martyrdom and gender in ancient alexandria 331

POTAMIAENA: SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT MARTYRDOM AND GENDER IN ANCIENT ALEXANDRIA

Henk Bakker

The ancient Christian church was not a monolithic unity—in studying the complexity of early Christian history my naive presuppositions were proven wrong. This, for a student in theology, was of course a happy and necessary lesson. Puzzled by the plurality of Christian opinion in the early church, I could not but profit from the scholarly insights of my ‘Doktorvater’ Gerard Luttikhuizen. Among the many forms of Christian patterns of thought, one of the most enigmatic and bizarre seems to me to be the eagerness of some Christians for martyrdom. Bishop Ignatius of Antioch, for example, was transported to Rome for execution and wrote his letters to impress upon the churches that he died ‘freely for God’ (Rom 4.1).1 He in fact longed for the wild beasts, even yearned for death (Rom 5.2; 7.2). Christians were often voluntary victims, and after Ignatius we read about more examples of this kind of martyrdom in early Christian literature.2 Voluntary deaths might have cost more Christian lives than involuntary.3 The motives for such morbid desires were, however, divers, and are not of our concern here.4

1 On Ignatius’ martyrology, see H.A. Bakker, Exemplar Domini: Ignatius of Antioch and His Martyrological Self-Concept (Ph.D. thesis University of Groningen, 2003). 2 Cf. Agathonice (circa ad 165; Martyrium Carpi 44); a group of Christians (ad 185; Tertullian, Ad Scapulam 5); Pionius and others (middle of the third century; Passio Pionii 18.2); Apollonia (middle of the third century; Eusebius, HE 6.41.7); Anthimus and the circle around him (at the end of the third century; HE 8.6.6); Euplus (29th of April, ad 304; Acta Eupli 1). Not all details of these acta are historically reliable. 3 A.J. Droge and J.D. Tabor, A Noble Death: Suicide and Martyrdom Among Christians and Jews in Antiquity, San Francisco 1992, 140, 154, 156. 4 These motives might briefly be described as follows: (1) To inspire others to confess their faith, see: Passio Sanctorum Mariani et Iacobi 3.5 and 9.2-4; Lucius (between ad 150 and 160 ) in Martyrium Ptolemaei 11-20 (Justin Martyr, Apologia sec. 2.1-20); Acta Cypriani 5.1 (14 September, ad 258); Eusebius, HE 8.9.5 (at the beginning of the fourth century), cf. Eusebius, De martyribus Palaestinae 3.2-4. (2) Penitential reasons: Eusebius, HE 7.12.1. (3) To take care of the imprisoned confessors, see: Vettius Epagathus in the Martyrium Lugdunensium (ad 177), in Eusebius, HE 5.1.9-10; Alexander, in Eusebius, HE 5.1.49-50; Saturus in the Passio Perpetuae 4.5 (ad 203); Passio Phileae (recensio Latina) 332 henk bakker

Somewhere at the beginning of the third century ad a young Egyp- tian woman named Potamiaena was killed by her executioners. The details are gruesome. She too displayed no resistance to her trial and ordeal and her fame spread all over the country. The story about the martyrdom of Potamiaena has until now been largely ignored. Only a few references in articles or monographs reflect some awareness of this episode, but they do not hide the neglect of this woman in the field of early Christian martyrology. In this article I will first take a historical-critical approach to the narrative (§1), next offer some struc- tural-analytical observations (§2), then close with a short discussion of the androcentrism evident in the Potamiaena tradition (§3).

1. The history of Potamiaena

Eusebius and Palladius Only two sources provide any information about the martyrdom of Potamiaena, Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica (HE) 6.5 and Palladius, Historia Lausiaca 3. The only useful source for the Martyrium Potamiae- nae is the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius.5 The sixth book of this work (written or finished around ad 313) deals particularly with Alexandrian Christianity in the first half of the third century and lists the celebrated martyrs from the school of the famous Origen. Among the martyrs mentioned here is one Basilides, a soldier who was converted to Christianity when Potamiaena, it is said, appeared to him after her death. The story does revolve around Basilides, but it is, however, focused on Potamiaena. It can, in fact, be doubted if Basilides’ martyrdom has any Origenian roots in it (see next section). Von Harnack describes this story as dependent on a ‘zeitgenössische Quelle’ of Eusebius,6 probably because there are no known pre- Eusebian traditions regarding Potamiaena. Eusebius used some of

7.1-3 (cf. Eusebius, HE 8.9.7). Cf. R. Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians in the Mediterranean World From the Second Century ad to the Conversion of Constantine, London 1986, 441-5. 5 Quotations are taken mainly from J.E.L. Oulton, Eusebius: The Ecclesiastical History, ii, (Loeb), Cambridge/London 1932, and H. Musurillo, Acts of the Christian Martyrs: Introduction, Texts and Translations, Oxford 1972. 6 A. von Harnack, Die Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten, Wiesbaden 19244, 377. Cf. W.H.C. Frend, ‘A Severan Persecution? Evidence of the Historia Augusta’, in: Forma Futuri: Studi in onore del Cardinale Michele Pellegrino, Torino 1975, 471-80 at 480.