Corpus-Paul

["Andrew Goddard" <andrew.goddard AT wycliffe-hall.oxford.ac.uk>]

Can't answer the question on Corinth myself but just perused [but resisted
temptation to buy] a fascinating new book in Blackwells by Bruce Winter
(Eerdmans) called (I think) What Happened When Paul Left Corinth which is
full of archaeological, literary and other evidence about the social world
of Corinth and light this sheds on various parts of Paul's letters.  I'm
sure this would give a good account of the subject somewhere as well as
being of interest to other list members.

Andrew

***********************
Andrew Goddard,
Wycliffe Hall,
54 Banbury Rd,
Oxford,
OX2 6PW
andrew.goddard AT wycliffe.ox.ac.uk


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeffrey B. Gibson" <jgibson000 AT home.com>
To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Cc: "David Lupher" <dlupher AT ups.edu>
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2001 12:53 PM
Subject: [corpus-paul] [Fwd: Query: sacred prostitution in Corinth?]


> I wonder if anyone here can help the author of the message below with
> his question?
>
> Yours,
>
> Jeffrey
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Query: sacred prostitution in Corinth?
> Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2001 23:36:00 -0800
> From: David Lupher <dlupher AT ups.edu>
> Reply-To: classics AT u.washington.edu
> To: classics AT u.washington.edu
> References: <200101290203.f0T23Sh02325 AT laxmls02.socal.rr.com>
>
> Having tramped with my family over Acrocorinth this past summer,
> my sunstruck mind occasionally wandered to the famous "much-
> visited girls, servants of Persuasion in wealthy Corinth"
> (Pindar, fr. 107 Bowra; 122 Snell).  Now, alas, while swotting
> up for a presentation on Aphrodite (regarding which I posted
> a query that has so far met with a resounding public silence---
> and but one off-list message), I have been forced to wonder if
> there really was sacred prostitution in Corinth.
>
> For example, the entry on Aphrodite by V. Pirenne-Delforgue
> and André Motte (both of Univ. of Liège, I gather) in OCD3
> casts this bucket of cold water on the titilating phenomenon:
> Corinth was particularly well known for the beauty
> and luxurious living of its prostitutes, who certainly
> revered the local Aphrodite.  All the same, it is
> unlikely that her sanctuary on Acrocorinth was the
> location of what is usually called 'sacred prostitution.'
> The only source for such a remarkable practice in a
> Greek context, Strabo (8.6.21, 378-9C), places it in
> a vague past time, and is surely influenced by the
> eastern practices with which he was familiar.  Herodotus
> also mentions a similar practice in several parts of the
> Mediterranean area, and his silence in regard to Corinth
> should invite caution.
>
> If Strabo is "the only source for such a remarkable practice
> in a Greek context," what about the fragment of Pindar's
> enkomion to Xenophon of Corinth, which I've cited above,
> which appears to consummate Xenophon's vow to dedicate 100
> girls to the goddess if he won the Olympic crown in 464?
>
> Burkert ("Greek Religion," p. 153) also expresses doubt, though
> less forcefully: "If moreover there is prostitution in the
> Aphrodite cult, then the most notorious characteristic of the
> Ishtar-Astarte cult is taken over."  In a footnote he implies
> that the grinch may be H. Conzelmann in his "Korinth und die
> Mädchen der Aphrodite" in NGG (1967), to which I don't have access.
> Can someone tell me what the argument of this article is?
>
> The fullest study of the cult which I can lay my hands on---Charles
> K. Williams, "Corinth and the Cult of Aphrodite," in "Corinthiaca:
> Studies in Honor of Darrell A. Amyx," U. Minn. 1986, 12-24---does
> not attempt to cast any doubt on Corinthian sacred prostitution per se,
> though Williams does plausibly observe that the area around the
> temple "indicates no large area for one hundred or, in Strabo's
> time, a thousand girls.  Unless a series of insignificant, small
> and now indistinguishable, buildings were erected on the slopes
> around the temple, one might better think of the hierodouloi as
> having conducted their activities within the heart of the city."
> (p. 21)   Also, J.B. Salmon expresses no doubt as to the custom
> ("Wealthy Corinth," Oxford U.P., 1984, 398f.)
>
> So tell me, please: what should I tell a certain segment of the
> Youth of America in a couple of days?  Should the thousand temple
> prostitutes of Corinth go into the "Classical Urban Myths" chapter
> of that famous as-yet-unwritten book "What Every Classicist Should
> Know," along with lead pipe poisoning and vomitorium regurgitations?
>
> David Lupher
> Classics Dept.
> Univ. of Puget Sound
>
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