CLAS / HIST 4091 / 5091: The Roman Empire

Reading (12) for Monday Nov. 14, 2011: Martyrdom and Persecution

Reading

Eusebius History of the Church

II.1-3; 22-5 (p. 35-40; 57-63); III.17-20; 32-33 (p. 80-2; 95-7); IV.14-17 (p. 116-26); V.1-5 (p. 138-52); VI.39-45 (p. 208-19); VII.10-17 (p. 225-33); VIII.1-17 (p. 256-81)

Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas at (on e reserves at Norlin Library, password “romanempire”)

Today we are reading two sources related to the persecution of Christians by Roman authorities and the growth of the church in spite of these efforts to suppress it. We begin with Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History or History of the Church. Eusebius (c. AD 260-340) was bishop of Caesarea in Palestine (modern Israel) where he was active in church politics through the early 4th C. He had been trained under the learned Pamphilus to follow rigorous methods of textual and historical scholarship, and he employed his training for the composition of his Ecclesiastical History (EH). This work was the first of its kind, a comprehensive history dedicated entirely to the development of the Christian church. It was also, as we will see, the first historical source to quote directly from other sources in extenso (previous historians avoided direct quotation). Eusebius’ EH served as the basis and model for all subsequent church histories. It offers the best account available of the growth of the church from a tiny Jewish sect to the official imperial religion by Constantine after 312.

The second source we will examine is the Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas. Perpetua was a young woman living in North Africa when Septimius Severus issued an edict forbidding conversion to Christianity. When she went ahead with her baptism, she was arrested and put to death in the arena in Carthage on 7 March 203. Today we are reading the account which she herself wrote about the trials leading up to her murder. This constitutes not only one of the best sources for the Christian persecutions but also one of the best sources (probably the best source) for women in imperial Rome.

Questions

1. What charges did the emperors and their subjects bring against Christians? How did Christians defend themselves from these? Who were the enemies of early Christianity (first two centuries AD)?

2. Who were the major players in stimulating the growth of early Christianity? What classes and social groups did these come from? How did they work to spread the word?

3. How were Christians persecuted? What officials were charged with finding Christians and trying them? What techniques were used?

4. How systematic were the persecutions of Christians by Roman authorities? Did this change over time? Why did the sporadic persecutions of the Principate become organized and universal in the later third and early fourth centuries?

5. In the Great Persecution begun by Diocletian and his colleagues, note carefully which tetrarchs persecute and which do not and what their motives are alleged to be in each case. What are the main stages of the Great Persecution? How successful was it and what were its effects?

6. What were the trials and aspirations of the Christian martyr Perpetua? What were her social class and her position in life? How did she cope with her arrest and persecution? How did her family cope? What can her sufferings and dreams tell us about women in antiquity?