Greek and Latin Narratives About the Ancient Martyrs

This collection provides a textual basis for the study of martyr narratives without making assumptions about their date of composition or their authenticity. It focuses on the ancient martyrs (those executed before 260) and for each martyr examines which text was known to Eusebius or to Augustine.

About the author

Éric Rebillard is Professor of Classics and History, Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities, at Cornell University

Summary

Greek and Latin Narratives about the Ancient Martyrs provides a collection, with facing-page translations, of Greek and Latin Christian martyr narratives dating from the first four centuries CE. While Herbert Musurillo's authoritative collection The Acts of the Martyrs (1972) aimed to gather the most 'authentic' and 'reliable' accounts of early Christian martyrdom, Éric Rebillard argues that modern scholarship instead calls for texts which attest to the contexts in which the memories of the martyrs were constructed. As such, this extensive volume provides a textual basis for the study of martyr narratives without making assumptions about their date of composition or their authenticity. It focuses on the ancient martyrs executed before 260, and examines which of their texts was known to Eusebius or to Augustine. Introductions describe the hagiographical dossier of each martyr with crucial information about the manuscript tradition of the different texts and provide a terminus ante quem for their composition based only on external evidence.

Additional text

Rebillard is to be commended for such erudite examinations of the textual histories of these narratives and for translations that should become the new standard for these martyr accounts.

Product details

• Authors: Eric (Professor of Classics and History Rebillard
• Assisted by: Rebillard (Editor), Eric Rebillard (Editor), Éric Rebillard (Editor), Eric (Professor of Classics and History Rebillard (Editor)
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.08.2019
• EAN: 9780198848875
• ISBN: 978-0-19-884887-5
• No. of pages: 416
• Series: Oxford Early Christian Texts
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Christianity; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Biographies, autobiographies; BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Religious, HISTORY / Ancient / General, LITERARY CRITICISM / Ancient & Classical, RELIGION / Christian Church / History, Christianity, History of Religion, Biography: religious & spiritual, Literary studies: classical, early & medieval, Ancient History, Ancient history: to c 500 CE, Biography: religious and spiritual, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval, The Early Church