Online version at the Topos Text Project. Auf seinen Befehl hin tteten alle bis auf eine in der Brautnacht ihre jungen Ehemnner, smtlich Shne des Aigyptos, die sogenannten Aigyptiaden. Paul explains the problem in Romans 7. Of course, we can conclude that we all do. However, Shaw stresses the importance of recognising the passage is the only source for the involvement of Christians with the fire and their persecution in its aftermath.. As always, grace and peace to all those who love our Lord Jesus, the Christ, in truth. A fuller account is then given in the Chronicle of Sulpicius Severus (died 403 A.D.), but it is mixed with the most transparent Christian legends, such as the story of the death of Simon Magus, the bishopric and sojourn of Peter at Rome, etc. Through envy, those women, the Danaids and Dircae, being persecuted, after they had suffered terrible and unspeakable torments, finished the course of their faith with stedfastness, and though weak in body, received a noble reward. . 6:14). This chapter just gives more examples of martyrdom and persecution and points out the basis of persecution is envy. (Later still Jewish mythology concocted scenarios where Nero converted to Judaism and kept divine vengeance at bay.) Parts came from written records about the fire, and oral recollections; others came from contemporary cognizance of imperial administrators about such an identifiable and threatening group, and still others were further contemporary sources that linked the Christians with Nero. Dirke was originally the wife of King Lykos (Lycus) of Thebes who, as punishment for the mistreatment of her niece Antiope, was tied to a wild bull and torn limb from limb. I would also like to point out one serious flaw in Shaws argument, relating to his desire to keep the Tacitean passage as essentially authentic, but constituting a misinterpretation by Tacitus time about a Neronian event. hmm no. He lamented the lack of any known precedents for how this group ought to be treated. Jim Evans, Strasser hoped to replace the Programme of 1920. Danaus built a ship with fifty oars and fled to Greece with his fifty daughters. The late tales of the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul appear to have been expressions of what second century Christians wanted to believe. 2) Christiani/oi designated people as adherents or partisans of Christ, and not the fictive sons/daughters of someone. the name was corrupted according to Mauricius Schmidt in his annotations in Hyginus. There are intelligent, thoughtful comments and commenters regularly offering productive discussion. The Christians were expecting the end of the world by fire and they thought this might be it. Learn how your comment data is processed. Cassius Dio(ca 155-235 C.E.) So much for the late legend of Peter being crucified, let alone crucified upside down. Envy has alienated wives from their husbands, and changed that saying of our father Adam, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. Envy and strife have overthrown great cities and rooted up mighty nations. ", "Vridar is consistently thought-provoking, well-informed, and asking the right questions. Subsequently, the author provides his interpretation of the allegoric names Danads suggesting that it was given to Christian women who, for religious reasons, refused or reduced sexual relations with their pagan husbands a motif quite frequently met in ancient Christian literature. Shaw, on the other hand, chooses to provisionally accept the genuineness of the passage. The more I read your stuff (and I still do, of course), the more I realize how much we all owe you. And for him the issue was settled and there is no record that he ever persecuted the Christians again. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : Wilson) (Greek rhetorician C2nd to 3rd A.D.) : Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 7 (trans. Envy has alienated wives from their husbands, and changed that saying of our father Adam, "This is now bone of my . The following two tabs change content below. 3) 1 Clement is authentic therefore confirms the Pauls death under Nero. "[The rivers and springs flee before the pregnant goddess Leto, fearing the wrath of Hera should they provide her refuge :] Fled, too, Aonia [Boiotia] on the same course, and [the Naiades] Dirke (Dirce) and Strophia, holding the hands of their sire, dark-pebbled Ismenos (Ismenus). It is doing God's will that matters, not numbers. Notice that he says that those whom Nero rounded up were called Christians/Chrestians. ", "Thanks for your very elaborate review! On the way she gave birth to two sons at Eleutherai (Eleutherae) in Boiotia (Boeotia). Tacitussincerely thought he had, in the late 110s and early 120s, evidence that a new sect known as Christians had been accused of being responsible for starting the fire, and that they were punished by Nero in order to deflect suspicions directed at himself. You are doing essentially the same quality now (apart from the philology and languages) except mostly sticking to commenting on others work as informed comment/discussion. Under Martin V he reached the top rank of his office, as Apostolicus Secretarius, papal secretary. Shaw accepts the high likelihood that rumours about who was responsible for the fire were rife. He indulged in all the trappings of his day, including the pastime of watching gladiatorial combat and games where criminals were tortured or eaten alive by wild animals. . Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. . ", Mary Booker, February 2020 (personal email), "Very good. . Where to stay? How, then, Shaw asks, was this new information about the Christians circulating among the governing officials at the time? Many points in the passage have been closely debated, but as a whole does it reflect reliable history? 5-6 "The Martyrdom of St. Paul and Condemnation of St. Peter" by Giovani Caraglio A shepherd who is a father figure to the boys after helping to raise them convinces them of the truth that Antiope is their real mother. Abstract The purpose of the current article is to address a question to which scholars devoted considerable thought: the identity of the Christian women whom Clement of Rome called Danads and Dircae in his First Epistle to the Corinthians. The forty-nine brides who killed their husband were punished for their crime. ", "Here I give an admittedly subjective short list, in random order, of useful, high level and regularly updated weblogs on the study of the Old Testament . It is noteworthy that Poggio Bracciolini* seems by some lucky chance to have discovered and read this manuscript (work quoted, p. 225). ", "I want to say here that this site is so resourceful and highly on top of the most modern scholarship in the areas discussed here. ", "Neil, Youve done a clean job in your posting on Jesus the Healer. The myth of Danaides is the story of fifty women who commit a horrible wrongdoing: guided by their father, they all kill their husbands on their wedding night! "We are struggling on the same arena, and the same conflict is assigned to both of us.". Some accounts tell that their punishment in Tartarus was being forced to carry a jug to fill a bathtub (pithos) without a bottom (or with a leak) to wash their sins off. Signup* for a weekly dose of spiritual inspiration from Dr. Italy and receive as a special bonus a download that will make this Lenten season your most meaningful yet, and guide you to a new and deeper intimacy with Christ. ", "Neil Godfrey and Tim Widowfield, who both write at Vridar . They had been denounced as Christians by their jealous husbands. Bowersock, somewhat chagrined, admits to being taken aback by Shaws carefully reasoned case that such an established tradition could suddenly be undercut, revealing cracks in an edifice we thought we knew well.. Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. Yes, I had read Hurtados piece but my post was too long for me to include reference to what he had said. Christian Interpolation in Josephus Antiquitates Judaicae (c. 94 C.E.). In a footnote Holmes explains the reference to Danaids and Dircae: "[I]n ancient mythology the daughters of Danaus were given as prizes to the winners of a race; thus it is likely that this is a reference to Christian women being raped prior to being martyred. Christians were linked to those who were punished after the Great Fire.. Then the author of the letters of Seneca to Paul enlarged the legend in its primitive form, brought it into agreement with the ideas of this time, and gave it a political turn. The purpose of the current article is to address a question to which scholars devoted considerable thought: the identity of the Christian women whom Clement of Rome called "Danads" and "Dircae" in his "First Epistle to the Corinthians". Whether it happened by chance or by a malicious act of the emperor is uncertain. Further, Tacituss friend Pliny also described Christians in the same terms (the same words), seeing them as a plague spreading throughout the countryside of his province. For if I say to you: I recognise in that dream,such and such a myth; or in that emotion about my father, that folk-tale; or the atmosphere of that memory is the same as an English ballad-then you smile, you are satisfied. Do you have a question about Greece and the Greek islands? Slingerland proceeds to take on the notorious crux in Suet. I do need to touch on the two women Clement lists, "the Danaids and Dircae." According to the footnote in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, they are either two unknown women or the phrase was possible added later. We use cookies to offer you a better browsing experience and to analyze site traffic. Then, Danaus and his daughters reached Argos, the birthplace of his great-grand-mother, the Argian princess Io. The writer concludes: Thereafter the brethren kept together with one accord, rejoicing and exulting in the Lord. No Tacitean horror spectacle there. The story, however, does not stop here. ", Earl Doherty, November 2013 (personal email), "Note that I do not use the term amateur pejoratively. Other references not currently quoted here: Euripides Bacchae 519, Euripides Heracles 27, Propertius 3.16.13. This excerpt from the Letter of Clement, written around 95 AD, is important historical evidence of the martyrdom of Peter and Paul in Rome after Pauls journey to Spain. (As usual, bolded font and formatting are my own.). Next sacrifices were made to the gods and the books of the Sybil were consulted, according to which supplications were made to Vulcan, Ceres, and Proserpina. Greek text available from the same website, Online version at the Perseus Digital Library, Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Danades&oldid=1129780773, Archedice, along with her sister Helice and two others, chosen by lot by the rest, had founded the temple of Lindian, This page was last edited on 27 December 2022, at 03:05. Danaus agreed to the marriage of his daughters only after Aegyptus came to Argos with his fifty sons in order to protect the local population, the Argives, from any battles. The minute he stepped off the ship, he went to Gelanoras, the king of the town, and demanded to be given the throne, for he was the rightful heir, as descendent of Io. The key reference here isBarnes, T. D. 2010: Early Christian Hagiography and Roman History, Tubingen. According to Hurtado: The Roman satirist Juvenal, another contemporary, wrote in the same vein of the Jews. Slingerlands own proposal for the identity of Chrestus is imaginative and novel. But I have often been impressed with their grasp of logic and analysis of scholarship. The entirety of his focus in condemning Nero concentrates on the preaching of Peter and Paul at Rome and the effects of their ideas in the city. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The following is from a review of H. Dixon Slingerlands Claudian Policymaking and the Early Imperial Repression of Judaism at Rome reviewed by Erich S. Gruen, University of California, Berkeley, http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/1998/98.7.02.html. For example, when Tacitus says that there arose a distaste towards Nero for his executions because they were perceived to be a concession to the emperors bestiality and not a contribution to the. Sheffield Phoenix Press. The problems here are almost overwhelming. Danaus' brother Aegyptus had fifty children as well; in his case, all of them were male. Document Details : Title: 'Danades et Dircs' Subtitle: Sur 1 Cl 6,2 Author(s): KOZLOWSKI, Jan M. Journal: Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses Volume: 82 Issue: 4 Date: December 2006 Pages: 467-478 DOI: 10.2143/ETL.82.4.2018923 Abstract : The purpose of the current article is to address a question to which scholars devoted considerable thought: the identity of the Christian women whom . This could mean that Rome was also experiencing envy and there were those who wanted leadership roles out of envy. Nero had somehow come to be connected with the Christians; Christians were linked to thosewho were punished after the Great Fire. "Neil, for what it is worth it is obvious to me that if you had earlier in life tracked into a graduate program at one of the worlds leading research universities you would be one of the worlds formidable ones. 2:6-7). Despite the historians different agenda in the Histories, that silence, I would argue, suggests that a different kind of information had come to the historians attention in the years after he wrote the Histories. Danaus was angered that his daughter refused to do as he ordered and took her to the Argives courts. Given the surprisingly widespread acceptance of the great significance ofthis axial event in Christian history, the thinness of the evidence on all aspects of it is quite striking. I use this newsletter to send Bible studies as much as once per week, sometimes less, but never more. 25. Journal of Roman Studies, 105, pp 73-100 doi:10.1017/S0075435815000982. Dirke was originally the wife of King Lykos (Lycus) of Thebes who, as punishment for the mistreatment of her niece Antiope, was tied to a wild bull and torn limb from limb. when he had completed his Histories. can be read possibly as Phileas (Phileam) according to Mauricius Schmidt in his annotations of Hyginus, Last edited on 27 December 2022, at 03:05, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, "Interleaved Greek and English text (translation by Gillian Newing)". Abstract of a recently published article by Princeton University Professor of Classics, Brent D. Shaw: Brent D. Shaw (2015). Looking forward to more segments. Dirce who treats Antiope cruelly throughout her life, instructs the twins to kill their mother. But how could the legend arise that Nero was the first to persecute the Christians? Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : Nonnus, Dionysiaca 44. Perhaps I might write thatlater. But then when explaining whom Nero scapegoatedTacitusenters the realm of anachronism. Best, John", John Moles, September 2011 (personal email), "I always enjoy reading Neils blog because I think that he is careful, thorough, intellectually fair, and honest. return to rescue his nation/people &c. This persists even in the bizarre sci-fi cult-fiction of the cryogenic Adolf in Antarctica. Not available publicly on our website or anywhere else exclusively for our confirmed subscribers! To these men who spent their lives in the practice of holiness, there is to be added a great multitude of the elect, who, having through envy endured many indignities and tortures, furnished us with a most excellent example. With its atrium, its choir enclosed by a wall, its ambos, it is the most perfect model of an early basilica in Rome, though it was built as late as the first years of the twelfth century by Paschal II, after the destruction of this portion of the city by the Normans under Robert Guiscard. Nero had somehow come to be connected with the Christians; ISMENOS (Callimachus Hymn to Delos, Nonnus Dionysiaca 44.10), Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. The gaps are striking lacunae in the knowledge of a senator from Italy, frequently resident in or near the imperial capital, who was well informed on these matters, if in fact Christians had been found guilty of a monstrous crime against the Roman state in the mid-60s. Lykos marched against Sikyon, subdued it, slew Epopeus, and led Antiope away captive. Nero was seen as a benefactor of the poor and common persons and a future restorer of a golden age. When the sons found out who their mother was, they put Dirce to death by bidning her to an untamed bull; by the kindness of Liber [Dionysos], whose votary she was, on Mount Cithaeron, a spring was formed from her body, which was called Dirce. What seems to have happened under Claudius and then again under Nero is the temporary banishment of some Jewish sectarians from the city of Rome, but not, in any event, persons who would logically have been labelled at the time as a new and evil superstitio, words which were used only much later by Roman officials to label Christians. 57 (trans. The myth of Danaides is the story of fifty women who commit a horrible wrongdoing: guided by their father, they all kill their husbands on their wedding night! They were to marry the 50 sons of Danaus' twin brother Aegyptus, a mythical king of Egypt. I know of no other site which offers a wide range of topics related to careful critical analysis of historically and scripturally related issues. This may be a new way of thinking for a lot of you. Yet a man in Plinys position could not have failed to have known that Christians had been condemned to death by torture had such an event really happened. Therefore, unless one simply presumes, in a complete void of supporting data, that the words in the pseudo-Clement must have some relationship to the fire in 64 C.E., there is nothing in the text that would lead any reasonably critical reader to connect the two events. ", "Ive even been cited by atheists with approval (which I really dont know how to take, so thanks, I think, but Im not sure,Vrider(even though I feel like I need to take a shower now)). Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : Another move of this kind, as we have just noted, is the transfer of the hatred of humankind label to Christians, probably made in parallel with the use of the specific name of Chrestiani for them. Paul, according to Acts, was in trouble not for being a Christian but for being a disturber of the peace. Its worth comparing in detail with the alternative arguments that the entire passage is a later forgery. Three were burned to the ground. Paul says that he went throughout the world preaching that the Gentiles should repent and turn to God, doing works suitable for repentance" (Acts 26:20). You cannot have grace without repentance and faith. The DANAIDS are the 50 daughters of Danaus 1who married the sons of Aegyptus 1, and murdered their husbands (except one) on their wedding night. To read more about Neil, see our. Neros spectacular executions of large numbers of Christians in the aftermath of the fire that raged through the city of Rome in July of 64 is commonly regarded as a foundational event in the history of Christian martyrdom. At first those who confessed were taken away for punishment; subsequently others who were denounced by others were rounded up. Through envy, those women, the Danaids and Dircae, being persecuted, after they had suffered terrible and unspeakable torments, finished the course of their faith with stedfastness, and though weak in body, received a noble reward. The video says that Nero, by law, had to act and burned a bunch of Christians at the stake. never happened. papyrus 115 says 616 which i feel was referring to Nero . Nothing suggests Jesus Christ here. The Greek text in 6.2 is not without its complications, but it is entirely possible that the reference to the Danaids, alluding to how the daughters of Danas were given as prizes to the winners of a race, may be an indication of how some Christian women endured public rape before their executions. The fears and loathing were all set in the late first and early second century among these literary elite. Her waters were sacred to the god Dionysos. Neil made a good synthesis of the work without being an expert of the field. These were the measures devised by human planning [i.e. But the following passage speaks of Paul: Let us set before our eyes the illustrious apostles. As such refusals could provoke violent reactions from their pagan husbands (including sexual abuse), Clement metaphorically called these Christian women Dircae, the bull being a symbol of unchained debauchery. This is quite improbable. 3 (trans. For Aegyptus, these fifty marriages appeared as an easy route to acquire the properties of Danaus. God proved for over a thousand years of working with Israel that we humans are prone neither to repentance doing good. Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism (JGRChJ). I once attempted to engage him in a discussion on Acts but was rebuffed as if I was a tool of Satan out to destroy Christianity because I questioned his assumptions even though I did so from the perspective of another relatively conservative scholar. To begin with, there is no evidence that Christians were crucified as a penalty for their faith. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. [A] persecution of Christians by the emperor Nero in connection with the Great Fire of 64 seems improbable given the context of the relations between officials of the Roman state and Christians over the first century CE. Finally, for those that do not know, copyright allows "fair use" of all written works. Such modest modernizings occur outside of this particular passage, however, and so are typical of the writer. Because the water was always leaking, they would forever try to fill the tub. Soon the sons of Aegyptus presented themselves to the palace and asked once more to marry the Danaides. His views are at bottom mere apologetics, anyway as you yourself comment with respect to point 2. We need not recognise all Hocharts arguments as equally sound, yet we must admit that in their entirety and agreement they are worthy of consideration, and are well calculated to disturb the ingenuous belief in the authenticity of the passage of Tacitus. Peter, through unrighteous envy, endured not one or two, but numerous labors and when he had at length suffered martyrdom, departed to the place of glory due to him. I discuss the atonement (somewhat) thoroughly in chapter 8 of Rebuilding the Foundations. Not just in reference to a Tacitus account of such an event, but in any discussion of the tradition of martyrdom in their own history, something which Christian writers were continually fixated upon, from Clement to Tertullian to Eusebius. And this evidence, focusing its special emphasis on the Christians and the execution of their leader under Pontius Pilatus in the reign of Tiberius, appears to have come to his attention after he wrote the Histories. All references to "writings from the apostles' churches" or "early Christian writings" on this site can be read at EarlyChristianWritings.com or Christian Classic Ethereal Library, as well as other web sites. Without doubt, Danaus brought her in front of the Argos court.
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