A Mother’s Martyrdom: Elite Christian Motherhood and the Martyrdom of Domnina

This article examines the Martyrdom of Domnina as recorded by John Chrysostom and Eusebius of Caesarea in order to show how early Christian ideas of mothering and motherhood for upper-class women were constructed through rhetorical examples. It is interested in how the martyr tale created new notion...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of feminist studies in religion
Main Author: Nelson, Brooke (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Indiana University Press 2016
In: Journal of feminist studies in religion
Online Access: Volltext (JSTOR)
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Summary:This article examines the Martyrdom of Domnina as recorded by John Chrysostom and Eusebius of Caesarea in order to show how early Christian ideas of mothering and motherhood for upper-class women were constructed through rhetorical examples. It is interested in how the martyr tale created new notions of Christian pudicitia (feminine modesty) and pietas (piety) through the rhetorical model of a devout mother who kills her two children as an act of Christian martyrdom. Through its comparative analysis of the ideal Roman matrona and the ideal Christian matrona as she emerged through the Domnina narrative, this article demonstrates how ideas about the elite Christian mother developed through the referencing and reframing of contemporary notions of Roman elite motherhood.
ISSN:1553-3913
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of feminist studies in religion