Book contents
- Women in the Ancient Mediterranean World
- Women in the Ancient Mediterranean World
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Timeline
- Historical Contexts
- Introduction
- Part I The Deep Past
- Part II The Bronze Age
- Part III The Iron Age
- Part IV The Hellenistic Worlds
- Part V The Age of Empire
- 24 Cleopatra Selene
- 25 Eutychis
- 26 Achillia and Amazon
- 27 Perpetua
- 28 Zenobia
- 29 Hypatia
- 30 Theodora
- Notes
- Select Bibliography
- Index
27 - Perpetua
from Part V - The Age of Empire
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 January 2023
- Women in the Ancient Mediterranean World
- Women in the Ancient Mediterranean World
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Timeline
- Historical Contexts
- Introduction
- Part I The Deep Past
- Part II The Bronze Age
- Part III The Iron Age
- Part IV The Hellenistic Worlds
- Part V The Age of Empire
- 24 Cleopatra Selene
- 25 Eutychis
- 26 Achillia and Amazon
- 27 Perpetua
- 28 Zenobia
- 29 Hypatia
- 30 Theodora
- Notes
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In ad 203, a young mother was killed by animals in the amphitheatre of Carthage in North Africa on the orders of the local Roman authorities.1 She died alongside other members of her small religious group, men and women, apparently confident in the knowledge that she was about to enter heaven. This woman was called Vibia Perpetua and she was a Christian; she left us part of her story in a text called The Passions of Perpetua and Felicity (Figure 27). The text gives us a fascinating insight into the mind of a young Roman woman caught up in the power of her beliefs. It also reveals much about the workings of Roman society, especially those times in which people came up against the system. Here we will explore who Perpetua was and how she ended up dying in this terrible way.
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- Information
- Women in the Ancient Mediterranean WorldFrom the Palaeolithic to the Byzantines, pp. 219 - 226Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023