The subject of this book is the discourse of persecution used by Christians in Late Antiquity (c. 300-700 CE). Through case studies covering the full chronological and geographical span of the period, it investigates how the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity changed the way that Christians perceived their hostile treatment.

Éric Fournier is Professor of History at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.

Wendy Mayer is Associate Dean for Research and Professor at University of Divinity, Australian Lutheran College.

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

1. Éric Fournier The Christian Discourse of Persecution in Late Antiquity: An

Introduction.

Part I: The Later Roman Empire of the 4th and 5th Centuries

2. Elizabeth Depalma Digeser Breaking the Apocalyptic Frame: Persecution and the Rise of

Constantine.

3. Nathaniel Morehouse Begrudging the Honor: Julian and Christian Martyrdom.
4. Maijastina Kahlos A Misunderstood Emperor? Valens as a Persecuting

Ruler in Late Antique Literature.

5. Byron MacDougall Theologies under Persecution: Gregory of Nazianzus and

the Syntagmation of Aetius.

6. Adam Ployd For Their Own Good: Augustine and the Rhetoric of

Beneficial Persecution.

7. Mattias Brand In the Footsteps of the Apostles of Light: Persecution and

the Manichaean Discourse of Suffering.

Part II: Post-Roman Kingdoms of the Western Mediterranean (5th and 7th Centuries)

8. Éric Fournier 'To Collect Gold from Hidden Caves.' Victor of Vita and the

Vandal 'Persecution' of Heretical Barbarians in Late Antique North Africa.

9. Samuel Cohen 'You Have Made Common Cause with their Persecutors':

Gelasius, the Language of Persecution, and the Acacian Schism.

10. Éric Fournier Everyone but the Kings: The Rhetoric of (Non-)Persecution in

Gregory of Tours' Histories.

11. Molly Lester Persecutio, Seductio, and the Limits of Rhetorical Intolerance in

Visigothic Iberia.

Part III: Eastern Mediterranean in the 5th-7th Centuries

12. Rebecca S. Falcasantos The City a Palimpsest. Rewriting Arian Violence in Fifth-

Century Historiography.

13. Jason Osequeda The Name of Ill-Omen: Basiliscus and the Church in

Constantinople.

14. Christine Shepardson Martyrs of Exile: John of Ephesus and Religious

Persecution.

15. Ryan Strickler Persecution and Apostasy: Christian Identity during the

Crises of the Seventh Century.

Concluding Reflections

16. Wendy Mayer Heirs of Roman Persecution: Common Threads in the

Discursive Strategies across Late Antiquity.

Index