DAMARIS (DAMARIDE, Δάμαρις, var. Δάμαλις).
- A woman converted by the preaching of St. Paul in Athens (Act. 17, 34).
Δάμαρις, as a woman’s name, is not found outside the New Testament; however, Damalis is found in Latin inscriptions (Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, Onomasticon, III, Leipzig 1918, p. 23), corresponding to Δάμαλις. As a common noun, this means “heifer.” The presence of D. at the meeting of the Areopagus has led some to suppose that she was a woman of questionable conduct, since Athenian custom, unlike Macedonian custom, excluded respectable women from such public assemblies. But the strictness of this rule had been considerably mitigated under the influence of Hellenistic culture.
On the other hand, strictly interpreting the text of the Acts, it is not stated that D. was converted as a result of Paul’s address at the Areopagus. If, as seems likely, Act. 17, 34 refers to Paul’s entire stay in Athens (Act. 17, 16-34), in order to give the outcome of Paul’s preaching in Athens, D. may also have belonged to the “God-fearers” encountered by the Apostle in the synagogue (17, 17), or, in any event, may have heard Paul somewhere other than at the Areopagus. There is no basis for saying that she was the wife of Dionisio, as Crisostomo thought (De sacerdotis, IV, 7: PG 48, 660). The form used by the Acts suggests no relationship between the two.
The Greeks commemorate her on 4 October.
Teodorico da Castel San Pietro