The Roman Martyrs: Introduction, Translations, and Commentary by Michael Lapidge

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Roman Martyrs: Introduction, Translations, and Commentary by Michael Lapidge David L. Eastman Michael Lapidge The Roman Martyrs: Introduction, Translations, and Commentary Oxford Early Christian Studies Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018 Pp. 800. $140.00. In this volume Michael Lapidge presents forty passion accounts of Roman martyrs that he believes were produced between approximately 425 and 675 c.e. All these texts, he argues, are productions from periods much later than the events they allegedly describe. He finds nothing of historical value in these texts, and with a few exceptions, the martyrs praised are as fictitious as the accounts themselves. He thus places the entire body of texts within Hippolyte Delehaye's category of "epic passio" (18–19). According to his interpretation, these stories are vestiges of late antique attempts to promote pilgrimage to various places in and around Rome. Within this corpus he includes texts that were "composed to commemorate those martyrs who were venerated in intra-urban, titulus-churches, or whose remains could be visited in a prominent tomb or crypt in a suburban cemetery" (3). In the Introduction, he provides a list of all forty texts and the cultic site(s) to which each is connected. Some martyrs are transplants to Rome, such as Marius, Martha, Audifax, and Abacuc, Persians who came to Rome to venerate the saints and ended up being martyred. Others do not die in Rome, so the Roman connection is only implicit. The Passion of Anastasia, Chrysogonus, and Companions knits together stories of deaths in Aquileia, Sirmium, and elsewhere. However, because the cults of Anastasia and Chrysogonus were later transferred to Rome and connected to churches there, Lapidge includes the account. Lapidge presents his project as facing the obstacle of the texts themselves. Only one of the forty, the Passion of Anastasia, Chrysogonus, and Companions, is available in a critical edition, a fact that has caused many historians to ignore them. Lapidge laments the irony of this situation, given that the wealth of manuscripts of these texts attests to their popularity in the medieval period. He thus presents his best attempt at coherent English translations, with necessary additions and alterations, but without the accompanying Latin versions. He hopes that the presentation of the translations will "facilitate consultation of the Latin texts" (42) and thus prompt the further study merited by these texts. In the Introduction Lapidge discusses the nature of the evidence for trials of ancient Christians. He again reiterates his lack of confidence in the texts, suggesting that most are fabrications constructed on the models of proconsular acts and the passions of African martyrs. Each text is preceded by a short introduction explaining the alleged historical situation, any connection with other historical figures or sources, and the connection to a particular church, burial, or other pilgrimage site. The English translations are accompanied by textual and historical footnotes. Because information about many of these martyrs is so limited, there is little for Lapidge to add in some cases. In other cases, however, he untangles thorny issues. In introducing [End Page 334] the Passion of St Pancratius, Lapidge clarifies a complex transmission history that includes no fewer than four redactions (468–73). He also highlights important recurring themes, such as the repeated emphasis on suffering martyrdom in defense of one's virginity (e.g., Nereus and Achilles, Chrysanthus and Daria, Agnes and Emerentiana). The contributions of the volume are without question. Lapidge sets out to introduce his reader to a vastly understudied corpus of texts and to demonstrate the ubiquity of the late antique practice of producing martyrdom accounts to justify and promote cultic sites. He meets these goals effectively and has issued an invitation to study texts that have been so significant for cultic practice and Christian self-identity in Rome since late antiquity. However, the book does raise a few concerns. First of all, Lapidge seems largely unaware of martyrological literature prior to the fifth century. He describes the common structure of epic passions as including the healing of a member of a prominent Roman and the conversion of soldiers (19) but fails to recognize that these tropes are present in and likely taken from the Acts of Peter and...