Seite - 90 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

90 ChristianeZimmermann thian graves in Roman timesmight have been seen as the final resting place of the body and not as thegateway to theunderworld,43 thesebelieversmighthave sought–withoutbelieving in resurrection– to integrate their ancestors into thenewreligious communityof Christ believ- ers by baptismon their behalf and thus create a strong identity between theChristian and the physical family, including the ancestors.44 Baptism on behalf of the dead is not attested else- where inEarlyChristianityandseems tohavebeena localCorinthianspeciality in thedevelop- mentof thisEarlyChristian ritual. Itmight indeedhave itsmotivation in the specialCorinthian interest in the care for the dead,whowereno longermeant to travel into the underworld, but to stay in their graves. Quarrels inCorintharoundbaptismarethusattestedfromtheverybeginningsof thegather- ings of the Christ believers, andwhile baptism seems to be a premise for participating in the community of Christ believers, there seem tohavebeendifferentpractices andunderstandings of baptism inCorinth. AlthoughChristians inCorinthmet inprivate homes (1 Cor 16, 23),45 baptismprobably did not takeplace in residences, butwasperformed somewhereoutside: in the sea, under the run- ningwaterofaspring46or inoneof thebathsofCorinth.Most likely,placeswith runningwater andwater places not connectedwith themanypagan sanctuaries in the citywere preferred,47 aswere thermal baths.48 Useofwater inpagancults and thesemiotics ofwater inCorinth Thus, in contrast to the probably private gatherings of the first Christians, baptismwas an act initially visible tonon-Christians, too.Howwould theyperceivebaptism?Did theyusewater in their cults too?Whereas different archaeological data suggest ‘a varied and extensive use of water for cultic purposes’ as in the Asclepieion or in the cult of Demeter in the Greek era of Corinth,weseea ‘decline inthereligioususeofwater’ intheRomanperiod.49Thisphenomenon might suggest that baptismwould have appeared as a strange ritual in Roman Corinth.50 But pagansand JewswatchingChristiansbeingbaptisedsomewhere in runningwater inCorinthor 43 Slane 2017, 6. The consideration follows the information that Roman tombs of the northern cemetery did not yield any vessels, ‘which are usually interpreted as providing sustenance for the deceased on the journey to the underworld’. 44 DeMaris 1995, argues that baptism for the deadwas away ofmaintaining connections to ancestors for these Corinthians.Concannon2016, 100, lookingonmigrants interprets it ratherasa ‘vehiclewithwhichsomeCorinthi- ans connectedwith theancestral spirits of their homeland’. 45 ThehouseofGaiusapparentlyofferedenoughspace for theassemblyofallChristbelievers inCorinth (Rom16, 23); Koch 2014, 265f. Other houses offered space for at least smaller assemblies, cf. 1 Cor 16, 15 (house of Stepha- nas); Acts 18, 7f. Mell 2010, 42, assumes the house of Stephanas as the earliest meeting place of Christians in Corinth; cf. Horn 2008, 82–98.On the location of these places in Corinth, cf. Schowalter 2010, 335 f: ‘It is time to admit that our ability to distinguishpotential ekklesia space in the 1st centuryADCorinth is compromised for the immediate future by a lack of specific archaeological evidence’. Heid 2019, 69–160, has recently questioned the existenceof house churches radically. 46 Seen.61. 47 Early catacombpaintings showbaptismpractised inpublic placeswith runningwater, too: Jensen 2011, 5. 48 Cf. Pall. Dialogus de vita sancti Iohannis Chrysostomi 9, 162–166 (Sources Chrétiennes 341, 194–196); Brandt 2011, 1589f.; Fürst 2008, 170.On the thermal bathon the east sideof theLechaion street, seeFouquet 2019, 51f. 49 DeMaris 2008,48f. Thewaterbasinof theAsclepieion (close to thegymnasium)wascovered, the lustral room went out of use in Hellenistic times already. The bathing facilities of the Demeter and Kore sanctuary did not survive the sack of Corinth by theRomans. The Sacred Springwas obliterated inRoman times aswell.Wickkiser 2010, 56.Onwater basins in theAsclepieion, seeKobusch, this volume. 50 DeMaris 2008, 49.