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Damaris is a woman mentioned in the New Testament, living around 55 AD in Athens, Greece. According to the Acts of the Apostles (), she embraced the Christian faith following the speech of Paul of Tarsus, given in front of the Athenian Areopagus. She might have been of high social status because only such women were allowed to assist the Areopagus meetings. This may be the reason why her name has been especially recorded.〔"Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Dictionary", Review and Herald Publ.Assn, 1979〕 Modern scholars also speculate that she may have been either a foreigner, since women of Athens would not likely have been present,〔Acts (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) Darrell L. Bock - 2007 "The reference to Damaris continues Luke's focus on the response of women (Acts 16:15; 17:4, 12). She may be a foreigner, since women of Athens would not likely have been present (Witherington 1998: 533)...〕 or a Greek ''hetaera'', an educated woman who provided companionship and intellectual stimulation to public figures.〔Josef Hainz, "Personenlexikon zum Neuen Testament. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft", Darmstadt 2004〕 The calendar of the Greek Orthodox Church describes her instead as a disciple of Dionysius.〔 == Name == There is no universal consensus about the meaning of her name. Apparently it is the Hellenization of the Celtic name Damara, the goddess of fertility. With the subsequent invasions of the Gauls to Asia Minor and their permanent establishment in the Galatia region, the intermixing of both Greek and Celtic cultures may have given birth to the "Graeco-Celtic" name "Damaris". This was very common in the Hellenistic culture developed by Alexander the Great and his successors. Following this pattern, Artemis of Ephesus, which had previously been assimilated with an ancient local goddess of fertility〔P. Grimal, ''Dictionnaire de la Mythologie Grecque et Romaine'', Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1979〕 happens to be the exact parallel with the Celtic deity. On the contrary, those who support the pure Hellenic origin of the name, state that it is the "modern" Hellenistic form (or contraction) of the classical name "Damarete",〔http://www.damarete.com/englishversion.htm〕 like Theron of Acragas's daughter who became the wife of Gelo of Syracuse. Others, instead, find it in the word "damalis" which in Greek language means "a heifer", hence the name.〔"Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary", Vol.VI, Review and Herald Publ. Assn., 1988〕 What is not subject to discussion, is that the Indo-European root of the name comes from the word "dompt"〔G.Mpampiniotis, "Lexikon tis Neas Ellinikis Glossas me scholia gia ti sosti chrisi ton lexeon", Kentro Lexikologias E.P.E., Athens 1998〕 meaning "dominant", so a suggested meaning would be "dominant woman".〔R.Graves, "The Greek Myths" Vol. II, Alianza Editorial (Madrid), 1985〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Damaris (biblical figure)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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