scholarly journals Community, Church, and Conversion in the Prefecture of Illyricum and the Cyclades

2019 ◽  
pp. 513-536
Author(s):  
Rebecca Sweetman
Keyword(s):  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Religious Conversion ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Churches ◽  
Network Connections ◽  
Rural Environments ◽  
Community Church

This chapter surveys, through a series of case studies, the material aspects of early Christianity in provinces in the dioceses of Macedonia and Asia (Achaea, Thessalia, Macedonia Prima, Macedonia Secunda, Creta, and the Cyclades now in modern Greece). While many of the urban spaces see some topographic changes in the fourth and fifth centuries, the biggest impact on both urban and rural environments is the construction of a diverse range of Late Antique churches. Church construction begins earlier in Macedonia and the islands than in the rest of mainland Greece, which reflects more diverse network connections in these areas. Within specific topographic regions (e.g., Crete, the Peloponnese), network connections play a role in the choice of church location, but the analysis of the spread of churches clearly indicates a steady process of religious conversion. The archaeology and topography of early Christian churches therefore provides a significant contribution to understanding processes of Christianization.

Geometric painting in late-antique Egypt: the ceiling of a 4th-c. church at Amheida (Dakhla Oasis)

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 449-466
Author(s):  
Nicola Aravecchia
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Western Desert ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Churches ◽  
Geometrical Shapes ◽  
Dakhla Oasis ◽  
Flat Roof

As part of an investigation of the use of geometric painting on ceilings in late-antique Egypt, this article will focus on the evidence found in a 4th-c. A.D. church at the polis of Trimithis (Amheida), located in the Dakhla Oasis of Egypt‘s Western Desert. Excavation in 2012-13 as part of a project directed by R. S. Bagnall highlighted the church‘s rôle for both cult and burials. Thousands of fragments of painted plaster, part of the church‘s collapsed flat ceiling, revealed a wide array of interlocked geometrical shapes in vivid colors, creating a visually dramatic contrast with the church‘s seemingly white walls. The polychrome decoration was probably meant to replicate the effect of a coffered ceiling. Similar geometric schemes are found elsewhere in the Western Desert in both domestic and funerary contexts, and there is evidence of other Egyptian Early Christian churches that had flat ceilings, but a flat roof with painted geometric decoration in the context of an Early Christian church is thus far unattested elsewhere in Egypt. This article will highlight the popularity and longevity of this decorative style in Egypt throughout the Roman period and well into late antiquity and will point to similarities between this type of ceiling decoration and Alexandrian models of the Ptolemaic period, as well as mosaic designs found throughout Mediterranean lands.

Christus Virgo

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-27
Author(s):  
Sissel Undheim
Keyword(s):  
Moral Status ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

The description of Christ as a virgin, 'Christus virgo', does occur at rare occasions in Early Christian and late antique texts. Considering that 'virgo' was a term that most commonly described the sexual and moral status of a member of the female sex, such representations of Christ as a virgin may exemplify some of the complex negotiations over gender, salvation, sanctity and Christology that we find in the writings of the Church fathers. The article provides some suggestions as to how we can understand the notion of the virgin Christ within the context of early Christian and late antique theological debates on the one hand, and in light of the growing interest in sacred virginity on the other.

Civilizations of the Supernatural: Witchcraft, Ritual, and Religious Experience in Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance Traditions

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Erotic Love ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Culture ◽  
The Relationship

Civilizations of the Supernatural: Witchcraft, Ritual, and Religious Experience in Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance Traditions brings together thirteen scholars of late-antique, medieval, and renaissance traditions who discuss magic, religious experience, ritual, and witch-beliefs with the aim of reflecting on the relationship between man and the supernatural. The content of the volume is intriguingly diverse and includes late antique traditions covering erotic love magic, Hellenistic-Egyptian astrology, apotropaic rituals, early Christian amulets, and astrological amulets; medieval traditions focusing on the relationships between magic and disbelief, pagan magic and Christian culture, as well as witchcraft and magic in Britain, Scandinavian sympathetic graphophagy, superstition in sermon literature; and finally Renaissance traditions revolving around Agrippan magic, witchcraft in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and a Biblical toponym related to the Friulan Benandanti’s visionary experiences. These varied topics reflect the multifaceted ways through which men aimed to establish relationships with the supernatural in diverse cultural traditions, and for different purposes, between Late Antiquity and the Renaissance. These ways eventually contributed to shaping the civilizations of the supernatural or those peculiar patterns which helped men look at themselves through the mirror of their own amazement of being in this world.

What Is Hidden in the Small Box? Narratives of Late Antique Roman Palestine in Dialogue

AJS Review ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-94
Author(s):  
Reuven Kiperwasser
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Narrative Tradition ◽  
Judaic Studies ◽  
Roman Palestine ◽  
The Church ◽  
Shared Narrative

This study is a comparative reading of two distinct narrative traditions with remarkably similar features of plot and content. The first tradition is from the Palestinian midrash Kohelet Rabbah, datable to the fifth to sixth centuries. The second is from John Moschos's Spiritual Meadow (Pratum spirituale), which is very close to Kohelet Rabbah in time and place. Although quite similar, the two narratives differ in certain respects. Pioneers of modern Judaic studies such as Samuel Krauss and Louis Ginzberg had been interested in the question of the relationships between early Christian authors and the rabbis; however, the relationships between John Moschos and Palestinian rabbinic writings have never been systematically treated (aside from one enlightening study by Hillel Newman). Here, in this case study, I ask comparative questions: Did Kohelet Rabbah borrow the tradition from Christian lore; or was the church author impressed by the teachings of Kohelet Rabbah? Alternatively, perhaps, might both have learned the shared story from a common continuum of local narrative tradition? Beyond these questions about literary dependence, I seek to understand the shared narrative in its cultural context.

Private Associations in the Ancient Greek World

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Global Networks ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Churches ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Private Associations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Greek World

Private associations abounded in the ancient Greek world and beyond, and this volume provides the first large-scale study of the strategies of governance which they employed. Emphasis is placed on the values fostered by the regulations of associations, the complexities of the private-public divide (and that divide's impact on polis institutions) and the dynamics of regional and global networks and group identity. The attested links between rules and religious sanctions also illuminate the relationship between legal history and religion. Moreover, possible links between ancient associations and the early Christian churches will prove particularly valuable for scholars of the New Testament. The book concludes by using the regulations of associations to explore a novel and revealing aspect of the interaction between the Mediterranean world, India and China.

scholarly journals Private piety or collective worship in early Christian martyria: Late antique Naissus case study

Zograf ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Olga Spehar
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Simple Explanation ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
The Real ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The People ◽  
Historical Role

Explanation of the purpose of early Christian martyria as places of collective memory is a complex of many different circumstances and meanings and must be observed in accordance. First of all, martyria are architectural monuments dedicated to the martyrs, historical evidences of the martyrial death of those who suffered for Christ - this is a simple explanation of their real meaning. Yet, their social role is even more important than their historical role - martyria continuously transferred an idea of Salvation among the people, becoming thus the places of collective memory. But what happen when the martyr?s relics are ?usurped? by one wealthy family? This paper aim to shed some light on what could have been the real purpose of one such example, the martyrium attached to the basilica on the necropolis in Jagodin Mala in Naissus (modern Nis).

scholarly journals Readings Behind the Early Christian Queer Experiences

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-124
Author(s):  
Larisa Orlov Vilimonović
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Gender Fluidity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Gender Categories ◽  
Body Modifications

This paper deals with the ideas of queer experiences in the Early Christian movement, seen through early Christian epistemologies of gender and patristic thought focused on sex differences. The lives and passions of transgender nuns are used in discussing various aspects of gender fluidity in early Christianity. Theoretically, the paper rests on the idea of the performativity of gender, that is, on the ways gender was constructed and how body modifications enabled renegotiation of gender categories. It also focuses on the social context of queer experiences in the late antique period with regard to Roman social norms.

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