Seite - 87 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

6 Water in Early ChristianRitual: BaptismandBaptisteries inCorinth 87 Baptismand theEarlyChristian community inCorinth Corinth, the famous city in the north-eastern Peloponnese, was an important centre of Greek cultural andcommercial life, destroyed in 146BCbyLuciusMummius.After aperiodof reduced urban life, itwas re-foundedby theRomansas a colony in44BC. In 27BC, Corinthbecame the capital andadministrativecentreof theRomanprovinceofAchaia.15 Inaddition to local inhabit- ants andmigrants, Corinthwas inhabited byRomanveterans and freedmen from leading fami- lies. Its locationattractedmanymerchants; thecitysawremarkablegrowthandbecamethe ‘first’ city of Greece, as John Chrysostom called it in the 4th century AD.16 During the 1st century AD, whentheChristiangospel reachedCorinth,asignificantnumberof cultsofGreek,Roman,Egyp- tian, and local godswas already established in the city. Corinth also had a Jewish community, andClarionApollonwasveneratedas theancestor-Godof theEmperorAugustus.17 ThecommunityofChrist believers addedanother typeof cult to thisdiversity. Initially, this cultwasalmost invisible tooutsiders, as it lackeda sacral buildingor a special buildingexclu- sively for reunions. In reconstructing the early community of Christ believers inCorinth– their gatherings, preaching, andpractises –weonly have a fewwritten sources at our disposal: the letters of Paul to theCorinthianswritten in the early 50s (1 Cor and 2Cor); a notice in theActs of theApostles onPaul coming to Corinth (Acts 18, 1–18),written after AD 70; the letter of the church of Rome to that in Corinth, the so-called First Clement (written about AD 100); finally, fromEusebius (AD 260/64–339/340), quotes andobservations concerning the churchhistorian Hegesippus,who travelled toRomebywayofCorintharoundAD160, andBishopDionysiosof Corinth,whoofficiatedaroundAD170. Afterhaving foundedcommunitiesofChristbelievers inGalatia,Philippi,Thessaloniki,and Beroia, Paul came to Corinth in AD 51/52 for the first time18 and founded19 a community of Christ believers there, which he visited again in around AD 55.20 The author of Acts 18, 7–8 describes how he imagined Paul’s first stay in Corinth: he left there [i.e. the synagogue] and went to the house of amannamedTitius Justus, aworshiper of God.His housewas next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household.Andmanyof theCorinthianshearingPaul,believedandwerebaptized.21 Titius Justus, a so-calledworshiperofGod (sebomenos tou theou),wasapaganmanwhowasattracted to the Jewish religion and finally by Paul’s preaching on Jesus. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, was also converted to the Christian gospel and baptised. His conversion, however, was not imitated by many of his kinsfolk. At the end of Paul’s stay, after 18 months (Acts 18, 11), a significant part of the Jewish community no longer tolerated Paul’s preaching andbrought an indictmentagainsthim.This led tocourt action,presidedoverby theproconsulGallio (Acts 18, 12–17).22 We do not know if this story told by the author of Acts reflects historical facts, but Paul’s preaching in the synagogue is quite probable, while the existence of Jews in Corinth is attestedbyPhilo.23 ThenameofCrispus ismentionedbyPaulhimself,whoconfirmsbaptising Crispus in 1 Cor 1, 14.24 Paul does notmentionhowheperformed the baptism, but fromother 15 OntheurbandevelopmentofCorinth in imperial times, seeFouquet 2019, 28f.,who is critical about thestatus of Corinthas capital of thenewprovince. 16 PG61, 9. 17 Bookidis 2005, 151–163; for domestic cults, seeEhrensperger 2016, 108–119. 18 Koch 2014, 256f. 19 Possibly therewere alreadyChristians inCorinthwhoPaul gathered into a community; seeKoester 2000, 118. 20 Koch 2014, 266. 21 All translationsof theNewTestament texts in this article are from theEnglishStandardVersion (ESV). 22 Koch 2014, 567–571. 23 Phil. Legat. 281. Jos. BI. 3, 540mentions that Vespasian (AD 9–79) sent 6,000 young Judaeans fromMagdala tohelpwith thebuildingof the canal through the Isthmusof Corinth. 24 Lüdemann1989, 203f., argues that the identityof the twomenandthe JewishbackgroundofCrispus ishistori- cally credible.On thehistorical credibility of the conversionof Titius Justus, seeLüdemann 1989, 203.