This thesis argues that Jerome’s polemics against Helvidius, Jovinian, and Vigilantius were tailored to boost Jerome’s status within the Christian community, and were carefully constructed pieces of abusive rhetoric, rather than the result of his famed curmudgeonly character. These treatises are studied in light of both the ancient rhetorical tradition within which Jerome was trained, and modern theories of abusive rhetoric. This thesis is demonstrated in six chapters. Chapter 1 demonstrates that past scholarship focused on ‘Jerome the man’, his self-invention, and his academic and spiritual qualities, without giving adequate attention to how Jerome used these qualities in his compositions. Chapter 2 focuses on ancient and modern theories of rhetoric in order to set out a methodology of abusive rhetoric that highlights Burkean identification. In addition, this chapter studies how rhetoric can define and challenge social hierarchies. Chapter 3 discusses Jerome’s awareness of social standing through discussion of his interactions with three of his contemporaries: Augustine, Rufinus, and Ambrose. It examines how Jerome altered his rhetoric to reflect his perception of the relative social status of his correspondents. Part 2 studies three of Jerome’s treatises in light of the conclusion of Part 1. Chapter 4 analyzes Jerome’s Adversus Helvidium, and argues that Jerome’s rhetoric serves to contrast himself with Helvidius, whose heretical, fame-seeking character illuminates Jerome as a humble and conservative Christian. It argues that Jerome’s rhetoric in this treatise aimed for episcopal authority. Chapter 5 studies Jerome’s Adversus Iovinianum and argues that the polemic sought to extend Jerome’s views on asceticism to a wider audience, and potentially secure favor for himself following his expulsion from Rome. He presents Jovinian as a deceptive sinner with a dissolute lifestyle, and himself as an authoritative savior. Although Jerome attempted to connect to the elite in the Christian community, his tract was a failure due to an inability to identify successfully with the audience on the topic of virginity. Finally, Chapter 6 discusses Jerome’s Contra Vigilantium. Jerome presents Vigilantius as a boorish Gallic innkeeper, in contrast to himself as an urbane, albeit snobbish, orthodox Christian. Jerome’s rhetoric carefully identifies himself with upper class Christians, as well as the Emperor, apostles, and martyrs, thereby claiming their agreement with his view of orthodoxy. In sum, I argue that Jerome’s rhetoric served to construct a polemical persona that he attempted to use to further his Christian career, and shape his own image. While this was not entirely successful in his own day, Jerome’s rhetoric did ultimately succeed in crafting an image of himself as an orthodox and authoritative father of the Church.

Thesis advisor: Robin Fleming / The cult of the saints and emperor cult both fulfilled similar roles in their respective societies. On the surface they appear to be drastically different institutions. In reality emperor cult and saint cult were similar religious programs, which with careful examination appear to be related. The following work discusses the remarkable similarities between the cult of saints and emperor cult, including their personnel, temples, means of establishment and promotion, and even the role each cult played in the development of their societies. After careful examination of the above mentioned subjects, it is clear that the cult of the saints was largely based on emperor cult, and that despite the drastically different religious atmospheres that each cult was based in, they were similar in all but the most obvious wasy. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2008. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History.

In approaching the scientific literature on the UNESCO world heritage site of Palmyra for the first time, any scholar would be immediately struck by the number of studies devoted to the Roman phase of the settlement – roughly 1st-third quarter of the 3rd century. By contrast, contributions on late antique and early Islamic Palmyra have never been numerous, reflecting both the preference granted by current scholarship to the study of Roman remains and the paucity of archaeological and written evidence at our disposal to cast light on this period. Admittedly, works on post-273 Palmyra have grown significantly in number in the last couple of decades. Yet, almost the totality of them has often been confined to the examination of items of circumstantial evidence. We still lack an organic publication that attempts a systematic overview of these works and tries to contextualise the history of the city in a broader geographic and chronological framework. Numerous questions, such as the fate of the city in the 5th century, remain to be answered; other evidence, such as the bulk of early Arabic written sources, still has to be fully explored. This dissertation presents an examination of those evidence that are useful to better understand the historical development of the settlement from the fall of Zenobia and the second Palmyrene revolt (272-273) to the collapse of the Umayyad caliphate (750). The civilian and military character of the city is investigated through the analysis of specific themes for which enough evidence is available to work with. Besides written sources and published archaeological evidence, archival material is used to cast more light on a selected number of specific items of evidence. The final output of this study is to present a comprehensive history of the post-Roman settlement to be taken as a starting point for future discussion on the topic.

<p>My dissertation analyzes early Christian representations of Jewish sexuality and explores how early Christian writers attacked opponents by depicting them as subjects of perverse or excessive sexual desires. Beginning with the New Testament, I examine how Paul employed sexual stereotypes to distinguish the community of believers in Christ from the wider Gentile world. In the decades after Paul, Greek writers such as Justin Martyr and the author of the Epistle of Barnabas turned accusations of sexual licentiousness and literalist interpretive practices against the Jews. Origen of Alexandria, moreover, utilized accusations of carnality, fleshliness, and sexual licentiousness to produce Jewish-Christian difference; he drew on dichotomies of "flesh" and "spirit" in Paul's letters to support his argument for the superiority of Christian "spiritual" exegesis over Jewish "carnal" exegesis. Examining the writings of major Christian writers such as Origen and John Chrysostom, I argue that Christian sexual slander against Jews intensified as Christian exegetes endeavored to claim Jewish scripture for Christian use in the third and fourth centuries. My research examines these literary constructions of Jewish sexuality in early Christian writings of Greek Fathers and illuminates how these constructions function in relation to the development of Christian biblical hermeneutics, the formation of Christian practices of self-mastery, and the expansion of Christian imperial power. By exploring how early Christian writers appealed to categories of gender and sexuality to produce Jewish-Christian difference, I aim to contribute to recent scholarship on the variety of strategies by which early Christians negotiated identity and defined Otherness.</p> / Dissertation

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Proefschrift--Amsterdam. / Bibliography: 6th prelim. leaf.

Proefschrift--Amsterdam. / Bibliography: 6th prelim. leaf.

Le corpus de cette thèse est fourni par les exemples en langue grecque de la grande grammaire de Priscien, ouvrage rédigé dans le premier tiers du VIe siècle à Constantinople. La première partie est une longue introduction, qui présente un historique des recherches et évalue la fiabilité de l'édition de référence établie par Martin Hertz en 1855-1859. Un retour à la tradition manuscrite permet de proposer des amendements au texte grec. La deuxième partie présente une typologie de l'utilisation du grec dans la grammaire, à l'exclusion du vocabulaire technique. Ainsi, le recours au grec de Priscien est mis en relation avec la pratique des autres grammairiens latins de l'Antiquité tardive. Elle permet de relativiser l'idée d'une fonction purement heuristique du grec, éclaircissement du latin. La troisième partie consiste en une étude des sources grecques des exemples de Priscien, qu'elles soient nommées comme Apollonios Dyscole ou Hérodien, ou implicites comme la métrique ou les dialectologues. Priscien apparaît très proche, dans son maniement de la littérature technique d'époque romaine, de ses successeurs grammairiens d'époque byzantine. La quatrième et dernière partie se concentre sur la théorie et la pratique comparatistes de Priscien, en particulier dans son étude syntaxique. On y avance l'hypothèse que la recherche d'une correspondance entre faits de langue grecs et latins conduit à transférer des notions et des règles grammaticales du latin vers le grec. Le développement est complété par deux annexes : comparaison du texte des citations grecques de Priscien avec la tradition directe, accords entre les analyses de Priscien et celles des grammairiens grecs. / The Greek examples included in Priscian's comprehensive grammar of latin (Constantinople, ca. 525) make the corpus of this dissertation. The first part is an extended introduction which presents previous research on the topic and evaluates the reliability of Martin Hertz's received edition, established in 1855-59. Some emendations to the Greek text are argued for on the basis of a de visu examination of the manuscript tradition. The second part elaborates a typology of the uses of greek in the grammar, save for technical terms. Through that framework, Priscian's use of greek is confronted to late antique grammatical practice. Thus the idea of greek serving as an explanation of latin put in perspective. The third part studies the Greek sources of Priscian's examples, either quoted by name like Apollonius Dyscolus and Herodian, or tacitely used like metrics and dialectology. Priscian appears to handle imperial grammatical authors as later, Byzantine era grammarians do. The fourth focuses on Priscian's comparativist theory and practice, with particular attention to his syntax. We put forward the idea that the quest for conformity between Greek and Latin languages results in a transfer of grammatical rules and notions from latin to greek. Two appendices follow : a comparison of Priscian's text of Greek quotes with the direct tradition, and agreements between Priscian's analysis and that of Greek grammarians.

The work deals with the system of slavery in ancient Israel. The first part describes the history of this country and development of its society including specific categories of slaves that used to be part of it. It deals with the houshold slaves in the possession of their owners, as well as slaves-for-debts. In connection with a debt slavery the thesis also elaborates on the Old Testament Israel loan system. The next part concerns a detailed analysis of various regulations for treating slaves, which are divided according to the particular books of the Old Testament where they can be found. The results are then summarized in the conclusion.

There has been an increased interest in Romeʼs connections with the Far East over the course of the last 20 years. This has resulted in the publication of many articles and monographs about the Roman involvement in the Red Sea which was the key maritime region linking the Far East with the West. This thesis synthesizes the recent scholarship on the Red Sea trade in Late Antiquity by merging all of the most up to date information into a concise narrative. In order to accomplish this, three major sources of information have been analyzed. Firstly, the historical time frame of all of the major regions of the Red Sea including Egypt, Aksum, and Himyar have been laid out in a straight forward narrative. This offers the most pertinent background information for the development of Red Sea trade. Secondly, the most up to date archaeological evidence has been incorporated into a description of the ancient maritime trade infrastructure of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. The archaeological evidence broadens our knowledge of the roads through the Eastern Desert of Egypt, the ports of the Red Sea, and the development of the Indian subcontinent more generally. Thirdly, this thesis builds on all of the historical as well as archaeological data and attempts to quantify the impact of Red Sea trade on the Late Antique Roman Empire both economically and culturally. This synthesis helps to elucidate the growing conception among Late Antique scholars that the Roman Empire was far more interconnected with its eastern neighbours. This further nuances the role which outside forces had on the evolution of the Late Antique world.