The passion of Perpetua - Christian woman martyred in Carthage in A.D. 203

Past & Present, May, 1993 by Brent D. Shaw

Perpetua's account is also unusual in another way -- a way which might well account for the relative freedom she had in her narration and in the fixing of her own account as authoritative in a way that was not possible for later women. She was the first. That is to say, if we were to make a crude division amongst the narrative martyrologies and formal martyr Acta (Acta martyrum) we might say that there is a division between those that portray the fates of collective groups of Christians as opposed to those which relate the fates of "solitaries". The latter tend to emphasize the heroic achievements of great individuals -- all of them male and ordinarily holding some special status in the church (usually that of bishop). In this respect the martyr Acta only reflect the general male preferences and power networks of the time -- power relationships that are even more clearly drawn in the general run of all martyrs where ecclesiastical and imperial officials (and soldiers) dominate the field. Female figures do appear in "collective" accounts of martyrdoms before Perpetua -- but as subordinate actors in a wider drama. In writing her account of her own experiences, therefore, Perpetua was (to the best of our knowledge) breaking new ground in asserting the primacy and legitimacy of her own experiences.(41) But her words did not just record this personal experience. They had such persuasiveness that her narrative had a great influence on the way subsequent autobiographical accounts of "martyrdoms" were composed, provoking mimicry of her words and style, especially in north Africa.(42)

To make the point clearer, we might consider the roles of females in the accounts that precede hers in date. A very early reference to a female martyrdom comes from the time of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, from Pergamum in Asia Minor.(43) The narrative is primarily of the "solitary" type, with the main emphasis being on the heroic resistance of two males, Karpos and Papylos. The account also includes the actions of one Agathonike, one of the first female martyrs so celebrated. Although she is executed along with the two men, her actions are represented as the sudden, impulsive actions of an onlooker: "There was a certain Agathonike who happened to be standing there and who saw the glory of the Lord which Karpos said he had seen, and, knowing that this was a heavenly call, immediately shouted out". It is this sudden, unpremeditated act which leads to her execution along with the two men. She ends life not as a saint herself, but "with the holy men".(44) The only other females so celebrated before Perpetua appear in "collective" martyrdoms where the principal emphasis is on the male actors. The account that would have set the stage directly for Perpetua's own experience was the "trial transcript" (commentarius) version of the deaths of the Scillitan martyrs, persons from Scillium, a village located near her home town, in north Africa.(45) Their trial and executions took place on 17 July 180 -- therefore in the generation just before Perpetua's. The five females who were executed, along with seven men, are listed in second place in the account. Only three are directly questioned by the governor, and they offer only the standard perfunctory answers. Not much in the way of an inspirational literary model.