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The Martyrs of Caesarea: the Urban Context

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The Martyrs of Caesarea: the Urban Context CHAPTER TWELVE THE MARTYRS OF CAESAREA: THE URBAN CONTEXT The archaeological excavations conducted in Caesarea over the last 30 years enable us to conceive better the Acts of the Martyrs of Caesarea in the urban context, and to examine several issues pertaining to the urban topography. Much of the new material so far has been published only in preliminary reports;1 several of the large urban complexes were excavated by more than a single expedition, and the interpretation and chronology of some structures are therefore debated issues. But in spite of these difficulties, pertaining to the availability and interpreta- tion of the archaeological data, there is room for the examination of the topographical details incorporated in these Acts in light of the new archaeological finds, even if not all may share my conclusions. The Acts of the Martyrs of Caesarea are given by Eusebius, the future bishop of the city, in his Ecclesiastical History (=HE) and in much more detail in the Martyrs of Palestine (=MP),2 recording “the persecution in his own days,” to which he was an eyewitness.3 The work has reached us in two recensions, of which only the shorter is extant in Greek. The longer recension is extant only in a Syriac transla- tion, the vernacular of Palestine, dated to 411 CE, and in some Greek 1 For an updated archaeological survey of the Late Roman/Byzantine city, with fur- ther references, see Patrich 2001a. 2 Eusèbe de Césarée, Histoire Ecclésiastique, ed. Bardy 1952–1967; Eusebius, The Ecclesiastical History, ed. Oulton and Lawlor 1973. The Greek texts of The Martyrs of Palestine are given in Vol. III of Bardy’s edition, Paris 1967. The Syriac: Eusebius, History of The Martyrs in Palestine, ed. Cureton London and Paris 1861. Also con- sulted was the English translation of Cruse 1850: 349–78: The Book of Martyrs. The references below to the Greek text of MP indicate paragraph and page in Bardy’s edi- tion. The references to the Syriac text indicate page number of the Syriac text. I am indebted to Ofer Livneh for assistance in reading the Syriac. On Christian martyrdom, see Gregoire 1950; Ste. Croix 1954; Frend 1965; Musurillo 1972; Fox 1986: 419–92; Davies 1989; Bowersock 1995; Shaw 1996; Mendels 1999: 51–109. On the persecutions at Caesarea, see also Barnes 1981: 148–63. Another contemporary Latin source for the persecutions of Diocletian and his co-rulers is Lactantius’ The Death of the Persecutors (De mortibus persecutorum, ed. Brandt 1897; Eng. tr. Fletcher 1871; Latin text with Fr. tr. Moreau 1954). Lactantius was an eyewitness to the events; living at the court of Diocletian in Nicomedia he had first-hand information. 3 See explicitly his words in HE 8.13.7. 260 chapter twelve fragments.4 Both recensions were the work of Eusebius.5 The long one, a separate treatise, was intended for the instruction of the people of Caesarea, who were eyewitnesses to the events.6 Therefore, although preserved only in a redaction made about a century after the events, it is of the utmost interest, especially with regard to the urban topogra- phy. The shorter recension, intended for wider circulation, was incor- porated by Eusebius into his Ecclesiastical History. Eusebius must have also published a collection of more ancient Acts, pertaining to the per- secutions of earlier days, to which he refers repeatedly in Ecclesiastical History.7 But this composition has perished, and thus there are only brief allusions to these events in Ecclesiastical History. The first martyrs of Caesarea were Ambrose, the patron and asso- ciate of Origen, and Protoctetus, a presbyter. Both became martyrs in 235 CE, in the persecutions under Maximin.8 Origen’s treatise On Martyrdom was dedicated to their memory. Origen, who made Cae- sarea his residence after leaving Alexandria, found refuge in Cappa- docia during this period. But 15 years later, in the persecution under Decius, he was imprisoned and tortured severely on the rack in Cae- sarea.9 A short while later he died. Under Valerian, in the persecu- tion of 258, three martyrs of the countryside, Priscus, Malchus, and Alexander, and a woman of the sect of Marcion, were cast to the wild 4 The Greek fragments of the long recension were published by H. Delehaye, AB 16 (1897): 113–38. The fragments are also found in Bardy’s edition. On Syriac/Palestin- ian Aramaic being a vernacular of Palestine, see Égérie, Journal de Voyage 47.3–4, ed. Maraval 1982: 314–15; in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher there was a priest whose task was to translate for the neophytes the Mystagogical Cathecheseis of the bishop from Greek to Syriac; Procopius was an interpreter from Greek to Aramaic/Syriac— MP Syr.4, p. 4; Cyril of Scythopolis, Vita Euthymii 18, 38 (ed. Schwartz 1939: 28, 56). See also Vita Hilarionis 22, 23, 25 and the discussion of these passages in Weingarten 2000: 81–82, 104–7. 5 Bardy 1967: 35–36; Cureton 1861: i–xi: preface; Quasten 1990: 317–19. 6 Lightfoot 1877–87, 2: 320–21; Lawlor 1973: 179–80; 1912 (rprt. 1973): 279–83. 7 HE 4.15.47; 5. Pref.2; 4.3; 21.5. 8 HE 6.28, ed. Oulton and Lawlor 1973: 81. No martyrs are recorded for the per- secutions under Septimius Severus in 203 CE. A few years earlier, c. 190, the Qua- trodeciman synod was convened in Caesarea, at which bishop Theophilus was the leading personality. There are only few details about the local Church from year 60, when St. Paul was dispatched in a ship from Caesarea to Rome, to the convening of the Quatrodeciman synod. See I.L. Levine, Caesarea under Roman Rule: 127–34. Only nine bishops are recorded up to the episcopate of Eusebius (315/16–39). See Fedalto, Hierarchia Ecclesiastica Orientalis, Padova 1988, 1014. To his list should perhaps be added, as Eusebius’ immediate predecessor, Agricola, who subscribed to the synod of Ancyra in 314 CE, according to the Latin minutes of that synod (Bardy, op. cit., p. 34; Valesius, in: Cruse, op. cit., p. x). 9 HE 6.39, ed. Oulton and Lawlor 1973: 95..
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