The Luxeuil Connection: The Transmission of the Vita of Julian and Basilissa

This article explores how the transmission of the text of the life of Julian and Basilissa made its way from the eastern to the western empire by examining the clues in the text and the discovery of Julian’s relics in 1648 in Morigny, France

Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome and Risks of Abnormal Serum Alanine Aminotransferase in Hispanics: A Population-Based Study

Study the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) and risk factors for and association with elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) as markers of hepatic injury in a large Hispanic health disparity cohort with high rates of obesity.Analysis of data from a prospective cross-sectional population based study. From 2004-7, we randomly recruited 2000 community participants to the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort collecting extensive socioeconomic, clinical and laboratory data. We excluded 153 subjects due to critical missing data. Pearson chi-square tests and Student's t-tests were used for categorical and continuous variable analysis, respectively. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the risk factors for elevated ALT.The mean age of the cohort was 45 years and 67% were females. The majority of the cohort was either overweight (32.4%) or obese (50.7%). Almost half (43.7%) had MS and nearly one-third diabetes. Elevated ALT level was more prevalent in males than females. Obesity was a strong risk for abnormal ALT in both genders. Hypertriglyceridemia, hypercholesterolemia and young age were risks for elevated ALT in males only, whereas increased fasting plasma glucose was associated with elevated ALT in females only.We identified high prevalence of MS and markers of liver injury in this large Mexican American cohort with gender differences in prevalence and risk factors, with younger males at greatest risk

Listen to Her: Rewriting Virgin Martyrs as Orators in the Byzantine Passions on St Tatiana and St Ia

The virgin martyr is a familiar heroine in Late-Antique hagiography, whose body and/or beauty is the catalyst for her martyrdom. For Byzantium, scholarship has tended to assume that she occupies a more subdued role since, given historical circumstances, no new virgin martyrs appeared. Those passions that were revised have mainly been analysed for information on the women’s resurrected cult or for linguistic interest. Examination of the rewritten Greek passions of the late-antique martyrs, St Tatiana of Rome (C8th-9th), a deaconess, and Ia of Persia (C13th), reveal women who were transformed into public orators. Technically, the stories follow a ‘standard’ plot whereby a beautiful, virginal girl is subjected to horrific tortures by a male aggressor. Tatiana’s antagonist is Emperor Alexander Severus whilst Ia’s is Shapur II. However, their revisers (an Anonymous and Makarios the monk, respectively) deliberately transformed their chosen martyrs partially by employing rhetorical and philosophical terminology. Each woman now becomes a new type of heroine, whose virtue is linked to, and expressed by, her facility with language. Her body and her beauty are now of little importance. Ia, in particular, has been transformed into an elderly woman. This paper will thus explore the notion of rewriting in tandem with these revisions to see how, and why, virginity and heroism have been reconceptualised

The Hagiographer’s Craft: Narrators and Focalisation in Byzantine Hagiography

This article redefines the craft of Byzantine hagiographers by using the narratological tools of voice and focalisation. Its appearance is timely as sustained discussions on narratology in Byzantine texts and images are just beginning. Part I examines the metaphrasis of Tatiana of Rome (BHG 1699b), an adapted martyrdom, to show how its reviser becomes an author by constantly appending his own evaluative judgments on his characters and by adding psychological emphasis. By using the idea of ‘voice’ and the concept of focalisation, our understanding of this rhetorical mainstay is expanded and its ‘literary’ aspects are demonstrated as well. I further contend that a sophisticated literary structure can be incorporated into the understanding of this antecedent by dividing ‘style’ and ‘literary technique’. In Part II, I provide a new approach to reading the famed 'vita' of Mary of Egypt, which is reconceptualised using the same narratological tools to demonstrate that in this particular iteration of the story, the author’s concern lies with one of hagiography’s central issues: the tentative balance between fiction and reality. Ultimately, the explorations of the metaphrasis of Tatiana and the 'vita' of Mary of Egypt clearly illustrate that both authors wished to move their audiences, to tell them what to think and how to feel; in effect, the hagiographer’s craft enabled a rhetoric of sanctity

Narrating Martyrdom: Rewriting Late-Antique Virgin Martyrs in Byzantium

This book reconceives the praxis of rewriting Byzantine hagiography between the eighth and fourteenth centuries as a skilful initiative in communication and creative freedom, and as a form of authorship. Three men – Makarios (late C13th-C14th), a monk; Constantine Akropolites (d.c.1324), a statesman; and an Anonymous educated wordsmith (c. C9th) – each opted to rewrite the martyrdom of a female virgin saint who suffered and died centuries earlier. Their adaptations, respectively, were of St. Ia of Persia (modern-day Iran) (BHG 762), St. Horaiozele of Constantinople (BHG 2180), and St. Tatiana of Rome (BHG 1699b). By tracking and evaluating the modifications made between earlier existing editions and the later versions of the texts, we see that Makarios, Akropolites, and the Anonymous knowingly tailored their compositions to influence an audience and to foster their individual interests. The implications arising from these studies are far-reaching: this monograph considers the agency of the hagiographer, the instrumental use of the authorial persona and its impact on the audience, and hagiography as a layered discourse. The book also provides the first translations and commentaries of the martyrdoms of saints Ia, Horaiozele, and Tatiana. Although Ia is described as a victim of the persecutions of the Persian Shahanshah/king, Shapur II (309–79 C.E), Makarios manipulates the historical context of her martyrdom to invoke the events of post 1204, the Fall of Constantinople, and the Fourth Crusade. Tatiana, we are told, was a deaconess, martyred during the reign of emperor Alexander Severus (222–35 C.E). Here, her narrative may function variously and contrarily, as an iconophile text, an iconoclast polemic or even as a response to Arab invasions. Akropolites fashions Horaiozele into a sounding board for his fears about discord within the Church and the threat posed to Byzantium by the ongoing Turkish invasion and migrations. This is despite the fact that this virgin was allegedly a disciple of St Andrew and killed anachronistically under Decius (249–51 C.E)

Men in Pain: Masculinity, Medicine and the 'Miracles' of St. Artemios

The miracles of St. Artemios, which reveal a catalogue of men who are in severe pain and who express their anguish volubly, are analysed to provide two methodological frameworks (anthropological and medical), within which to investigate the masculinity of these ‘ordinary’ Byzantine men