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, Eric 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.

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

Reviews
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. * L. Stephanie Cobb, Church History *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198848875
Author Eric Rebillard
Format Paperback
Page Count 416
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 155mm * 21mm