"Just the Facts, Maam"

I've been reading "Associations, Synagogues and Congregations" by Philip Harland, Asst. Prof. of Christian Origins at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. It's a secular book examining the sociological aspects of 1st/2nd Century AD Graeco-Roman society in the East [primarily Asia Minor], via inscriptions and literature from that period. In general, I have avoided such sociological interpretations, mainly because of my educational background in Sociology. I find much of Sociology is based upon sheer speculation, rather than hard evidence. There's also an annoying tendency by modern sociologists to incorrectly apply modern sociological models to ancient societies. On the other hand, most of what is considered "Christian" literature is seldom backed up by any actual evidence either. Rather, there's a propensity to quote other Christian authors (who in turn are quoting still other Christian authors) as evidence, rather than looking for primary sources [archaeological, epigraphical, inscriptional, etc.] - such information ultimately ends up in Commentaries and study Bible notes, resulting in the perpetuation of false analyses from pulpits and in Bible studies. And that, unfortunately, greatly hinders an accurate understanding of the Bible.

An example of this would be a "proof" frequently cited concerning the corruption of 1st Century AD Corinth - the alleged practice of widespread temple prostitution connected to the Temple of Aphrodite on Corinth's acropolis [the Acrocorinth - see picture]. I've run across this in numerous Commentaries and study Bibles... but it's just not true! This assertion turns out to be based upon ONE sentence in ONE ancient writing - by Strabo (writing in the 1st Century AD) about a story he HEARD from someone concerning an alleged practice which supposedly occurred during archaic times in Greek Corinth. Ancient writers like Strabo and Herodotus didn't write "history" in the manner of modern historians. They included every story anyone ever told them - some of which may have been true or partly true, but much of which was fictional, or at least mythologized.

Even IF there had been such a practice in archaic times, which would have been contrary to practices everywhere else in archaic Greece, it certainly wasn't true by the 1st Century AD. The Romans under Lucius Mummius completely destroyed Greek Corinth in 146 BC. The city lay in ruins until Rome, under Julius Caesar, rebuilt it in 44 BC (102 years later!) and repopulated it with Roman veteran military colonists (as they also did in Philippi, btw). Greeks, Jews and Asiatics also settled there, but 1st Century AD Corinth was primarily a Roman city (as was Philippi). There was still a Temple of Aphrodite on the Acrocorinth in Paul's time, but it was much, much smaller [10 x 16 meters] and much less significant than in archaic times. The Roman colonists built temples more important to them - to Apollo, Athena Chalinitis, Poseidon, Herakles, Hermes, Venus-Fortuna (a very Roman version of Aphrodite) and Asklepios.

Were there prostitutes in Corinth? Absolutely. Paul speaks of it in 1Corinthians. Every Roman city had brothels, whether on Italian soil [Pompeii] or Provincial soil [Ephesus]. Nor was it unusual for men to use one of their own slaves in this capacity. [Some of whom actually ended up marrying their masters! We know that because of funereal inscriptions, giving considerable detail about the deceased's personal life.] But there is absolutely NO proof that there was temple prostitution in 1st Century AD Corinth. Not even Strabo suggested that! There are indications in some cities that particular temples may have owned slaves used as prostitutes as money-makers for the temple, but these slaves were NEVER involved in temple worship as priestesses, etc. It's just like the Roman Catholic church owned the brothels on the Left Bank of Paris at one time, as a fund-raising mechanism. [later replaced by Bingo... ;)]

There are some other issues that I'd like to write about, but this post has already exceeded the blogging attention span. So I'll save them for another time. I DO want to encourage you to read discerningly and make sure the author has primary evidence to back up his assertions. And if you ever have to write a paper about the ancient world, I hope you will dig a little deeper for factual information and not just quote another author as "proof".