Author: -

Abstract: »Early Christian martyrdom accounts often feature gender-based violence used against female martyrs such as: (attempted) rape, sexual torture, and condemnation to the brothel. Modern scholarly interpretation treats this gender-specific violence as incidental compared to the martyrdom in the arena or public execution. By analysing early Christian martyr accounts and their contemporary scholarly interpretation, this study will show that the gender-specific sufferings of female martyrs in early Christian martyr texts has largely been treated separately from their martyrdom and thus the female-specific experience of early Christian discourse has been, in a sense, made invisible.« (Source: Thesis)

Contents:

	Acknowledgements (p. 2)
	Abstract (p. 5)
	Chapter 1 Introduction (p. 7)
		Introduction (p. 7)
		Research statement and questions (p. 12)
	Chapter II Status Questionis & methodologies (p. 15)
		2.1 Introduction (p. 15)
		2.2 Status Questionis (p. 15)
		2.3 Definitions (p. 17)
		2.4 Methodology and outlines (p. 21)
			2.4.1 Literary - historical analysis (p. 22)
			2.4.2 Feminist-literary criticism (p. 23)
			2.4.3 Applying methods (p. 24)
		2.5 Further remarks on terminology and limitations of this study (p. 25)
		2.6 Conclusion(p. 26)
	Chapter III Public Humiliation (p. 28)
		3.1 Introduction (p. 28)
		3.2 Private and public life in Rome (p. 29)
			3.2.1 Citizens (p. 30)
			3.2.2 Slaves (p. 31)
			3.2.3 The marginalized “other” (p. 32)
		3.3 Public humiliation (p. 32)
		3.4 Contemporary scholarly interpretation (p. 34)
		3.5 Public Humiliation as Gender-Specific Suffering among Early Christian Women (p. 36)
		3.6 Conclusion (p. 40)
	Chapter IV Gender-based violence (p. 42)
		4.1 Introduction (p. 42)
		4.2 Sexual violence and rape in Roman law and society (p. 43)
		4.3 Protecting virginity (p. 44)
		4.4 Gender-specific martyrdom in Virgin-Martyr accounts (p. 46)
		4.4 Veiled language (p. 48)
		4.5 Contemporary scholarly interpretation (p. 50)
		4.6 Conclusion (p. 53)
	Chapter V Conclusion (p. 56)
		5.1 Gender-based suffering of female martyrs (p. 56)
		5.2 Contemporary scholarly interpretation of sexual violence in martyr texts (p. 58)
		5.3 Contemporary gender-specific religious persecution (p. 61)
		5.4 Need for this Study and Further Recommendations (p. 63)
	Bibliography (p. 65)

Wikipedia: Ancient history: Ancient Rome / Roman Empire | Prostitution: Prostitution in ancient Rome | Religious text: Christian texts | Ambrose, Augustine of Hippo, Prudentius, Tertullian | Sex and the law: Rape / History of rape