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

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

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The only other celebrated female martyrdom in the generation before Perpetua is that of a female slave, one Blandina, who died in the brutal massacre, public degradation and theatrical executions of Christians in the Gallic city of Lyons in 177.(46) The ancient editor of the document was compelled to admit that Blandina's achievements proved the opposite of male assumptions -- the worth of someone who was both a slave and a woman. Indeed, it was through her that "Christ proved that things that men think cheap, ugly and contemptible are deemed worthy of glory before God, by reason of her love for him which was not merely vaunted in appearance, but demonstrated in deeds". She proved herself superior precisely with respect to her body:

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Blandina's earthly mistress [that is, her female slave owner], who was

herself amongst the martyrs in this conflict, was in agony lest, because of

her bodily weakness, she would not he able to make a bold confession of

her faith. Yet Blandina was filled with such power that even those who

were taking turns to torture her in every way from dawn to dusk were

wearied and exhausted. They admitted that they were beaten, that

there was nothing further they could do to her. They were surprised she

was still breathing, for her entire body had been broken and torn. On the day she was taken into the amphitheatre at Lyons, along with three male companions, to be exposed to wild beasts -- "to offer a public spectacle". The men were made to "run the gauntlet" and were exposed to other calculated tortures, finally to expire. Blandina, on the other hand, was tied to a post and exposed to wild animals that were let loose on her: "She seemed to hang there in the form of a cross". But none of the animals would touch her, so she was taken down, and returned to prison.

On the last day of the gladiatorial games Blandina was brought back, saved for the culminating point of the tortures. That was the usual female place in such entertainments.(47) In public punishments, therefore, the special value of rarity attached to females, when coupled with the dangerous and yet alluring spectacle of witnessing the public violation of norms of sexuality and the mutilation of otherwise protected and honoured female bodies, gave a special edge, a sharper culmination to the display. In being compelled to play the female role in a drama of public punishment, the slave woman Blandina achieved the sort of glory doubly denied to her in normal life, where honour was normally the preserve of males of free status.(48) Given these known ways in which females were punished, where else would women like Blandina and Perpetua expect to be in that process, except last? As the culminating point of the display, however, Blandina's death could bring her honour. After the ritual gauntlet of whipping and clubbing, being burned on glowing red irons, she was stripped naked, covered with see-through netting, and exposed to the attack of a bull. Her nudity and exposure to the quintessential male beast, as must now be clear, were simply part of the Roman language of punishment. Blandina was gored and thrown about until she was senseless, until "she no longer perceived what was happening". She died. The spectators, it is said, were compelled to admit that in their experience "no woman had ever suffered so much". Her fortitude and endurance were compared to those of a victorious male athlete who triumphed against all odds "to win" and so to achieve great honour.

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

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

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