Books by Barbette Stanley Spaeth
The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Mediterranean Religions, ed. by Barbette Stanley Spaeth (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge and New York 2013)
The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology, by Don Nardo; consulting editor Barbette Stanley Spaeth (Greenhaven Press, Inc.: San Diego 2002)
The Roman Goddess Ceres (University of Texas Press: Austin 1996)
Articles by Barbette Stanley Spaeth
Biblical Archaeology Review, 2023
IN 1 CORINTHIANS 6, Paul addresses sexual misconduct among the members of the early Christian com... more IN 1 CORINTHIANS 6, Paul addresses sexual misconduct among the members of the early Christian community, singling out those who frequented prostitutes (pornai). He states that the body of a Christian should not be joined with that of a prostitute (porne), explaining that the Christian body is a temple of the Holy Spirit bought for a price, that is, Jesus's suffering and death, implicitly contrasting the Christian body with that of a prostitute, bought for a paltry sum. This striking juxtaposition of prostitute, temple, and payment for the body has led some to think that Paul had in mind sacred prostitution, the performance of sex acts for payment connected with the worship of a divinity, as practiced in Roman Corinth.
This article reexamines two blocks with archaistic reliefs found southwest of the forum of
Roman ... more This article reexamines two blocks with archaistic reliefs found southwest of the forum of
Roman Corinth in the mid to late 1970s. These blocks are dated to the Augustan period by
style and have three divinities represented on each. I propose that the figures represented
on the reliefs should be identified as Roman gods, not Greek ones as all previous scholarship
has claimed. This proposal leads to new identifications of the figures represented
on the reliefs: the Genius and Fortuna of the Colony, Ceres, Liber, Libera, and Minerva,
who represent the tutelary gods of the Early Roman colony. I offer a new suggestion for
the function and location of the monument to which these reliefs originally belonged: an
open-air sanctuary of the gods of the colony, located to the north of the Long Rectangular
Building. This new interpretation of the reliefs also suggests some correctives to the
methodology of iconographic interpretation in classical art and the conception of the
cultural and religious identity of Corinth in the Roman period.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Abstract This article offers a new interpretation for the relief panel located at the southeast corner of the Ara Pacis Augustae and for a related relief from Carthage based upon a detailed reexamination of their iconography. For the Ara Pacis relief, the type and attributes of the central figure point to her identification as Ceres, with possible polysemantic reference to this divinity's cultic connections with Tellus and Venus. The two side figures in the Ara Pacis relief are identified as a Nereid (sea nymph) and a Naiad (freshwater nymph). These divinities were associated in myth, cult, and art with Ceres. The identification of Ceres and the nymphs in this panel is shown to have significant implications for the interpretation of the sculptural decoration of the Ara Pacis as a whole, its place in the larger program of the Campus Martius, and Augustan political propaganda in general. In the similar relief from Carthage, Demeter/Ceres, Persephone, and Poseidon are identified in a scene that reflects the celebration of the Thesmophoria at the spring Kyane near Syracuse. The Syracusan cult of Demeter and Persephone was imported to Carthage in the fourth century and revived with the foundation of the Roman colony at Carthage in the middle of the first century B.C. It is proposed that the colonists erected a copy of the Ceres relief of the Ara Pacis, changing it to reflect the local cult of the Cereres.* INTRODUCTION The restored relief panel located at the southeast corner of the Ara Pacis Augustae has occasioned much controversy (fig. 1).1 This panel has been recognized as one of the most significant reliefs of this important monument.2 In the center of the relief is portrayed a veiled female figure, crowned with a wreath of wheat and poppies. She is dressed in a long, thin dress, which is slipping off her right shoulder, and wears a heavier robe pulled up over her head as a veil. Her hair is piled on her head, except for two strands that flow down onto her shoulders. She sits upon a rocky throne and holds in her lap two children * The origins of this article lie in a research paper I wrote for a graduate seminar directed by John Pollini at Johns Hopkins University. In 1985, I presented an early version of my theory regarding the Ara Pacis relief at the 87th Annual Meeting of the AIA (see AJA 90 [1986] 210, abstract).
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . The American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. This content downloaded from 128.239.118.62 on Tue, 15 Jul 2014 16:03:21 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ATHENIANS AND ELEUSINIANS IN THE WEST PEDIMENT OF THE PARTHENON (PLATE 95) T HE IDENTIFICATION of the figures in the west pediment of the Parthenon has long been problematic. I The evidence readily enables us to reconstruct the composition of the pediment and to identify its central figures. The subsidiary figures, however, are rather more difficult to interpret. I propose that those on the left side of the pediment may be identified as members of the Athenian royal family, associated with the goddess Athena, and those on the right as members of the Eleusinian royal family, associated with the god Poseidon. This alignment reflects the strife of the two gods on a heroic level, by referring to the legendary war between Athens and Eleusis. The recognition of the disjunction between Athenians and Eleusinians and of parallelism and contrast between individuals and groups of figures on the pediment permits the identification of each figure. The reference to Eleusis in the pediment, moreover, indicates the importance of that city and its major cult, the Eleusinian Mysteries, to the Athenians. The reference reflects the development and exploitation of Athenian control of the Mysteries during the Archaic and Classical periods. This new proposal for the identification of the subsidiary figures of the west pediment thus has critical I This article has its origins in a paper I wrote in a graduate seminar directed by Professor John Pollini at The Johns Hopkins University in 1979. I returned to this paper to revise and expand its ideas during 1986/1987, when I held the Jacob Hirsch Fellowship at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. In the summer of 1988, I was given a grant by the Committee on Research of Tulane University to conduct further research for the article. I express my sincere gratitude to the Tulane Committee on Research and to the American School of Classical Studies for their support. I also thank the following persons for their invaluable assistance with my research and the writing of this article: . Without their suggestions, criticisms, and encouragment, this article would not have been completed. Works frequently cited are abbreviated as follows: Becatti,"Postille" = G. Becatti, "Postille partenoniche," ArchCl 17, 1965, pp. 54-78 Brommer, Skulpturen = F. Brommer, Die Skulpturen der Parthenon-Giebel, Mainz 1963 Carrara, Eretteo = P. Carrara, Euripide: Eretteo, Florence 1977 Harrison, "U" = E. Harrison, "U and Her Neighbors in the West Pediment of the Parthenon," in Essays in the History of Art Presented to Rudolf Wittkower, London 1967, pp. 1-9 Jeppesen, "Bild" = K. Jeppesen, "Bild und Mythus an dem Parthenon," Acta Arch 34,1963, pp. 1-96 Kron, Phylenheroen = U. Kron, Die zehn attischen Phylenheroen. Geschichte, Mythos, Kult und Darstellungen, Berlin 1976 Kron, "Erechtheus" = U. Kron, s.v. Erechtheus, LIMC IV, i, 1988, pp. 923-951 Lacore = M. Lacore, "Euripide et le culte de Poseidon-Erechthee," REA 85, 1983, pp. 215-234 Murray = A. Murray, The Sculptures of the Parthenon, London 1903 Richardson, Hymn = The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, N. Richardson, ed., Oxford 1974 Toepifer, Genealogie = I. Toepifer, Attische Genealogie, Berlin 1889 Weidauer, "Eumolpus" = L. Weidauer, "Eumolpus und Athen. Eine ikonographische Studie," AA (JdI 100) 1985, pp. 195-210 This content downloaded from 128.239.118.62 on Tue, 15 Jul 2014 16:03:21 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions implications for the interpretation of the pedimental composition as a whole and its role in Athenian propaganda of the Periclean period. THE EVIDENCE Although the explosion of 1687 caused serious damage to the west pediment and its sculptures, the surviving fragments of the sculptures and the Carrey drawings of the pediment (P1. 95), which predate the explosion, enable us to reconstruct the composition (Fig. 1).2 The pedimental composition is divided into three main groups: a central group, portrayed in violent motion, and on either side of this group a collection of figures portrayed at rest, watching the action of the center. From Pausanias (1.24.5) we know that this scene is the contention of Athena and Poseidon for Attica.3 Apollodoros (Bibl. 3.14.1) relates the details of this strife.4 The two divinities disputed the possession of Attica during the reign of King Kekrops. They each produced a sign indicating that they had taken possession of the city: Poseidon, by striking his trident on the ground, brought forth a salt spring; Athena produced an olive tree. A dispute then arose between the two gods, and Zeus appointed a judge: either one of the Attic kings (Kekrops, Kranaos, or Erysichthon), or the twelve gods. Athena was adjudged the winner of the contest, and Poseidon flooded the Thriasian plain in revenge. From this evidence and other literary and artistic depictions of the myth, all of which postdate the Parthenon, the figures of the central group of the pediment have been identified with reasonable certainty as Athena (Figure L) and Poseidon (Figure M), the charioteers Nike (Figure G) and Amphitrite (Figure 0), and the messenger gods Hermes (Figure H) and Iris (Figure N).5 2 The sculptures of the west pediment are published in Brommer, Skulpturen, pp. 30-61, pls. 81-131. For a bibliography of all work on the Parthenon and its sculptures up to 1984, see "Parthenon-Bibliographie," in Parthenon-Kongress Basel. Referate und Berichte 4. bis 8. April 1982, E. Berger, ed., Mainz 1984, pp. 459-495. For work on the sculpture of the west pediment since the publication of this bibliography, see the following: J. Binder, "The West Pediment of the Parthenon: Poseidon," Studies Presented to Sterling Dow on his 80th Birthday (GRBS Monographs 10), K. Rigsby, ed., Durham, North Carolina 1984, pp. 15-22; J. Boardman, The Parthenon and its Sculptures, London 1985; M. Wegner, "Wagenlenkerin der Athena aus dem Westgiebel des Parthenon," AM 101,1986, pp. 149-152; B. Cook, "Parthenon West Pediment B/C: The Serpent Fragment," in Kanon: Festschrift Ernst Berger (AntK Beiheft 15), M. Schmidt, ed., Basel 1988, pp. 4-7. The Carrey drawings are published in T. Bowie and D. Thimme, The Carrey Drawings of the Parthenon Sculptures, Bloomington, Indiana 1971. 3I use the word "contention" in this article in order to include both the actual contest of the gods and their later conflict over the results of that contest. As Erika Simon has shown in her article on the central group ("Die Mittelgruppe im Westgiebel des Parthenon," in Tainia: Festschriftfiur Roland Hampe, H. Cahn and E. Simon, edd., Mainz 1980, pp. 239-255), the actual moment depicted in the pediment is after the contest, when an angry Poseidon is attacking Attica; Zeus stops this conflict by hurling his thunderbolt between the two combatants. Simon's interpretation of the pediment recently has been corroborated in the discovery of a vase from Pella showing the thunderbolt between Athena and Poseidon. For the vase, see footnote 71 below. 20 H. Brunn, "Die Bildwerke des Parthenon," Kleine Schriften II, H. Bulle and H. Brunn, edd., Leipzig/Berlin 1905 (pp. 255-282), pp. 270-277. Brommer (Skulpturen, p. 182) gives a chart of Brunn's identifications. Since these identifications have been generally rejected, I do not cite them in my discussion of the identification of the individual figures below. 21 A. Furtwangler, Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture, E. Sellers, ed., London 1895, p. 458. On the question of attributes, see also footnote 17 above. 22 See, e.g., Robertson (footnote 19 above), loc. cit.; B. Ridgway, review of F. Brommer, Die Giebel des
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
Book Reviews by Barbette Stanley Spaeth
Portrait of a Priestess. Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece, by Joan Breton Connelly. American Journal of Archaeology Online Reviews 112.1 (January 2008):
Secular and Christian Leadership in Corinth: A Socio-Historical and Exegetical Study of 1 Corinthians 1-6, by Andrew D. Clarke, Review of Biblical Literature (December 2007)
The City Eleusinion. Athenian Agora Vol. 31 by Margaret Miles, American Journal of Archaeology 104 (2000) 141-142
The Insula of the Menander at Pompeii. Vol. I: The Structures by Roger Ling. Religious Studies Review 26.1 (2000) 81-82
Cybele, Attis, and Related Cults: Essays in Memory of M.J. Vermaseren, edited by Eugene N. Lane Religious Studies Review 26.1 (2000) 77
Mythology: The Great Myths of Greece and Rome, an interactive CD-ROM produced by ACTA-E.M.M.E. Interactive and Films for the Humanities & Sciences, Bryn Mawr Electronic Resources Review (18 March 2000)
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Books by Barbette Stanley Spaeth
Articles by Barbette Stanley Spaeth
Roman Corinth in the mid to late 1970s. These blocks are dated to the Augustan period by
style and have three divinities represented on each. I propose that the figures represented
on the reliefs should be identified as Roman gods, not Greek ones as all previous scholarship
has claimed. This proposal leads to new identifications of the figures represented
on the reliefs: the Genius and Fortuna of the Colony, Ceres, Liber, Libera, and Minerva,
who represent the tutelary gods of the Early Roman colony. I offer a new suggestion for
the function and location of the monument to which these reliefs originally belonged: an
open-air sanctuary of the gods of the colony, located to the north of the Long Rectangular
Building. This new interpretation of the reliefs also suggests some correctives to the
methodology of iconographic interpretation in classical art and the conception of the
cultural and religious identity of Corinth in the Roman period.
Book Reviews by Barbette Stanley Spaeth