Damaris

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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 (17:34), she embraced the Christian faith following the speech of Paul of Tarsus, given in front of the Athenian Areopagus.

She might have been an influential high society lady because only this type of women were allowed to assist the Areopagus meetings. This is the reason why her name has been especially recorded.

According to Christian tradition she was Dionysius the Areopagite´s wife, and she is recorded to be his faithful assistant in organizing the incipient church when her husband became Bishop of Athens.

Apparently, for Luke the Evangelist, the event of having these elite citizens converted to the new faith was very important because it served as an example of depriving luxury and wealth in behalf of serving Christ.

As per her name, there is a certain debate among linguists about the origin and meaning, therefore about her ethnicity too.

Some stress that it is the Hellenization of the Celtic name Damara, the goddess of fertility. Apparently 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 gave birth to the "Graeco-Celtic" name Damaris. This was very common in the Hellenistic culture developed by Alexander the Great and his successors. Some identify the goddess Artemis of Ephesus 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, like Theron of Acragas's daughter who became the wife of Gelo of Syracuse. Others, instead, find the word "damalis", which in Greek language means "a heifer", the origin (and meaning) of the name.

What is no subject to discussion, is that the Sanskrit root of the name comes from the word "dompt", meaning "dominant", so a suggested meaning would be "dominant woman".

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Saint Damaris of Athens is celebrated on October 2 (for those Orthodox Christians who follow the Julian calendar, this currently falls on October 15 of the Gregorian calendar)