Perpetua of Carthage

This is a study of the life and times of Saint Perpetua, Saint Felicity and their companions, all martyred at Carthage in A.D. 203. Unlike most early Christian saints, whose lives are often shrouded in legend and myth, Perpetua left an authentic prison diary, later completed by an anonymous eyewitness to her execution, that is now considered a classic of Christian, Latin and feminist literature. Perpetua was also unusual in that she was wealthy, educated, married, and a young mother. The book includes the first English translations of French archaeological scholarship covering the discovery of the martyrs’ tombs.

William Farina is a retired real estate consultant for the federal government, now living in Evanston, Illinois. He has written books on Arthurian legend, early Christianity, the American Civil War, Shakespeare and baseball.

William Farina
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 276
Bibliographic Info: appendices, maps, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3713-9
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8263-4
Imprint: McFarland

Overview      1

PART I. PERSUASION AS COURAGE
1. “I was not to fight with beasts, but against the devil”      11
2. The Christian Aeneid      20
3. A Middle Road for Martyrs?      27
4. Africa Conquers Rome      34
5. “Their courage astonished the pagans”      41
6. A Family Feud      48
7. Blood of Martyrs Became Seed of the Church      55

PART II. PERSUASION AS JUSTICE
8. “What victory a more glorious than this?”      63
9. Jewish Apocalypse      70
10. The Great Leveler      78
11. Universal Divine Favor      87
12. Empire within Empire      95
13. Guarded by Poverty and Ignorance      103
14. “Injustice acknowledged justice”      110

PART III. PERSUASION AS HOPE
15. “As I was merry in the flesh, so I am still merrier here”      117
16. Yearning for Metamorphosis      124
17. Saint Augustine, Male Chauvinist?      131
18. The Illusion of Prosperity      138
19. “Pleased to play, as children will”      144
20. Contempt for the Gods      151
21. “The flower of perpetual felicity”      159

PART IV. TOLERANCE AS VIRTUE
22. The Weapon of Empathy      167
23. Guilty of Inflexible Obstinacy      174
24. The Montanist Heresy      181
25. Religious Laissez-Faire, or Agreeing to Disagree      187
26. Vandal Plunder and Byzantine Extortion      193
27. A Devout Persecution      200
28. “My prison suddenly became a palace to me”      208

Summation      215
Appendix I: Christian Archeology in Carthage      221
Appendix II: A Guide to Pagan Worship in Roman Carthage      230
Appendix III: Tunisian Historical and Religious Timeline      233
Appendix IV: Maps      236
Chapter Notes      241
Bibliography      259
Index      263