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Paul and the Pagan Cults at Isthmia Oscar Broneer Ancient Corinth, Greece

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Paul and the Pagan Cults at Isthmia Oscar Broneer Ancient Corinth, Greece HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW 64 (1971), 169-187. PAUL AND THE PAGAN CULTS AT ISTHMIA OSCAR BRONEER ANCIENT CORINTH, GREECE 1 WHEN the Apostle Paul came to Corinth, probably in the year 5ο, the Roman colony Laus Iulia Corinthiensis was a flourishing cen­ ter of trade and industry and a vital link of communication be­ tween Italy and the eastern provinces of the empire. It was still in the process of rebuilding after the thorough destruction by the Romans in 146 B.C., followed by a century of virtual abandon­ ment. The Isthmian Games, which the Sikyonians had taken over and had presumably transferred to Sikyon, were again cele­ brated on the site where they had been held for more than a half millennium.2 Since Paul remained in Corinth for eighteen months on his first visit, he would have been there in the spring of 51, when the games were held at Isthmia. If, as I believe, the bien­ nial Isthmian festival played a contributing, if not decisive, role in his choice of Corinth as the chief base of his missionary work in Greece, he would have come to the Isthmus for the occasion,3 and this gave him the opportunity to become familiar at first hand with the pagan rites that formed an integral part of the festival. In particular he would have witnessed the nightly celebrations in xThe date of Paul's sojourn in Corinth is fixed by the proconsulship of Gallio, who entered upon office probably in July of the year 51. Paul remained in Corinth for "a good many days" (ήμερα* Uavás) after his appearance before Gallio at the Berna. This episode came near the end of his stay in the city, and this would make it likely that he arrived before the end of the year 50. On the date of Gallio's proconsulship see ADOLF DEISSMAN, Paul, A Study in Social and Religious History, Appendix I, 261-86; cf. F. F. BRUCE, The Acts of the Apostles, 346; EMIL G. KRAELING, Bible Atlas, 445. 2 A Latin inscription from Corinth in honor of L. Castricius Regulus shows by implication that the Isthmian Games were returned to the Isthmus during his agonothesia, which fell "somewhere between the years 7 B.C. and A.D. 3." See JOHN H. KENT, Corinth VIII, Part HI, The Inscriptions, 72. The pertinent passage, p. 70, reads: agonothete · ¿STHMION · ET . CAESAReow . qui · isthmlA . AD · ISTHMVM · EGIT · primus · sub · curaM . COL · LAVD . IVL · COR etc. The phrase, ad Isthmum, which the editor passed over without comment, can only mean, it seems to me, that the Isthmian Games had previously been held elsewhere, i.e., at Sikyon. See also note 42. 3 See O. BRONEER, The Apostle Paul and the Isthmian Games, Biblical Archae­ ologist 25(1962), 1-31 ; reprinted in Biblical Archaeologist Reader, II, 393-420. 170 HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW the Sanctuary of Palaimon, which probably constituted the most impressive religious act in the celebration. The things he saw made a profound effect on Paul; this is evident from his letters to the Christian church at Corinth. In Athens he had sought to gain entrée among the prominent men of the city by showing acquaint­ ance with their pagan gods, and he used this kind of approach at other occasions. He had much to learn from being present at the Isthmian Games. To gain some conception of what Paul may have seen and learned at Isthmia during the festival days, it will be expedient to recount briefly what we know about the gods whose worship formed a background to the Isthmian Games. The picture, of course, will not be complete. Though we know the names and something of the material and religious properties of the major gods and can form some idea about the worship they received, it is at best superficial knowledge; the inner meaning of the cult rites eludes us. Some of the deities we know only from casual references in ancient authors or from inscriptions; others, whose names we do not know, had sanctuaries with elaborate cult ap­ paratus, the significance and use of which we can only surmise. Interpretation of material objects that have to do with religion is always difficult, not only because in most instances we do not know what they mean or how they were used in the cult rites, but also because the makers and users themselves had only vague conceptions of their intent. Scholars' penchant for orderly exposi­ tion and clear definition can be misleading for an understanding of the religious life of a given period because they pretend to make clear what was anything but clear to the ancients.4 What Paul learned from his experiences in the cities and assemblies of Greece does not readily reveal itself, but the fact that he took the trouble to observe and call his hearers' attention to matters of this kind gives us reason to believe that he had assimilated more than appears in his letters. 4 "A la grande surprise des observateurs, ce qu'ils (fetishes and similar objects) 'représentent* semble n'être que très vaguement défini dans l'esprit des primitifs." P. WIRZ, Vexpérience Mystique et les Symboles chez les Primitifs, 197; quoted by W. Κ. C. GUTHRIE, The Greeks and Their Gods, 16. A. D. NOCK, HTR 37(1944), 158, speaking of holocausts and the reasons for them says: "Any neat general formulation is almost certain to do violence to the facts." PAUL AND THE PAGAN CULTS 171 POSEIDON The chief deity of the Isthmian sanctuary was Poseidon, who had prior right to possession of the Isthmus as god of the sea and as the wielder of subterranean forces that cause the earth to tremble. The Isthmus of Corinth, less than four miles wide and frequently shaken by earthquakes, lies between two bodies of water, the Saronic Gulf on the east and the Corinthian Gulf on the west. The Corinthians accounted for Poseidon's possession of the Isthmus by the myth of a strife between Poseidon, god of the sea, and Helios, the sun god.5 As a result of arbitration, Poseidon re­ ceived the Isthmus and Helios came into possession of Akrokor- inthos. This story of a struggle between two elemental forces, sun and sea, typifies the competitive nature of the games in which men vied with each other for the prize of victory. Poseidon's connection with the Isthmus dates back to an early period, but very few of the material objects from our excavations at Isthmia are earlier than the eighth century B.C. Not before Protocorinthian times does the pottery show significant concen­ tration.6 That was the time when the cult of the sea god gained permanent foothold on the Isthmus of Corinth, and about the beginning of the seventh century a splendid temple was erected at Isthmia. It was a remarkable building for this early period. Our study of the architectural remains has resulted in the restora­ tion of a peripteral temple, measuring 125 X 44 ancient feet of 0.3204 m. on the stylobate and having 19 X 7 wooden columns on the outside.7 Within this peristyle was the temple proper (ναός), measuring 100 feet in length, thus belonging to the type of archaic temple called "hekatompedon." The walls, constructed entirely of stone, had painted panels on the outside. The archaic temple re­ mained standing for some 200 years. At the time of its destruc- 5 PAUSANIAS, II, i, 6. eO. BRONEER, Klio 39(1961), 251. 7 A preliminary study of the Temple of Poseidon appeared in Χαριστήριορ els Άναστάσιορ Κ. Όρλάρδον, Γ, 61-85. This is now superseded by the definitive pub­ lication, Isthmia I, Temple of Poseidon, published in 1971 by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. In Appendix I of that volume, 174-81, I have pre­ sented the reasons for accepting the existence of a foot length of 0.3204 m. for the period prior to Alexander the Great. PAUL AND THE PAGAN CULTS 173 tion by fire at or about 475 B.C., the whole inside was filled to crowding with dedications to the god or gods — there may have been more than one — worshiped in the building. Before the middle of the fifth century B.C. a new temple was built on the site of the ruined structure; this had a peristyle with 6 X 13 columns and porches in front and in the rear. Severely damaged by fire in the year 390 B.C. and completely restored, very nearly in its original form, it remained standing throughout antiquity. During the hundred years between Mummius and Caesar (146-46 B.C.), when Corinth lay in ruins and was largely unpopulated, the Isthmian sanctuary, and of course the Temple of Poseidon, suffered much damage. The grand altar, which had a length of 40 m., was demolished at that time. After the restoration of Corinth under Caesar and Augustus the temple was repaired and its interior partly revetted with marble. We do not know how early these repairs were undertaken, but most of them would have been done before the Isthmian festival of the year 51, which Paul may have attended. In the second century after Christ the Athenian philosopher-benefactor, Herodes Atticus, provided the temple with new cult statues in gold and ivory and made other dedications. About the same time a high priest of Poseidon, P. Licinius Priscus Iuventianus, endowed the Isthmian cult place with many new buildings and repaired others that had been damaged by earthquakes and old age.8 The final demolition came in the early Christian era, possibly as early as the end of the fourth century and perhaps as late as the time of Justinian.
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