajootian, University of Mississippi)

SESSION 2F: Greek Pottery (Friday, Jan. 7, 12:30-2:30 PM)

“Kraters and Drinking Practices in Hellenistic Corinth” (Sarah James, University of Texas at Austin)

SESSION 6H: Water Systems and Baths (Saturday, Jan. 8, 2:45-5:15 PM)

“Old Excavations and New Interpretations: Recent Investigations in the Sanctuary of Poseidon on the Isthmus of Corinth” (Jon Frey, Michigan State University, and Timothy Gregory, Ohio State University)

Corinth at ASOR and SBL 2010

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Corinth will make some appearances this week at back to back conferences in Atlanta, Georgia.  The American Schools of Oriental Research 2010 Annual Conference, which began yesterday evening and continues until Saturday, features a Corinth paper by Robert von Thaden in the Archaeology of the New Testament session called “Embodied Minds in Physical Space: ‘Coming Together’ in Paul’s Corinthian Community.”  The session is designed to “offer the opportunity to explore ways in which material culture studies can have a bearing on elucidating, analyzing and contextualizing New Testament images and themes and the transmission of New Testament texts.”

The enormous Society of Biblical Literature conference begins on Saturday and runs until Tuesday.  As usual, it features numerous papers exploring Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, the first Christian community there, and cultural and social contexts for understanding the letters.

This year includes two sessions devoted to “Second Corinthians: Pauline Theology in the Making,” with a focus this year on 2 Corinthians 4.  Papers in these sessions include:

B. J. Oropeza, Azusa Pacific University, Saved by Benefaction, Judged by Works? The Paradox of Rejecting Grace in 2 Corinthians

Ryan S. Schellenberg, University of St. Michael’s College, Beyond Rhetoric: Self-Praise in Plutarch, Paul, and Red Jacket

Hermut Loehr, University of Munster, Stone Tablets. Torah Traditions in 2Cor 3

James Buchanan Wallace, Christian Brothers University,  Paul’s Catalogues of Suffering in 2 Corinthians as Ascetic Performances

Christopher R. Bruno, Wheaton College, Carrying in the Body the Death of Jesus: The Passion Narratives as Paul’s Model for his Apostolic Self-Understanding in 2 Corinthians

Robin Griffith-Jones, King’s College London / Temple Church, ‘We’, ‘You’, ‘All’: Respecting Paul’s Distinctions in 2 Corinthians 1-5

Timothy Luckritz Marquis, Moravian Theological Seminary, Apostolic Travels as ‘Carrying around the Death of Jesus’ in 2 Corinthians 4:10

Ma. Marilou S. Ibita, Catholic University of Leuven-Belgium, Episteusa dio elalesa (2 Cor 4:13): Paul and the Psalmist

There are, of course, many other papers scatted about the various sessions devoted to the literary and cultural contexts of 1 and 2 Corinthians:

J. Brian Tucker, Moody Theological Seminary, The Concept of Social Identity in Corinth: Wisdom, Power, and Transformation

Judith H. Newman, University of Toronto, Covenant Rupture, Restoration, and Transformation in the Performance of 2 Corinthians and the Hodayot

Edward Adams, King’s College London, “Things that are” and “things that are not:” Cosmological Rhetoric in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29

Richard A. Wright, Oklahoma Christian University, Paul on Praying and Prophesying: Sacrifice and the Ritual Construction of Gendered Roles in Corinth

Robert von Thaden, Jr., Mercyhurst College, Fleeing Sin: Embodied Conceptual Blends in 1 Corinthians

James Ware, University of Evansville, Paul’s Gospel of the Empty Tomb: The Resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15

Jae Hyung Cho, Claremont Graduate University, Paul’s Opponent in 1 and 2 Corinthians in light of Gnostic Ideas

John Goodrich, Moody Bible Institute, Compelled to Preach: Retaining Paul’s Apostolic Right in 1 Corinthians 9.17

Kevin Scull, University of California-Los Angeles, Paul’s Use of Self-Presentation as a Defense of His Oratorical Abilities in 1 Corinthians 1:10-4:21

Bradley J. Bitner, Macquarie University, Colonial and Ecclesial Construction in Roman Corinth: 1 Cor. 3:5-4:5 and Inscriptional Evidence

Katy Valentine, Graduate Theological Union, Negotiated Values for Paul and the Corinthians

Jeremy Punt, University of Stellenbosch, 1 Cor 7:17-24. Identity and human dignity amidst power and liminality

Other papers related to Corinth and Kenchreai include:

David Balch, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Women Prophets/Maenads Visually Represented in Two Roman Colonies: Pompeii and Corinth

Cavan Concannon, Harvard University will speak on the Ethnicity, Economics, and Diplomacy in Dionysios of Corinth.

James Buchanan Wallace, Christian Brothers University, A Sufficient Grace: 2 Corinthians 11:21-12:10 in the Eastern Orthodox Liturgical Tradition

Jorunn Økland, University of Oslo, The Ritual Reproduction of Space: Egyptian Cults and the Nile in Pompeii and Kenchreai

Ilaria L.E. Ramelli, Catholic University of Milan, Tit 2:2-4, Women Presbyters, and a Patristic Interpretation

Abstracts for most of these papers can be found online at Society of Biblical Literature conference.

Paul’s Corinthians in Contrast and Context

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Last week I posted a general overview of the “Corinth in Contrast” conference as well as a piece summarizing the papers on archaeology in the Hellenistic to Roman era.  Today I conclude my overview of the conference with notes on the papers that dealt explicitly with St. Paul’s letters to the Corinthians.  Only three papers were devoted explicitly to Pauline issues, but the apostle made brief appearances in other papers and was always present in the subsequent discussion of the papers at the end of each day.  Recall that New Testament scholars have been the organizing force behind all three of these conferences.  If each of the three papers on Paul dealt with inequality and contrast on some level—in dining, marriage, and female status and leadership—the papers also made efforts to understand problems in Corinth’s early Christian community within broader contexts of different kinds.

Steve Friesen of the University of Texas at Austin, for example, set Phoebe, the deaconess of Kenchreai, in comparison (and contrast) with Junia Theodora, an elite woman from Lycia known from an honorary Greek inscription from the Corinthia.  Friesen has argued in recent years that the great majority of Christian converts in cities like Corinth came from the 90% of the population that was barely making a living.  Friesen’s discussion in his paper on Thursday centered on the meaning of the rare term “prostatis” (προστατις) and “prostasia” to characterize the actions of Junia Theodora, Phoebe, and a several other women in the Roman era.  The use of the word, Friesen suggested, has no clear translation but implies unusual responsibility and authority that originated in differential economic resources, family power, and religious practice.  Phoebe herself, Friesen argued, may have belonged to that small group of individuals who managed to get ahead in the Roman era without ever achieving elite status.

On Friday, James Walters of Boston University presented “A Ritual Analysis of 1 Cor. 11:17-34: Enacting Equality and Inequality at a Corinthian Banquet.”  Walters aimed to set the interpretation of dining within the broader context of ritual.  His starting point was, on the one hand, recent Pauline scholarship that characterizes and interprets early Christian gatherings in terms of ritual activity and space.  On the other hand, ritual theory more generally provided a starting point for understanding the banqueting passage. Reading 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 in terms of ritual activity, Walters discussed how Paul evokes a ritual recognition of Jesus’ last supper by representing Jesus as the host of the Corinthian meal.  The ritual would have diminished inequality between those gathered while simultaneously fostering inequality in the differential authority between Paul and his enemies.

On the final day of the conference, Caroline Johnson Hodge (College of the Holy Cross) discussed 1 Corinthians 7 about mixed marriages between believer and non-believers within its broader historical context.  What happens, Hodge asked, when Christians and non-Christians shared the same household space in mixed marriages?  What kind of conflict existed when the newly baptized believers were subordinate members of the household (e.g., wives)?  In the view of the apostle Paul, the ‘contagious holiness’ of the believer could sanctify the family.  But looking ahead to the interpretation of 1 Corinthians 7 in the later 2nd-3rd centuries, Hodge shows how a Christian like Tertullian ‘corrected’ this misreading of Paul with the injunction that a believer ‘must marry in the Lord.’  Tertullian condemns mixed marriages because unholiness is contagious.

If you’re interested in learning more about these papers, the published volumes should appear relatively quickly.  Given that the essays in the publication of the conference will double the length of the papers, I expect that the final papers will be more developed and contextual.

Over the next week or two, I will present some summary pieces about my own recent work on the diolkos, the subject of my Corinth in Contrast paper.

More Corinth in Contrast

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On Monday I posted a general overview of the conference Corinth in Contrast and today I want to comment on a few of the specific papers that focused on material culture.  Defining which papers fit into the category of material culture is not straightforward.  Most of the papers, including those by New Testament scholars, made some use of archaeology, but not all the archaeologists (e.g., Sanders and myself) focused on archaeological evidence per se.  Moreover, some presenters (Ben Millis, Dan Schowalter, and Ron Stroud) focused on inscriptions that belong to overlapping evidence categories of text and material culture.  And even the explicitly archaeological papers did not focus on the normal stratigraphic grit of archaeological research.  A few highlights:

For the urban center, Sarah James gave an important paper (“The Last Corinthians? Society and Settlement from 146 BCE to the Roman Colony”) synthesizing the evidence for continuing settlement and society in the so-called interim period between the city’s destruction in 146 BC and refoundation as a Roman colony in 44 BC.  James discussed an enormous amount of evidence (adding up to half a metric ton of pottery!) suggesting that activities continued in the urban center in the late 2nd to early 1st centuries BC.  She presented a number of ceramic deposits showing evidence for imports and trade and production of ceramic crafts that indicates continuity with preexisting populations.  This paper, which draws on conclusions reached in her dissertation, will have significant ramifications for understanding the interim period in Corinth.  Start discontinuity, the blank slate, and the squatters are all going to have to go away.

Ben Millis was not physically present at the conference but he did make several appearances via Skype and in this capacity presented a paper on “The Local Magistrates and Elite of Roman Corinth.”  The paper complemented an earlier paper that he gave in 2007, recently published in Corinth in Context, by discussing the role of freedmen in promoting their commercial interests in the newfound colony.  In his talk, Millis discussed the origins and careers of Roman Corinth’s first elites whose names appear in inscriptions in the city.  Three distinct elite groups appear frequently: 1) Greek provincial elite, which formed the smallest elite group; 2) Romans, who were also a numerically small group but formed a more significant core of Corinthian elites; and 3) freedmen, who made up the largest group of the colony’s ruling class.  Millis suggested that the latter group clearly had the most potential for upward mobility, but that personal connections were important in achieving this mobility.  Freedmen who became part of the new local elite formed a very closed system that was nearly impossible to break into.  There were, in other words, social and economic impediments and requirements to office holding in the new colony.

Sarah Lepinski discussed the evidence from wall painting in the Roman city and considered the question of whether painting practices reflected Greek or Roman themes, styles, and tastes.  Her presentation highlighted the practices, tastes, and decorative programs that point strongly to western connections, especially during most of the first century after Christ.  However, her presentation also highlighted the complexities of such connections for in the later 1st century a break with western practices led to more localized decorative programs.

Bill Caraher gave a paper on the final day on the subject of the “The Ambivalent Landscape of Christian Corinth: The Archaeology of Place, Theology, and Politics in a Late Antique City.”  The paper provided a very useful overview of the “building boom” of the fifth and sixth centuries AD in the Corinthia that included monumental church architecture (e.g., Lechaion basilica), villa culture in the territory, and urban and trans-isthmus fortification walls.  Bill suggested that this building activity created a medium for various groups of the population to communicate theological messages and local expression.  His discussion of local “resistance” provided some interesting and lively audience feedback.

Ronald Stroud presented an interesting paper called the “Varieties of Inequality in Corinthian Magic and Ritual,” which examined the evidence for “black magic” at Corinth around 50 AD, especially the inscribed lead curse tablets found at the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore on the lower slopes of Acrocorinth.  Before official cult was reestablished in a Roman manner at the sanctuary, women were practicing nocturnal rites associated with a space connected to Kore, goddess of underworld.  Such practices blend the distinction between religion and magic.  This paper will be very interesting for those interested in the kinds of cults and religious practices that formed a backdrop to St. Paul’s mission in the city.

All of these papers will appear in expanded form (6,000-8,000 words) in a volume that should be published relatively quickly.

Inequalities in Corinth

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I just returned from Austin where I participated in the “Corinth in Contrast” conference.  As I detailed in earlier posts, the conference was dedicated to exploring the theme of inequality in the Corinthia in the Hellenistic and Roman eras.  It was, in this sense, a bit more focused than the two earlier conferences organized by Friesen, Schowalter, and Walters: “Urban Religion in Roman Corinth” and “Corinth in Context.”  Both of those earlier conferences resulted in two books Urban Religion in Roman Corinth: Interdisciplinary Approaches (2004) and Corinth in Context: Comparative Studies on Religion and Society(2010), each containing articles that were broad and synthetic in content, especially those chapters exploring archaeological evidence.  For example, while Corinth in Context contains some focused problem-specific studies on Erastus (Friesen) and dining and domestic space in 1 Corinthians (Walters, Schowalter), among others, there are numerous synthetic chapters on topics like “Asklepios in Greek and Roman Corinth” (B. Wickkiser), “The Coinage of Roman Corinth” (Walbank), “Religion and Society at Roman Kenchreai” (Rife), “The Christian Community in Corinth in the Late Roman and Early Byzantine Eras” (Walbank), and “Religion and society in the Roman Eastern Corinthia” (Gregory).  Both of those volumes, then, will form very useful starting places for anyone interested in New Testament Corinth and recent assessments of religion and society in the Hellenistic and Roman eras.

Like the last two conferences, Corinth in Contrast brought together scholars of varied backgrounds familiar with different kinds of evidence and models: the New Testament, religious studies, early Christianity, Classics, field archaeology, art history, and ancient history.  One major difference this time around: a Corinthian archaeologist, Dr. Sarah James, played a role as co-organizer.  The papers focused around the theme of wealth and inequality and each paper more or less addressed the themes as part of broader discussions of problems related to the ancient economy, agriculture and trade, the nature of leadership and patronage, gender inequities, elite expressions, banqueting, magic, and monumental architecture, among others.

The presenters and paper respondents gave us a sense of the nature of inequality in a region like ancient Corinth and how differently it looked from the inequities of our own modern world.  As L. Michael White noted, inequality in antiquity was not simply a matter of net worth, but centered around issues of personal connectedness and relationships, land ownership, and one’s relative isolation from supporting social networks.  The different presentations showed how inequality in Hellenistic and Roman Corinth originated in different ways (agriculture, trade, social connection) and was articulated in the local urban and rural landscape: in the program that an elite villa owner adopted to paint the wall of a house; in the boundaries that the newly-wealthy freedmen class reinscribed around their new political powers; in the inequities of gender and status that were constant in public discourses, private households, and banqueting; and in the local “resistances” by day laborers to imperial theological messages.

And yet, the framework of inequality is, as Steve Friesen noted in his opening remarks, so compelling because of its importance for understanding the layers of our own society.  Is it not fundamental to understand the nature of wealth and poverty, and social and economic inequities in ancient society?  As an intellectual framework, it provides a means to understand the ancient world, ancient Corinth, the Pauline community, more concretely.  And as a modern framework, it provides for educators a means of helping students (and ourselves) think about the social conditions of our world and the “abnormal” nature of inequality.

I hope to write more about some of the individual papers in the rest of this week.  All of them were interesting, some controversial, some “blockbusters.”  Check out the blog of Bill Caraher of the University of North Dakota, who was also in attendance at the conference and has already shared his thoughts.

The Commercial Facility of the Isthmus

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Bill Caraher has given us additional thoughts about some graffiti text on a wall of the baptistery of the Lechaion Basilica — observations that will be part of his presentation for the Corinth in Contrast Conference at the upcoming University of Texas.  I myself have been finishing up my own presentation on “Turning Profit on the Isthmus of Corinth: The Commercial Facility of an Ancient Land Bridge.” My talk addresses the question of how Corinth’s isthmus contributed to the wealth of the city in antiquity.

The question has a long history.  Thucydides was the first to raise it in the 5th century BC when he pinned Corinth’s wealth and power on its position on an isthmus.  But the question circulated widely throughout antiquity.  In the modern period, since the 19th century,  scholars have argued that Corinth’s territory facilitated wealth in four ways: 1) through its agricultural productivity; 2) through the services provided to passing travelers; 3) through the trans-shipment of goods in long-distant trade routes; and 4) through commercial markets.

The first of these has been the subject of recent archaeological  research on the agricultural orientation of the Roman  colony and the meaning of the patterns of land division still visible in the landscape today.  The second was the subject of Engel’s interesting and controversial work Roman Corinth (1990) which argue that the Corinthian economy in the Roman era was based not on agriculture but on the services provided (religious, political, entertainment)  provided to passing travelers.  The third explanation centers on archaeological and historical scholarship on the diolkos portage road–the idea is that the diolkos was used to trans-ship cargoes and ships from one side of the isthmus, and Corinth benefited from the portage business in the form of transport fees and transit duties.   The fourth view explains Corinthian wealth in terms of its markets.  It is largely based on the city’s ancient reputation for being a market city and trader’s depot and it is relatively unexplored in modern scholarship on the Roman city.

In my paper, I will be exploring the third and fourth view, the ones that concern the commercial facility of the Isthmus.  I will be arguing against the notion that the  diolkos was used regularly for portaging commercial ships and cargoes, and will come out in favor of the view of the land bridge as an emporium.  Stay tuned as I’ll unpack this a bit in the next two weeks.

Corinth in Contrast Conference

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We’ve got another Corinth conference in the works at the University of Texas.   In late September, the Departments of Religious Studies and Classics, and the Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins will be hosting a conference on the theme of “Corinth in Contrast: Studies in Inequality.  As the conference website states:

“This conference explores the stratified nature of social, political, economic, and religious spheres at Corinth, and how the resulting inequalities are reflected in literary texts and material remains.  The analysis focuses on a specific population center (the Corinthia) over a given period of time (Hellenistic to Late Antique).”

The 12 presentations include topics covering the city and territory from the 3rd century BC to 7th century AD, and include discussions on individuals like Phoebe of Kenchreai, Junia Theodora, Herodes Atticus, and the Emperor Justinian.  Judging from the titles, St. Paul should make an appearance in at least a few papers.  Thematically, the papers include such topics as agricultural systems, magic and ritual, dining, slavery, and mixed marriages in 1 Corinthians, and elite expenditure and expression.

This is the third conference held at the University of Texas dedicated to  interdisciplinary discussion of the themes of religion and society in the Hellenistic and Roman periods.  The last two were published as Urban Religion in Roman Corinth: Interdisciplinary Appraoches (2004) and Corinth in Context: Comparative Studies on Religion and Society (2010).  And the  conference organizers, Steve Friesen and Sarah James, have plans to publish this third conference quickly.

Over the next few weeks, I will be blogging about the conference presentations including my own paper on the diolkos and the commercial facility of Corinth.  I expect that my colleague Bill Caraher of the University of North Dakota will be as well.  He has already give us some preliminary thoughts about late antique prosperity and monumental architecture in the 5th and 6th century Corinthia.