Constantine's victory in 312 at the battle of the Milvian Bridge established his rule as the first Christian emperor. This book examines the creation and dissemination of the legends about that battle and its significance. Christian histories, panegyrics, and an honorific arch at Rome soon commemorated his victory, and the emperor himself contributed to the myth by describing his vision of a cross in the sky before the battle. Through meticulous research into the late Roman narratives and the medieval and Byzantine legends, this book moves beyond a strictly religious perspective by emphasizing the conflicts about the periphery of the Roman empire, the nature of emperorship, and the role of Rome as a capital city. Throughout late antiquity and the medieval period, memories of Constantine's victory served as a powerful paradigm for understanding rulership in a Christian society.

A re-examination of the social processes behind religious conversions in the Ancient and Early Middle Ages. This volume explores religious conversion in late antique and early medieval Europe at a time when the utility of the concept is vigorously debated. Though conversion was commonly represented by ancient and early medieval writersas singular and personally momentous mental events, contributors to this volume find gradual and incomplete social processes lurking behind their words. A mixture of examples and approaches will both encourage a deepening of specialist knowledge and spark new thinking across a variety of sub-fields. The historical settings treated here stretch from the Roman Hellenism of Justin Martyr in the second century to the ninth-century programs of religious and moral correction by resourceful Carolingian reformers. Baptismal orations, funerary inscriptions, Christian narratives about the conversion of stage-performers, a bronze statue of Constantine, early Byzantine ethnographic writings, and re-located relics are among the book's imaginative points of entry. This focused collection of essays by leading scholars, and the afterword by Neil McLynn, should ignite conversations among students of religious conversion andrelated processes of cultural interaction, diffusion, and change both in the historical sub-fields of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages and well beyond. This book is one of two collections of essays on religious conversion drawn from the activities of the Shelby Cullum Davis Center for Historical Studies at Princeton University between 1999 and 2001. The other volume, Conversion: Old Worlds and New, is also published by the Universityof Rochester Press. Contributors: Susan Elm, Anthony Grafton, Richard Lim, Rebecca Lyman, Michael Maas, Neil McLynn, Kenneth Mills, Eric Rebillard, Julia M. H. Smith, Raymond Van Dam.

Basil of Caesarea, his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and their friend Gregory of Nazianzus were prominent churchmen in Roman Cappadocia during the later fourth century. Because of their reputations as distinguished theologians, they are now known as the Cappadocian Fathers. Recent research on Roman families and friendships has been revitalized through the use of comparative demography, Roman law, and gender studies, and the extensive writings of the Cappadocian Fathers offer a rare opportunity for a close investigation of two provincial families side by side. By examining their relationships as sons, brothers, uncles, and mutual friends, "Families and Friends in Late Roman Cappadocia" combines patristic studies and ecclesiastical history with cultural studies and the history of the family.None of the Cappadocian Fathers became a parent. But as sons they had to cope with their different feelings about their fathers, one who died comparatively young, the other who lived much longer than expected. Since at the same time they were formulating their doctrines about God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son, Raymond Van Dam considers whether their personal experiences might have influenced their theology. The mothers in both families were influential figures, one because of her close emotional bond with her children, the other because she controlled the family's patrimony. Macrina, the famous sister of Basil and Gregory of Nyssa, was noted for her ascetic piety. Yet these women are known almost exclusively through texts composed by their sons or brothers. Narrating the lives of women was a rhetorical strategy for men to reflect on themselves and their own concerns.Friendships were a form of self-representation, too, and in choosing their friends Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus were at the same time fashioning personal identities. At one time, their own friendship had reflected their mutual delight in classical culture. After they became churchmen, however, their friendship collapsed. At the end of his life, Gregory still cried when he thought about Basil. Their friendship had been one of the great love stories of the fourth century.

"Essential reading for theology students and any inquiry into the world of late antiquity."--"Religious Studies Review" Cappadocia had long been a marginal province in the eastern Roman empire, high on a rugged plateau in central Asia Minor and hardly influenced by classical Greek culture. But during the fourth century emperors visited repeatedly as they traveled between Constantinople and Antioch. In Cappadocia they met provincial notables and prominent churchmen, including Basil of Caesarea, his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and their friend Gregory of Nazianzus. These three Cappadocian Fathers were already competing with local landowners over the distribution of resources. As patrons representing their communities, they negotiated with provincial administrators and presented petitions to the imperial court. They also confronted emperors over Christian orthodoxy and Greek culture. "Kingdom of Snow" investigates the impact of Roman rule in a remote province and the fate of Greek culture in an increasingly Christian society. The extensive writings of the Cappadocian Fathers combine to make Cappadocia one of the best-documented regions in the later Roman empire. Raymond Van Dam highlights the sometimes passionate relationships among bishops, local notables, imperial magistrates, and emperors as they struggled to gain prestige and power. In the drama of their personal confrontations they measured themselves and found their identities. Raymond Van Dam is Professor of History at the University of Michigan and author of the companion volumes "Families and Friends in Late Roman Cappadocia" and "Becoming Christian: The Conversion of Roman Cappadocia," both also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Becoming Christian The Conversion of Roman Cappadocia Raymond Van Dam In a richly textured investigation of the transformation of Cappadocia during the fourth century, "Becoming Christian: The Conversion of Roman Cappadocia" examines the local impact of Christianity on traditional Greek and Roman society. The Cappadocians Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Eunomius of Cyzicus were influential participants in intense arguments over doctrinal orthodoxy and heresy. In his discussion of these prominent churchmen Raymond Van Dam explores the new options that theological controversies now made available for enhancing personal prestige and acquiring wider reputations throughout the Greek East. Ancient Christianity was more than theology, liturgical practices, moral strictures, or ascetic lifestyles. The coming of Christianity offered families and communities in Cappadocia and Pontus a history built on biblical and ecclesiastical traditions, a history that justified distinctive lifestyles, legitimated the prominence of bishops and clerics, and replaced older myths. Christianity presented a common language of biblical stories and legends about martyrs that allowed educated bishops to communicate with ordinary believers. It provided convincing autobiographies through which people could make sense of the vicissitudes of their lives. The transformation of Roman Cappadocia was a paradigm of the disruptive consequences that accompanied conversion to Christianity in the ancient world. Through vivid accounts of Cappadocians as preachers, theologians, and historians, "Becoming Christian" highlights the social and cultural repercussions of the formation of new orthodoxies in theology, history, language, and personal identity. Raymond Van Dam is Professor of History at the University of Michigan and author of the companion volumes "Kingdom of Snow: Roman Rule and Greek Culture in Cappadocia" and "Families and Friends in Late Roman Cappadocia," both also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press. 2003 264 pages 6 x 9 ISBN 978-0-8122-3738-2 Cloth $59.95s 39.00 World Rights Classics, Religion Short copy: Raymond Van Dam investigates the transformation of Cappadocia, a Roman province in central Asia Minor, into a Christian society. Through vivid accounts of Cappadocians as preachers, theologians, and historians, "Becoming Christian "highlights the disruptive social and cultural consequences of the formation of new orthodoxies in theology, history, language, and personal identity in the ancient world.

The reign of the emperor Constantine (306-337) was as revolutionary for the transformation of Rome's Mediterranean empire as that of Augustus, the first emperor three centuries earlier. The abandonment of Rome signaled the increasing importance of frontier zones in northern and central Europe and the Middle East. The foundation of Constantinople as a new imperial residence and the rise of Greek as the language of administration previewed the establishment of a separate eastern Roman empire. Constantine's patronage of Christianity required both a new theology of the Christian Trinity and a new political image of a Christian emperor. Raymond Van Dam explores and interprets each of these events. His book complements accounts of the role of Christianity by highlighting ideological and cultural aspects of the transition to a post-Roman world.

The first translation into English of one of Gregory's eight books of miracle stories, which contains a series of anecdotes about the lives of confessors.

The rise of Christianity to the dominant position it held in the Middle Ages remains a paradoxical achievement. Early Christian communities in Gaul had been so restrictive that they sometimes persecuted misfits with accusations of heresy. Yet by the 15th century, Gallic aristocrats were becoming bishops to enhance their prestige; and by the sixth century, Christian relic cults provided the most comprehensive idiom for articulating values and conventions. To strengthen its appeal, Christianity had absorbed the ideologies secular authority already familiar in Gallic society. This is a picture of Gaul in late Roman and early medieval times.

Constantine's victory in 312 at the battle of the Milvian Bridge established his rule as the first Christian emperor. This book examines the creation and dissemination of the legends about that battle and its significance. Christian histories, panegyrics and an honorific arch at Rome soon commemorated his victory, and the emperor himself contributed to the myth by describing his vision of a cross in the sky before the battle. Through meticulous research into the late Roman narratives and the medieval and Byzantine legends, this book moves beyond a strictly religious perspective by emphasizing the conflicts about the periphery of the Roman empire, the nature of emperorship and the role of Rome as a capital city. Throughout late antiquity and the medieval period, memories of Constantine's victory served as a powerful paradigm for understanding rulership in a Christian society.

The reign of the emperor Constantine (306-337) was as revolutionary for the transformation of Rome's Mediterranean empire as that of Augustus, the first emperor three centuries earlier. The abandonment of Rome signaled the increasing importance of frontier zones in northern and central Europe and the Middle East. The foundation of Constantinople as a new imperial residence and the rise of Greek as the language of administration previewed the establishment of a separate eastern Roman empire. Constantine's patronage of Christianity required both a new theology of the Christian Trinity and a new political image of a Christian emperor. Raymond Van Dam explores and interprets each of these events. His book complements accounts of the role of Christianity by highlighting ideological and cultural aspects of the transition to a post-Roman world.

The first translation into English of one of Gregory's eight books of miracle stories, which contains a series of anecdotes about the lives and cults of martyrs.