At once brave and athletic, virtuous and modest, female martyrs in
the second and third centuries were depicted as self-possessed
gladiators who at the same time exhibited the quintessentially
"womanly" qualities of modesty, fertility, and beauty. L. Stephanie
Cobb explores the double embodiment of "male" and "female" gender
ideals in these figures, connecting them to Greco-Roman virtues and
the construction of Christian group identities.
Both male and female martyrs conducted their battles in the
amphitheater, a masculine environment that enabled the divine
combatants to showcase their strength, virility, and volition.
These Christian martyr accounts also illustrated masculinity
through the language of justice, resistance to persuasion, and-more
subtly but most effectively-the juxtaposition of "unmanly"
individuals (usually slaves, the old, or the young) with those at
the height of male maturity and accomplishment (such as the
governor or the proconsul).
Imbuing female martyrs with the same strengths as their male
counterparts served a vital function in Christian communities.
Faced with the possibility of persecution, Christians sought to
inspire both men and women to be braver than pagan and Jewish men.
Yet within the community itself, traditional gender roles had to be
maintained, and despite the call to be manly, Christian women were
expected to remain womanly in relation to the men of their faith.
Complicating our understanding of the social freedoms enjoyed by
early Christian women, Cobb's investigation reveals the dual
function of gendered language in martyr texts and its importance in
laying claim to social power.
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