Page - 96 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

Fig. 4:Corinth, thebasilicas andbaptisteries, 6th centuryAD. 96 ChristianeZimmermann supportedby the imperial family– toanyonepassingby. EverybodyapproachingCorinth from the seawould notice that Christianity was the religion supported by the authority of the em- peror. TheLechaionbasilicamost likelywasbuilt close toaplacewherea formermartyr,StLeoni- das, hada shrine.87 Leonidas and sevenChristianwomenaccompanyinghimweredrowned in the sea during the persecutions andmiraculouslywerewasheduponto the beach.88 It is very possible thatEarlyChristians inCorinthusedwaterandpractisedbaptismasan initiationritual reflecting thedeathandresurrectionof Jesus inacontextwhichallowedcommemorationof the dying and ‘rising’ of these martyrs, too. The death of these martyrs was understood as their birth intospiritual andeternalglory, asbaptismwasunderstoodasakindofdeathandrebirth. Convertswouldbenefit fromtheirconfessiontoChristandthedivinepatronageof themartyrs.89 The basilica featured water prominently and not only in the baptistery: several water basins were built in the atrium, possibly for purification rituals,90 while therewere tubs forwashing feet near thegate.91 87 Pallas 1990,776.Thereareno indications that thebasilicawasbuilt inplaceofa formerpagansacralbuilding. Cf. Peloschek 2010, 15. 88 Pallas 1990, 770;Halkin 1953;Brown2018, 135f. 89 Brown1981. 90 Onpurification rituals in paganGreek sanctuaries inHellenistic times, see Chiarenza andKobusch, this vol- ume. 91 Pallas 1990, 770;Rothaus 2000, 96f.Under themain roomasewage systemwas installed (Pallas 1990, 773).