Late Fourth Century Research Articles

New Music

Abstract The examination of ancient historical accounts of the development of rhythmopoiia in ancient Greek music and the analysis of the main rhythmical features associated with modernist composers of the late fifth-early fourth century BC show that the actual ‘novelty’ of New Music style in this field lies in a more consistent and elaborate use of existing resources rather than in the invention of new practices (perhaps, with the only exception of warbles). Among other passages, Ar. Th. 120-2 and Tim. PMG 791.229-33 are taken into deeper consideration.

The Shifting Roles of Wealth and Poverty in Jerome's Vision of Asceticism and the Call to Perfection, as Reflected in a Selection of His Works

ABSTRACTThis study considers the place of financial renunciation, voluntary poverty and almsgiving in Jerome's ascetic vision, and reveals a delicate balancing act in his advice to wealthy Christians contained in a selection of his letters and treatises. I will investigate the practical realisation of his vision by Jerome and his followers within the social, political and legal context of the late fourth and early fifth centuries CE. Scriptural injunctions mainly informed early Christians’ understanding of wealth and poverty. I interrogate Jerome's response to the teachings of Jesus in connection with care for the poor: Who was to benefit from almsgiving—the donor or the recipient? Was there a self-interested dimension in financial renunciation and almsgiving? Was Jerome consistent in his advice to those who embraced financial asceticism? The dominical command to perfection was the cornerstone of Jerome's ascetic exhortations. Special attention will be given to Jesus Christ's advice to the rich young man (Matt. 19:16–30, with parallels in Mark 10:17–31 and Luke 18:18–30). Finn and Dunn, respectively, have investigated Jerome's references to this passage. However, Jerome's interpretation of this dominical command and the “call to perfection” deserves attention. What did Jerome consider to be “the attainment of perfection,” was he consistent in his advice, and were there any underlying motivations in his encouragement of dispossession by wealthy Christian ascetics? This article seeks to answer these questions through a study of a selection of Jerome's works, addressed to different persons according to varying rhetorical strategies and with different purposes in mind.

Jude on the Attack: A Comparative Analysis of the Epistle of Jude, Jewish Judgement Oracles, and Greco-Roman Invective by Alexandra Robinson

Reviewed by: Jude on the Attack: A Comparative Analysis of the Epistle of Jude, Jewish Judgement Oracles, and Greco-Roman Invective by Alexandra Robinson John Painter alexandra robinson, Jude on the Attack: A Comparative Analysis of the Epistle of Jude, Jewish Judgement Oracles, and Greco-Roman Invective (LNTS 581; London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2017). Pp. xix + 251. $114. This book bears the marks of Robinson's Ph.D. thesis (Macquarie University, 2016; supervised by Larry Welborn and Stephen Llewellyn). It is systematically detailed but at times unidiomatic in its expression. It follows a clear plan set out in the introduction (chap. 1) and in each new section/chapter. This is clear, if at times tedious. In the introduction, she deals with matters presupposed in her treatment. She notes that Jude's authenticity was disputed in the late fourth century because of its use of the pseudepigraphic Book of Enoch. The evidence for this is found in Jerome's De viris illustribus 4, in his brief account of Jude. Jerome notes that, because the epistle "quotes from the book of Enoch it is rejected by many" (NPNF: Theodoret, Jerome, Gennadius, and Rufinus [ed. Philip Schaff; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1892]). In response she correctly notes that 1 Enoch is one of the most commonly attested works at Qumran and that, at the time, there was no clear-cut recognition of canonical works as distinct from pseudepigrapha. Yet R. fails to note that the authenticity of Jude was questioned in the early fourth century (ca. 320 c.e.) because, like James and the other Catholic Epistles apart from 1 John and 1 Peter, it lacked early attestation (see Eusebius Hist. eccl. 2.23.24-25; 3.25.3). Though Jerome unashamedly drew on Eusebius for his pre-fourthcentury lives, he fails to note Eusebius's comments. R. briefly treats the question of authorship in chap. 2, but she concludes that it "is partially irrelevant" (p. 9). That "partially" exonerates R. from the necessity to justify the identification of the author as one of the brothers of the Lord, but she tentatively adopts this position without addressing the lack of [End Page 745] early attestation or adequately treating other related issues. R. rightly justifies ignoring overlaps with 2 Peter, recognizing the use of Jude by 2 Peter (pp. 10-11). Textual issues are reduced to choosing between NA27 or 28 in vv. 5 and 22-23, and only the latter makes much difference. In chap. 3 (and in the book as a whole), R. evidences a wide use of English-language literature. She notes the importance of "Greco-Roman and Jewish influences woven throughout the epistle" and, in preparation for the assertion of authorship by Jude, contends, quite rightly, that "Greek language and culture steadily infiltrated the entire Mediterranean . . . including Jewish Palestine" (p. 18). R. combines evidence of the sophisticated use of Greek vocabulary and genre with the assertion of the Jewish character of Jude and its evidence of the influence of Jewish traditions (pp. 20-21), elaborating the subtitle of the book as a comparative analysis of Jewish judgment oracles and Greco-Roman invective. In the introduction, R. asserts that Jude "is a polemical text which takes the form (structure, aims and style) of a typical Greco-Roman invective but is filled with Jewish content (themes and allusions), drawing on Israel's heritage for the benefit of his primarily Jewish-Christian audience" (p. 5). If the epistle is by Jude, the use of "Jewish-Christian" seems to be an anachronism, as it fits a time period later than the author to whom it is attributed. The main body of the book (chaps. 4–7) deals with Jude as the expression of Jewish judgment oracles and Greco-Roman invective from the perspective of structure (chap. 4), aims (chap. 5), themes (chap. 6), and style (chap. 7). Here R. makes detailed use of evidence of Greco-Roman invective to establish its presence in Jude and similarly offers evidence of Jewish judgment oracles to affirm their place in the document, and "how each genre broadly functions in relation to structure, aims, themes, and style" (p. 38). Robinson makes a good case for the...

Study of historical value mortars

The rehabilitation of buildings, or historic landmarks, has gained in importance over the years. It is increasingly important to safeguard the cultural identity and history of a country. In this research the mortars of the Roman city of Conimbriga were studied, being one of the oldest archaeological cities in Portugal. Conímbriga has its origin in a Celtic Castro of the tribe of the Conii, at the end of the Iron Age. It was occupied by the Romans from 139 BC. It was under the Emperor Augustus Empire, in the second century AD, that the city achieved its splendor, having then been built public baths and a Forum. With the decline of the Empire, in the late fourth century, a monumental defensive wall was erected, which did not prevent the assault of the city by the Suevi, in 468, and the consequent decline of the city. Large excavations carried out throughout the 20th century revealed a valuable and complex set of buildings, including thermal baths, an aqueduct that runs more than 3,400 meters from the source, and remains of a Christian basilica, probably from the 6th century. In this type of rehabilitation works the use of mortars was predominant, hence the importance of their study to know how they behave. In order for a rehabilitation intervention to be successful it is necessary to know the existing support in place to guarantee the compatibility of the materials. It was necessary to go “in situ” to collect the samples with the proper authorization of the Museum of Conimbriga. These mortar samples were analyzed and characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for further analysis. The composition of the samples will allow to adjust dosages and to choose a restoration mortar, as close as possible, to the one that was collected in order to preserve the maximum historical identity of the place.

"The Wailing of the People": The Lay Invention of Passion Piety in Late Antique Jerusalem

Affective devotion to the suffering Christ has long been understood by scholars as a development of medieval Christianity. Indeed, prior to the ninth century in Byzantium and the eleventh century in the Latin West, few if any theologians encouraged such devotion. Yet the journal written in the 380s ce by the nun Egeria during her pilgrimage to Jerusalem, describes an intensely affective devotion on Good Friday, including the "wailing of the people." This article contextualizes and explains this early evidence for devotion to the suffering Christ. It shows that contemporary Jerusalemite theologians actively tried to suppress such devotion. They sought to suppress this style of devotion because of a critical attitude towards grief that had been borrowed from Stoicism and assimilated into most late antique theology. Lay people, including Egeria, held different attitudes towards grief and maintained robust funerary traditions despite clerical admonitions. Already in the late fourth century, lay people in Jerusalem developed affective devotion to the suffering Christ by interpreting the Passion through the lens of popular mourning customs and in defiance of the clergy.

The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World by Bart D. Ehrman

Reviewed by: The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World by Bart D. Ehrman Lee M. Jefferson Bart D. Ehrman The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World New York: Simon and Schuster, 2018 Pp. 352. $28.00. In his new book, Bart Ehrman abandons the particular study of the historical Jesus and New Testament traditions, for the history of the early church writ large. In The Triumph of Christianity, Ehrman puts on the hat of social historian and offers his own contribution to the debate over how and why this diverse [End Page 143] messianic movement evolved from an initial scattered following to the official religion of the Empire in the late fourth century. Church historians have long argued that the rise of Christianity as the dominant religion of the Empire rested on Constantine and his recognition of Christianity as a religio. As Ehrman points out, this viewpoint regarding Constantine deserves to be destabilized. Ehrman relies upon Rodney Stark's data from his work The Rise of Christianity to chart the dramatic growth in the Christian population from the first century to the fourth century. But deviating from the Constantinian argument, Ehrman suggests that the "triumph" of Christianity in the fourth century was not entirely due to Constantine, rather Christian ascendance would have happened with or without Constantine's intervention. Ehrman begins his examination in a rather unexpected fashion by starting with the vision and "conversion" of Constantine in an initial chapter, then moving back to the first-century context by examining Paul. Ehrman focuses his first chapter on the vision of Constantine at the Milvian Bridge and his subsequent promotion of the Christian religion. Ehrman does an apt job weaving through the various testimonies regarding Constantine's vision (chi-rho, draped cross), and charts his rise to power. Here, Ehrman shows his strength as an author by distilling various historical sources into a very readable and accessible narrative about Constantine's ascension to the throne. However, here and elsewhere, Ehrman uses the language of conversion to describe Constantine and his attitude towards the Christians which is problematic given his well-documented background as a devotee of Sol Invictus. The notion that Constantine "converted" to Christianity is controversial, even admitted by the author, and Ehrman does suggest that Constantine was politically savvy enough to understand that his support of Christianity would have ramifications on traditional Roman cults. Ehrman argues that Constantine did not aim to coerce others to convert; rather he supported peaceful conversion to the new religio. There are noticeable gaps in Ehrman's depiction of Constantine, as the emperor embodies the henotheism that Ehrman describes but it is still unclear where Constantine's true allegiance lies. The following chapter treats a subject that is more in the author's wheelhouse: the apostle Paul. Ehrman situates Paul into his first-century context and provides a brief overview of his life, thought, and impact on the Jesus movement in the first century. Ehrman states that Paul was the most important convert of Christian history (even more so than Constantine), but again the language of conversion is problematic since there was no "Christianity" for Paul to convert into. Rather, Ehrman acknowledges Paul's contribution as opening up the understanding of salvation through Jesus's death and resurrection as not tied to Jewish identity but open to gentiles. This chapter is almost an abstract of other works Ehrman has written on Paul. The thesis of the book, however, demands a more thorough treatment of this figure and his contribution to the movement. Ehrman's most useful and successful chapter treats the immediate context of religion in the Roman world, conversion, and engagement of Judeo-Christianity with polytheism. This chapter exemplifies how Ehrman continually engages both scholarly and general audiences. He describes the pluralism of the Roman Empire in detail and succinctly describes the difference in worldview between monotheists like Jews and Christians, and Roman polytheists. Although the language he [End Page 144] employs could be aided by some religious theorists such as J. Z. Smith, Ehrman does a useful job of explaining how polytheists worked their religion differently than their monotheistic neighbors who would soon...

Sacred Stimulus: Jerusalem in the Visual Christianization of Rome by Galit Noga-Banai

Reviewed by: Sacred Stimulus: Jerusalem in the Visual Christianization of Rome by Galit Noga-Banai Maya Maskarinec Galit Noga-Banai Sacred Stimulus: Jerusalem in the Visual Christianization of Rome Oxford Studies in Late Antiquity New York: Oxford University Press, 2018 Pp. 256. $85.00. Noga-Banai's Sacred Stimulus is written to engage two types of readers: the art historian and the historian. Art historians will relish in the precision with which Noga-Banai presents and describes mosaics, sarcophagi, wall paintings and other visual material, her constructive engagement with older scholarship (helpfully well-documented in the extensive footnotes), and the nuanced and surprising readings that emerge. These are case studies that can productively be read on their own terms, even as they are interwoven into a larger and more ambitious historical thesis about the subtle, but significant influence of the earthly Jerusalem on art in Rome in the fourth to mid-fifth century. This review focuses on that thesis from a historian's perspective. Noga-Banai's preface begins with a charming vignette of a modern sculpture, "Second Temple: Jerusalem-Rome-Jerusalem," overlooked by all but the most attentive (or well-informed) viewers: a concave hourglass carved into a sidewalk in what was formerly the Jewish ghetto of Rome. This "miniment," as its artist Micha Ullman terms it, though easy to overlook, is nevertheless subtly present in the urban fabric of the city. Similarly, so Sacred Stimulus argues, Jerusalem was present, as a visual idea, in late antique Rome—despite the fact that, as the author readily admits, its traces are as difficult, if not more, to identify. Most ambitiously, Noga-Banai contends that careful visual analysis can reveal an engagement with Jerusalem—and even a shifting argument about its meaning and importance vis-à-vis Rome—that has left no trace in the textual record. As she eloquently expresses it, "Visual rhetoric can help us to see the absence of words and decipher the presence of silence" (5). In itself this is a plausible and credible thesis, even if readers will not all be equally persuaded by the specific relationships between Rome and Jerusalem that Noga-Banai posits. The starting points for Noga-Banai's analysis are a historical claim, namely that "[i]n order to stake its claim to be the head of the Church . . . Rome had to overcome [not only Constantinople but] another much more complicated obstacle as well: Jerusalem" (4), and a first-century Roman monument: the Arch of Titus and its representation of the Temple spoils. Rome's claim to these sacred treasures, in addition to Rome's acquisition of relics of the True Cross, were, according to Noga-Banai, the stimuli for Rome's attempts to establish its superiority to Jerusalem. Specifically, in chapter 1, she suggests that the presence of a copy of the Mosaic law in Rome influenced late fourth-century depictions of the Dominus legem dat scene as found in a mosaic from the mausoleum of S. Constanza and a wall painting from the catacomb under the Villa Torlonia. With respect to the S. Constanza mosaic she argues that it "pictures the significant eschatological event of ingathering, which is to take place on Mount Zion, as in [End Page 338] fact taking place in Rome" (29). Then in chapter 2, in a similar vein, she draws a relationship between Roman compositions showing the adoration of the elevated Christogram by Peter and Paul and Cyril of Jerusalem's account that emphasizes Jerusalem as the home of the True Cross. In turn, Noga-Banai posits that there was a change in Rome's relationship to Jerusalem from the late fourth century onward, once "Rome finally established itself as a pilgrimage center as sacred as Jerusalem" (139). This trajectory is explored through Pope Damasus's attention to martyrs' tombs (juxtaposed with Cyril of Jerusalem's efforts to "Christianize" Jerusalem), the imperial reconstruction of S. Paolo fuori le Mura, and portable art of the fifth century. Depictions of Christian Jerusalem in fifth-century Rome (in the mosaics of S. Pudenziana and S. Maria Maggiore and the architecture of S. Stefano Rotondo) register, according to Noga-Banai, Rome's embrace of Jerusalem "with the strong arm of...

Ammianus Marcellinus’ Future Signs

Predicting the future is contentious. In the fourth century competing claimants tried to define who could consult the signs and interpret them. Ammianus' use of future signs in his history, especially in the Julianic books, responds to this contemporary debate. His Julian interprets them correctly in his struggles with Constantius II but then fails to do so during his disastrous Persian campaign. Future signs continue to feature in the narrative after Julian's death. This article argues that Ammianus' abundant use of future signs is a distinct feature of his work that should be read in a late fourth century context.

Late Roman Potter

The Roman theatre in Nicaea is the most famous and well preserved monument from the Roman Imperial Period which was built under the supervision of the Bithynia governor, Plinius, during the rule of Trajan.1 The examined Late Roman pottery was found in a rubbish dump which covered the theatre. Following the stratigraphy and dating of the dump it is estimated to be from between 368 A.D. and 557 A.D. There is a renovation of the colonnaded gallery probably after the earthquake of 368 A.D. which is mentioned in the records.2 Many coins of the fourth century A.D. which were found during excavations might also be related with this renovation. But further earthquakes resulted in the theatre being gradually destroyed and abandoned. It seems that the theatre was used as a rubbish dump after the late fourth century A.D. until the earthquake of 557 A.D. A great number of African Red Slip ware has been found in this fill of the theatre. The main ceramic types are plates and bowls –Hayes Forms 53, 61 and 67– which have recently been classified as Africana D by S. Tortorella. A small group of Phocean Red Slip Ware “Late Roman C”, mainly bowls, dated to early in the 4th century until its disappearance in the third quarter of the sixth century A.D. have also been attested in the theatre of Nicaea. There is some “Eastern Sigillata C”, mainly in Hayes 3, also discovered in this dump. We have discovered some Light Colored Ware fragments in the Nicaea theatre which appear to be quite similar to the ones found in Parion. Recently E. Ergürer has published a group of Light Colored Ware dated between the fifth early sixth centuries A.D. from Parion.3 The production center of this ware is not securely determined so far but it is interesting to note that this ware is quite common both in Bithynia, Propontis and the Troad. As a result the aforementioned wares, which are treated for the first time in Nicaea, were found in the same rubbish dump over the theatre and are dated between the late fourth century and third quarter of the sixth century A.D.

The Military History of Qin and the Composition of Its Expeditionary Forces (秦國戰役史與遠征軍的構成)

From the late fourth century b.c.e. onward, the state of Qin launched several long-term military expeditions. If, however, the army had consisted of “alternating garrisons” (gengshu 更戍) serving a maximum enlistment of one year, such expeditions could not have been carried out. The author thereby argues that the term “surplus garrisons” (rongshu 冗戍) seen in the Liye Qin manuscripts designates long-term conscripts, with which Qin managed to sustain its long-term military operations. 公元前四世紀末期以後，秦國屢次進行長時段軍事遠征。如果兵士是以最長爲一年的任期而輪換的“更戍”，就不能完成這樣的軍事作戰。筆者推測，里耶秦簡所見“冗戍”是長期從軍的應徵兵。利用冗戍的兵力，秦國得以維持了長期軍事活動。

As Matronas da Igreja de Roma na Antiguidade Tardia

No presente trabalho iremos apresentar no movimento ascético nos Cristianismos e as relações de gênero existente nessas tendências religiosas na Antiguidade tardia. Demonstrar-se-á as características e as formas de ascese cristã, a renúncia sexual e, por fim, as mulheres na Igreja de Roma em finais do século IV E.C. Essas matronas lideraram um significativo movimento monástico na cidade de Roma, protagonizados pelas mulheres ricas da aristocracia, as viúvas Marcela e Paula, na região de Aventino. Além disso, essas mulheres foram tuteladas pelo monge Jerônimo de Estridão que pode compartilhar a experiência ascética radical do deserto da Síria, o ensino das Letras Sagradas cristãs e línguas orientais.

UBC Excavations of the Roman Villa at Gerace, Sicily: Results of the 2016 Season

A third season of excavation at the Roman rural estate of Gerace (Enna province, Sicily) took place in 2016. In the small late Roman villa of c. ad 370/375, the entire surviving length of the south corridor was uncovered for the first time; it is floored in polychrome geometric mosaic. Of particular interest is a mosaic “welcome mat” at the entrance, where a foot measuring-rod is depicted. The overall dimensions of the adjacent basilican storehouse, destroyed in the mid-fourth century before the construction of the late Roman villa, were established, and the use of the Greek Samian foot-unit in its design confirmed. Preliminary investigation of a kiln yielded bricks stamped with the name of Philippianus; others nearby record a separate name, Cn […] Cylin[drus]. In the northern part of the site, part of a well-preserved bath-house was excavated, including portions of two heated rooms and two adjacent hot-water pools. Its walls stand up to 2.30 m high; there were geometric mosaics on the floors and marble veneer on the walls. The date is uncertain (late fourth century?). On decommissioning, the baths were stripped of reusable material, including tubuli and the large bricks spanning the gaps between hypocaust pilae; to extract the latter the mosaic floors were smashed. Over 200 terracotta vaulting tubes used in roofing came from one of the pools. The end of the baths occurred sometime in the second half of the fifth century ad. Of the sixth- and seventh-century rural settlement which succeeded the élite structures, a portion of building with a paved yard and external staircase to an upper floor was also excavated.

Missional Concern in the Liturgy of the Word of the Fourth-Century Jerusalem Church

The study is concerned with missionary nature observed in the liturgy of the Word performed in the late fourth-century Jerusalem church, concerned with Christian genesis of the liturgy of the Word. The study assumes that the liturgy of the Word has a genuinely Christian origin, a missional concern to the world. This assumption is not meant to preclude other possible views on the origin and features of the liturgy of the Word, but to bring into focus that less acknowledged aspect. The central claim of the study is that the Jerusalem liturgy of the Word in the end of the fourth century is a paradigmatic model for that aspect. The paper is divided into two major sections. In the first, the author sketches three assumed origins of the liturgy of Word: eucharistic context, Jewish synagogue worship, and Christian missional concern. Though all three elements together may have constituted the original Christian liturgy of the Word, the author assumes that the last one is more crucial than others, at least to understand the unique Christian nature of the liturgy of the Word, as in Jerusalem of the late fourth century. The author’s argument is not to be conclusive. The intention is a framework for the next section. In this, the author analyzes features of the liturgy of the Word in the late fourth-century Jerusalem Church, described in Egeria’s pilgrimage report, features characterized primarily by the indiscriminative mixed assembly, on the one hand, and the catechumen-centered liturgy, on the other.

PERFORMING MIRACLES: THENATALICIAOF PAULINUS OF NOLA AS POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT

Paulinus of Nola might not be very widely read today, even among professional classicists, but he remains the most popular Latin poet in his adopted hometown. At the Christian basilica complex in Cimitile, near Nola, where Paulinus founded a community for ascetic devotees of the cult of St. Felix in the late fourth century, his poetry is still recited publicly on a number of festive days each year. On a recent visit to Cimitile, I found myself in the audience at one of thesenarrazioni, which had been organized as a prelude to the Festa dei Gigli, held annually in Paulinus’ honor on June 22. For a group of local residents, gathered around the tomb of Felix in thebasilica uetus, an actor read passages from an Italian translation of Paulinus’carmina, which were then subjected to theological exposition by the Vicar General of the Diocese of Nola. Even now, therefore, Paulinus’ poems, with their straightforward diction and everyday subject matter, are seen as an appropriate vehicle for inspiring religious devotion in the lay community. It is not difficult to imagine a similar scene at Cimitile when Paulinus himself was leading the festivities, 1600 years ago. Still, this modern recitation raises questions about how theNatalicia—that is, the series of poems he composed for Felix's feast day each January 14—were performed in their original context. Presumably, Paulinus would have delivered theNataliciaon his own, without the assistance of actors—but would he have recited all 858 verses ofNatalicium13 (for example), or would he only have presented excerpts? Would the readings have been supplemented by any commentary—theological, or even literary?

Something old, something new: the late antique mosaics from the catacomb of San Gennaro (Naples)

Naples assumed an important political and economic role within the region of Campania during the late antique period. LA-ICP-MS data of 285 glass tesserae from the catacomb of San Gennaro in Naples confirm that the surge in building activities in the late fourth and early fifth century CE was accompanied by imports of new materials for the production of mosaic tesserae. Our results from Naples identify a substantial number of Jalame-like Levantine glasses for which there is no parallel within the Italian Peninsula. Only few scattered examples of this type of base glass are found among the published data from Aquileia, Ravenna and the Villa of Faragola, pointing to a link between the supply of glass and the sites' connectivity and economic strength. This seems to have changed after the fifth century. Elemental analyses, combined with SEM-EDS and micro-Raman indicate that the mosaics dating from the fourth to the eighth/ninth century CE in the catacombs of San Gennaro were overwhelmingly made from reused first- to fourth-century Roman base glasses opacified with calcium antimonate. The reuse and recycling of Roman glass and Roman tesserae is a common feature of mosaic assemblages in Italy more generally. The definition of a Roman spectrum tesserae reference group revealed this dependence on old Roman material throughout the first millennium CE.

The Monastic Paradox: Desert Ascetics as Founders, Fathers, and Benefactors in Early Christian Historiography

Abstract This is a study of three literary sources from the late fourth and early fifth centuries CE that depict the rise of monasticism, the anonymous History of the Monks of Egypt, the History of the Monks of Syria by Theodoret of Cyrrhus, and Sozomen’s Church History. Although each of these texts conveys what Peter Brown has termed the “myth of the desert,” i.e. a portrayal of monks as being part of another world, I argue that the same texts also reflect a “myth of the city,” in which the monastic movement is depicted as a civic institution with regard to its foundation, regulation, and influence in the world. What these texts reflect is an attempt from the side of Christian authors to make sense of the multifaceted phenomenon that was monasticism, creating a conceptual space where different ascetic expressions come together as one, as ‘monasticism’ or as a desert city.

Vegetius and Taccola: Was medieval writing on war at sea of any practical use?

For much of the medieval period little time was devoted to the discussion of how war should be waged at sea. Discussion on war was often based on the writings of Flavius Vegetius Renatus, from the late fourth or early fifth century. His short treatise De re militari is based on the works of earlier Roman writers and many commentators consider that it contains very little original material. Its final section, however, contains 16 short chapters on naval warfare, which provide virtually the only advice on how to conduct war at sea in the medieval period. This article assesses whether this influenced medieval warfare at sea in practice. It also investigates whether it had any influence on the work of respected fifteenth-century engineer Mariano Daniello di Jacobo, known as Taccola. The machines featured in his De machinis bellicis reveal an inquiring and creative mind working on possible solutions to warfare at sea. His solutions were not actually adopted, but they do show an awareness of the problems related to effective weaponry and their use at sea. This article argues that his work should not be dismissed as just an amusing curiosity but as a way of dealing with real problems for which no technology was yet available to convert into reality.

The History of the ‘Slave of Christ’: From Jewish Child to Christian Martyr by Aaron Michael Butts, Simcha Gross

Reviewed by: The History of the ‘Slave of Christ’: From Jewish Child to Christian Martyr by Aaron Michael Butts, Simcha Gross Kyle Smith Aaron Michael Butts and Simcha Gross The History of the ‘Slave of Christ’: From Jewish Child to Christian Martyr Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2016 Pp. xii + 255. $60.00. A story about a boy who barges in on his father’s dinner party wearing a new golden earring sounds more like the plot of an after school special than a sophisticated literary text. But saints’ lives are weird, and it is the odd details that distinguish one hagiography from the next. In this case, it is the boy’s piercing—not an anointed forehead or a white alb—that visibly manifests his baptism and conversion to Christianity. The emphasis on the earring turns what would otherwise be a generic and forgettable story into the memorable account of a Jewish shepherd boy who becomes the “Slave of Christ.” The tale, impeccably translated from the original Syriac by Aaron Butts and Simcha Gross, unfolds in the late fourth century in the northern Mesopotamian city of Shigar, “while Magianism was still flourishing in the land of the Persians” (88). Eleven-year-old Asher ben Levi is the caretaker of one of his father’s flocks. Every day, he encounters a number of other boys at the local watering hole who are similarly tasked with their own fathers’ animals. While the beasts drink, the boys eat. Christians break bread with Christians, Magians with Magians, but [End Page 149] Asher—the only Jew—eats alone. He tries to join the Christians, but they push him away, claiming that Christians are not permitted to eat with Jews. One day, tired of being excluded, Asher points to the spring from which the animals are drinking and demands to be baptized in it. Of course, the boys demur, insisting that both a priest and a church are necessary, but Asher wins them over with a heartfelt speech. As he emerges from the waters smelling sweetly of holiness, the boys welcome him into their fold with kisses and honors “as a groom on the day of his wedding feast” (96). They rename him ʿAb̠da da-Mšiḥā, the “Slave of Christ.” To seal the irregular baptism (and to prevent the new convert from backsliding into Judaism), one of the boys removes his golden earring and proposes that it serve as a sign upon ʿAb̠da da-Mšiḥā. As the reader soon understands, when the now Christian shepherd boy returns home, all involved seemingly interpret the Mosaic law as prohibiting the piercing of ears, except among slaves—which is what ʿAb̠da da-Mšiḥā has just become. Despite this martyrdom narrative existing in two printed Syriac editions (both from the late nineteenth century) and multiple Syriac, Arabic (Garshuni), Armenian, and Georgian manuscripts, it is virtually unknown among historians of early Christianity. No doubt this is because the only other published study of it is a single article by J.-M. Fiey from the early 1960s. Butts and Gross have now substantively redressed this scholarly oversight and offered what will be a lasting contribution. In addition to an exhaustively footnoted critical edition and translation of the two streams of the Syriac text—both the early version and a later, but regrettably fragmentary, literary and theological elaboration—the authors provide the reader with an eighty-page introduction in which they discuss, among many other things, the development of the text, its literary devices and use of the Old Testament, and its connection to related literature in Greek and Latin, such as the legend of the Judenknaben recounted by Gregory of Tours, Evagrius Scholasticus, and others. In those legends, the “Jewish boy,” the son of a glass-blower, converts to Christianity and is nearly martyred in his father’s furnace. In the History of the “Slave of Christ,” the biblical inspiration is not Daniel 3 but Genesis 22. After ʿAb̠da da-Mšiḥā interrupts Shabbat dinner with the story of his conversion and piercing—a story that includes barbed criticism of all the Jews gathered there—his father unsheathes a knife, chases him to the spring...

La vie consacrée des femmes et l'ascétisme domestique. Normes, liturgies, pratiques (finive-débutxiiesiècle)

Female domestic asceticism between the late fourth and early twelfth century has been left in the shadows by historiography. Using the example of Jerome's circle of widows, virgins and chaste couples in Rome and its environs, the article notes the porosity between the different forms of consecrated life. The conciliar documentation, the hagiographic narratives and the charters attest that women continually led consecrated lives in the world, in their own home, but also in symbiosis and in the service of the masculine communities. Whether virgins or widows, they could engage in two ways, either publicly expressing their intention to remain chaste, or by submitting to the sanction of a liturgical ceremony. Discreet variations mark the differences between virgins and widows and between women withdrawn to a monastery or living at home, as observed in the late tenth-century Romano-Germanic pontifical.

Rome’s urban history inferred from Pb-contaminated waters trapped in its ancient harbor basins

Heavy metals from urban runoff preserved in sedimentary deposits record long-term economic and industrial development via the expansion and contraction of a city's infrastructure. Lead concentrations and isotopic compositions measured in the sediments of the harbor of Ostia-Rome's first harbor-show that lead pipes used in the water supply networks of Rome and Ostia were the only source of radiogenic Pb, which, in geologically young central Italy, is the hallmark of urban pollution. High-resolution geochemical, isotopic, and 14C analyses of a sedimentary core from Ostia harbor have allowed us to date the commissioning of Rome's lead pipe water distribution system to around the second century BC, considerably later than Rome's first aqueduct built in the late fourth century BC. Even more significantly, the isotopic record of Pb pollution proves to be an unparalleled proxy for tracking the urban development of ancient Rome over more than a millennium, providing a semiquantitative record of the water system's initial expansion, its later neglect, probably during the civil wars of the first century BC, and its peaking in extent during the relative stability of the early high Imperial period. This core record fills the gap in the system's history before the appearance of more detailed literary and inscriptional evidence from the late first century BC onward. It also preserves evidence of the changes in the dynamics of the Tiber River that accompanied the construction of Rome's artificial port, Portus, during the first and second centuries AD.