Description
Book SynopsisPerpetua 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 limitat
Trade ReviewBarbara Gold's discussion of Perpetua is a comprehensive evaluation of the extensive scholarship. * Raymond Van Dam, University of Michigan, Speculum *
Dr. Gold has provided the readers of the Passion with a clearly written, solid and balanced introduction to the Passion which will extend its readership to an even broader audience. Gold's years of judicious study provide the reader with an intelligent reading of masses of scholarship. Her notes are generous as she provides conflicting scholarly points of view and deftly sorts through them allowing the reader to make up his or her mind on an issue. * Thomas J. Heffernan, Analecta Bollandiana *
The book is thus a study not just of the historical Perpetua but of the literary one too; of the original woman and of the men who have successively rewritten her. * James Corke-Webster, Kings College London, Greece & Rome *
Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1: Perpetua's Passio: Text, Authorship, Authenticity Chapter 2: And I Became Male: Gender and The Athlete Chapter 3: A Matter of Genre and Influence: The Passio and Greco-Roman Pagan and Christian Narratives Chapter 4: Carthage: Pagan Culture, Religion, and Society in the Early Empire Chapter 5: Carthage: The Early Christian Community Chapter 6: Perpetua's Life: Family (Natal and Christian), Education, and Social Status Chapter 7: The Conditions of Martyrdom in the Roman Empire Chapter 8: The Nachleben of Perpetua: Her Unwitting Legacy Bibliography Passio Sanctarum Perpetuae Et Felicitatis
