Perpetua : athlete of God /
Perpetua was an early Christian martyr who died in Roman Carthage in 203 CE, along with several fellow martyrs, including one other woman, Felicitas. She has attracted great interest for two main reasons: she was one of the earliest martyrs, especially female martyrs, about whom we have any knowledg...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York, NY :
Oxford University Press,
[2018]
|
| Series: | Women in antiquity.
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | Perpetua was an early Christian martyr who died in Roman Carthage in 203 CE, along with several fellow martyrs, including one other woman, Felicitas. She has attracted great interest for two main reasons: she was one of the earliest martyrs, especially female martyrs, about whom we have any knowledge, and she left a narrative written in prison just before she went to her death in the amphitheater. Her narrative is embedded in a tripartite telling of the arrest and deaths of these martyrs, the Passio Sanctarum Perpetuae et Felicitatis. The other two parts of her tale were written by Saturus, a fellow martyr and probably her teacher, and a nameless editor or confessor, who introduces her circumstances and group and then tells of her death after she stops writing. Her story is steeped in mystery, and every aspect of her life and death has generated much controversy. Some do not believe that she herself could have written the narrative: the circumstances of her imprisonment and the limitations of her ability to write such a rhetorically complex tale are inconceivable. Some believe that her editor was none other then Tertullian, the famous 2nd-3rd century church father and Perpetua's fellow north African. Some, including Augustine, wonder why the feast day was named only for Perpetua and Felicitas and not for her fellow male martyrs. Some believe that these martyr tales were largely fabricated or constructed in order to generate publicity for the early Christians. |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (viii, 261 pages) : illustrations, maps |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and indexes. |
| ISBN: | 9780190905293 0190905298 9780190905316 019090531X |