Coming Back to Life: The Permeability of Past and Present, Mortality and Immortality, Death and Life in the Ancient Mediterranean

The lines between death and life were neither fixed nor finite to the peoples of the ancient Mediterranean. For most, death was a passageway into a new and uncertain existence. The dead were not so much extinguished as understood to be elsewhere, and many perceived the deceased to continue to exercise agency among the living. Even for those more skeptical of an afterlife, notions of coming back to life provided frameworks in which to conceptualize the on-going social, political, and cultural influence of the past. This collection of essays examines how notions of coming back to life shape practices and ideals throughout the ancient Mediterranean. All contributors focus on the common theme of coming back to life as a discursive and descriptive space in which antique peoples construct, maintain, and negotiate the porous boundaries between past and present, mortality and immortality, death and life

The "cheap unseemly, and readily despised" one: a rhetorical understanding of Blandina's gendered performance in «The Martyrs of Lyons and Vienne»

The Martyrs of Lyons and Vienne is a second-century Christian martyrology. Of the victims narrated in this letter, the female slave Blandina appears to have a prominent role. This thesis analyzes how the author uses Blandina as a rhetorical tool to communicate his concept of martyrdom to his audience. Each time she makes an appearance in the amphitheatre, an authoritative, gendered image is invoked by her performance. Each metamorphosis (athlete, Christ, and mother) embodies the necessary qualities that constitute the ideal martyr identity. Because Blandina exemplifies all three personas, she is constructed to be a 'super martyr.' Blandina's remarkable performance aims to change the audience's beliefs regarding the weakness of this female slave, or the potential weakness of any Christian body, in order to demonstrate that all Christians are capable and ought to embrace martyrdom.Les martyrs de Lyon et Vienne est un martyrologe chrétien du deuxième siècle. Parmi les victimes rapportées dans cette lettre, une femme esclave, nommée Blandina, semble avoir un rôle marquant. Ce mémoire analyse la manière dont l'auteur se sert de Blandina comme instrument de rhétorique dans le but de communiquer son idée de martyre à son auditoire. Une image autoritaire et genrée s'impose à chaque fois que Blandina fait son apparition dans l'amphithéâtre. Chaque métamorphose (athlète, le Christ, et mère) possède les qualités nécessaires pour incarner l'identité du martyr idéal. Puisque Blandina illustre les trois personnages, elle est l'exemple d'un martyr exceptionnel. La performance remarquable de Blandina a pour but de changer les croyances de l'auditoire au sujet de la faiblesse de cette femme esclave, ou de la faiblesse potentielle de tous les Chrétiens, afin de prouver que chaque Chrétien est capable de faire face au martyre et de le subir quand le temps viendra