Martyrdom and Noble Death: Selected Texts from Graeco-Roman, Jewish and Christian Antiquity (The Context of Early Christianity)

217 Pages·2002·0.68 MB·English

by  Jan Willem van Henten - Friedrich Avemarie

MARTYRDOM AND
NOBLE DEATH
Today’s society is uncomfortable with death, and willingly submitting
to a violent and ostentatious death in public is seen as particularly
shocking and unusual. Yet classical sources give a different view, with
public self-sacrifice often being applauded – the Romans admired a
heroic end in the battlefield or the arena, suicide in the tradition of
Socrates was something laudable, and Christians and Jews alike faith-
fully commemorated their heroes who died during religious
persecutions.
Martyrdom and Noble Deathexplores the fascinating phenomenon of
noble death through pagan, Jewish and Christian sources. The authors
look at Jewish and Christian articulations of noble death as martyr-
dom, asking how we construct the figure of a martyr, and what makes
a passage a ‘martyr text’. The book combines accessible introductions
with a wide range of relevant translated texts, dating from the eighth
century BCEto the rabbinic period (up to the fifth century CE).
The cross-cultural approach and wide chronological range of this
study make it valuable for students and scholars of ancient history,
religion and literature.
Jan Willem van Henten holds the chair in New Testament and
Hellenistic Jewish literature at the University of Amsterdam. He is
director of the Netherlands School for Advanced Studies in Theology
and Religion (NOSTER). His publications include Studies in Early
Jewish Epigraphy (edited with P.W. van der Horst, 1994) and The
Maccabean Martyrs as Saviours of the Jewish People (1997).
Friedrich Avemarie is a research and teaching assistant at the
Institut für antikes Judentum und hellenistische Religionsgeschichte,
Evangelisch-theologische Fakultät, University of Tübingen. His most
recent publication is Die Taufberichte der Apostelgeschichte: Theologie und
Geschichte (1999, 2001).

MARTYRDOM AND
NOBLE DEATH
Selected texts from Graeco-Roman,
Jewish and Christian Antiquity
Jan Willem van Henten and
Friedrich Avemarie
London and New York
First published 2002
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
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© 2002 Jan Willem van Henten and Friedrich Avemarie
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Henten, J. W. van
Martyrdom and noble death: selected texts from Graeco-Roman, Jewish, and
Christian antiquity / Jan Willem van Henten & Friedrich Avemarie.
p. cm.– (The context of early Christianity)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
(pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Martyrdom– Comparative studies. 2. Death – Religious aspects –
Comparative studies. I. Avemarie, Friedrich. II. Title. III. Series.
BL626.5 .H44 2002
306.9 – dc21 2001045715
ISBN 0-203-99440-X Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0 415 13890 6 (hbk)
ISBN 0 415 13891 4 (pbk)
FOR DANNY, DAVID
AND HERMANN

CONTENTS
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xi
List of abbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
1 Pagan traditions of noble death 9
General Introduction 9
1 Fragment of the Story of Ahiqar (col. II 22–31),
eighth–seventh century BCE 24
2 Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers
9.26–8 (Zeno) 25
3 Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers
9.58–9 (Anaxarchus) 27
4 Plato, Apology28a–30b (Socrates) 28
5 Euripides, Iphigeneia at Aulis1368–401 31
6 Demosthenes, Funeral Oration(Or. 60) 1–2, 23–7 33
7 Livy 8.9.1–14 36
8 The Acts of Appianus as given in P. Oxy. 33 38
2 Noble death in early Jewish sources 42
General Introduction 42
1 Daniel 3 in the Hebrew Bible/the Old Testament 51
2 Daniel 6 in the Hebrew Bible/the Old Testament 55
3 Prayer of Azariah = Dan. 3:24–45 in the
Septuagint version 59
4 1 Maccabees 6:43–6 62
5 2 Maccabees 6:18–31 64
6 2 Maccabees 7:1–42 66
vii
CONTENTS
7 2 Maccabees 14:37–46 70
8 4 Maccabees 5 72
9 Philo, Every Good Person is Free(Quod omnis
probus liber sit) 88–91 76
10 Assumptio Mosis9:1–10:10 79
11 Josephus, Jewish War7.389–406 83
3 Christian martyrs from the first to the third century CE 88
General Introduction 88
1 1 Clement5–6 104
2 Ignatius, Letter to the Romans1.1–7.3 107
3 Ascension of Isaiah5 111
4 Martyrdom of Polycarp14–15 114
5 Acts of Justin 116
6 Martyrdom of Lyon and Vienne(Martyrium
Lugdunensium, Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.1.36–47) 120
7 Perpetua’s Passion6 and 10 125
8 Writing to Diognetus1.1; 5.11–17; 6.7–10; 7.7–9 129
4 Martyrdom and noble death in the rabbinic tradition 132
General Introduction 132
1 Genesis Rabbah65.22: Yose ben Yo’ezer and Yaqim
of Tserorot 142
2 Sifra Emor, pereq9.5: Pappus and Lulianus 144
3 Lamentations Rabbah1.16: Miriam bat Tanhum and
her seven sons 145
4 Talmud Yerushalmi, Berakhot9.7: R. Aqiva 151
5 Talmud Bavli, Berakhot61b: R. Aqiva 153
6 Sifre Deuteronomy307: R. Hanina ben Teradion 157
7 Talmud Bavli, Avodah Zarah17b–18a:
R. Hanina ben Teradion 159
8 Mekhilta Mishpatim18: R. Shim’on and
R. Yishma’el 166
9 Targum Neofiti, Gen. 22:1–19: The Binding of Isaac 168
10 Talmud Yerushalmi, Ta’anit2.4: The Binding of Isaac 171
11 Pseudo-Philo, Biblical Antiquities32.1–4:
The Binding of Isaac 173
Bibliography 177
Index 192
viii
PREFACE
This book primarily aims at offering undergraduate students in vari-
ous disciplines (Religion, Classics, Jewish Studies, etc.) a survey of
ancient sources about those kinds of noble death that can be called
martyrdom or are rather similar to martyrdom. It is designed as a
sourcebook, but has fuller introductions to the texts than most source-
books.
The Introduction discusses the phenomenon of noble death as rep-
resented by pagan, Christian and Jewish sources and the Jewish and
Christian articulation of noble death as martyrdom. Each of the fol-
lowing four chapters is devoted to one body of literature: Chapter 1 to
pagan forms of noble death dating from the eighth century BCEto the
third century CE; Chapter 2 to Jewish passages from the Second
Temple period; Chapter 3 to the earliest Christian documents of mar-
tyrdom up to the Constantine era; and Chapter 4 contains
introductions and translations of the most important early rabbinic
stories about martyrdom. Thus, the reader is offered a representative
survey of passages about noble death in a wide range of socio-cultural
ancient contexts: Graeco-Roman, early Jewish and Christian, as well
as rabbinic-Jewish. The broad horizon of the book enables the reader
to make cross-cultural comparisons. The general introductions to
Chapters 1–4 offer accessible syntheses of the relevant textual mater-
ial, which have not been available for the pagan and rabbinic
documents. Readers who intend to use this book just as a sourcebook
can easily skip these introductions, as all information strictly necessary
for understanding the texts is given in the introductions to the indi-
vidual passages and the notes to the translations. The translations of
the selected passages are our own except in the case of the Ascension of
Isaiah.We warmly thank Professors Michael A. Knibb (London) and
James H. Charlesworth (Princeton) for allowing us to use the trans-
lation of Asc. Is.from The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha.
ix