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“Skirting” Society: How Women in Late Antique Persia Used Religious Pluralism To “Skirting” Society: How Women in Late Antique Persia Used Religious Pluralism to Subvert Gender Boundaries by Lindsay Ruth Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University in partial fulfillments of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in Religion May 14, 2021 Nashville, Tennessee Approved: Prof. David A. Michelson Prof. Phillip I. Lieberman Copyright © 2021 by Lindsay Ruth All Rights Reserved ii Acknowledgements First, I want to thank God for all the blessings, opportunities, and people he has brought into my life to make this possible. I also want to thank my mother, Michele Ruth, for always supporting me throughout my life, and always cheering me on no matter what came at us. She has been such the best example I could ask for in how I model my life. My sister, Ashley Ruth, has also been the most inspiring sister one could ask for as her own amazing accomplishments have inspired to me to make some of my own. She has always been there for me through tough times. I wish to also thank my grandparents, Phyllis and Allen Ruth, who always have made sure that I have everything I need as well as have been willing to hear me ponder openly about my studies every week! I also want to thank my wonderful advisor Dr. Michelson, who has throughout my time at Vanderbilt, encouraged me to follow my interests in gender in Late Antiquity, and challenged me to be the best writer I can be. He also is someone who genuinely cares about the well-being of his advisees. Dr. Michelson has taught me so much, not only about Late Antiquity, but also scholarship and teaching. If I can be half as good of a scholar and professor as he is, I will be happy! I would also like to thank Dr. Lieberman who agreed to be on my master’s committee after I had only been in his class a month or two! Dr. Lieberman has been so influential in his approach to looking at legal issues and religious communities in Late Antiquity. He has taught me so much I never knew about Judaism, the Talmud, and how religion affected people’s everyday life in Antiquity. He has also given great feedback on this thesis, which has helped me develop more as a writer. In addition, while I am appreciative of all the professors I have had at Vanderbilt, I want to thank Dr. Eido especially for teaching me Classical Arabic and about the society of Early Islam. This thesis could have never happened without my ability to understand the Qurʿan, and the society from which Islam spread to Persia. He also has taught me how to look at religious texts from different angles, and to be mindful of my translations as we each can have our own biases in even translating from one language to another. Finally, I would like to thank the several members of the Hugoye email list group that have provided me with some of my most essential pieces of evidence. Thank you to Alex Neuroth van Vogelpoel, Dr. Julia Lillis, Gregory Kessel, Sergey Minov, FR Paolo, Steven Ring, to Dr. Sebastian Brock for typing out and sending me the Syriac text for the Anonymous Marriage Hymn, also to Dr. J.F. Coakley, and Dr. Robert Kitchen. I am so grateful for all of these scholars’ profound generosity. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iii Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Religious Plurality in Persia During Late Antiquity ................................................................... 2 Who Do We Mean by Women? .................................................................................................. 5 What is Agency and the Question of Late Antique Women’s Identity? ..................................... 9 What Was Religious Identity? .................................................................................................. 15 Contribution of This Thesis ...................................................................................................... 19 Chapter 1: Zoroastrian Gender Boundaries Conflicting with Christian Women: Christian Martyrdom as an Example ............................................................................................................ 21 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 21 How Could Martyrdom Be a Way for Women to Create Agency? .......................................... 22 Zoroastrian Attitudes Towards Women .................................................................................... 24 The Importance of Marriage in Zoroastrian Persian Society .................................................... 24 Zoroastrian Conflict with Sexual Renunciation in Christianity ................................................ 25 The Persian Martyr Acts and their Reflection of Religious and Social Violence .................... 26 Dates of these Accounts ............................................................................................................ 26 The Martyrdom of Tarbo .......................................................................................................... 27 The Martyrdom of Thekla and the Daughters of the Covenant ................................................ 29 The Martyrdom of Anahid ........................................................................................................ 31 Implications............................................................................................................................... 35 Chapter 2: The Virginity (or Not) of the Bride of Christ: Comparisons Between 4th to 6th Century Syriac Writings ............................................................................................................... 37 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 37 Ideas of the Bride of Christ ....................................................................................................... 38 Was Virginity as Important in Antiquity as Usually Thought of? ............................................ 39 Historiography .......................................................................................................................... 40 Importance of Virginity for Early Christians and Debates over the Value of Marriage ........... 43 Dates for Syriac Sources for the Bride of Christ ...................................................................... 45 Syriac Sources That Point to Virginity Being a Qualification of a “Bride of Christ” .............. 47 The Martyrdom of Martha .................................................................................................... 47 The Martyrdom of Tarbo ...................................................................................................... 49 The Martyrdom of Anahid .................................................................................................... 50 iv Syriac Sources That Do Not Make Virginity a Qualification for Being a “Bride of Christ” ... 52 The Story of Mary, Niece of Abraham of Quidun ................................................................ 52 The Martyrdom of Candida .................................................................................................. 55 The Sinful Woman Who Anointed Christ ............................................................................ 56 The Sinful Woman and Satan ............................................................................................... 57 Marriage: Anonymous Marriage Hymn................................................................................ 58 Syriac Sources That Contain Mixed Perceptions on Whether or Not Virginity is a Qualification of the Bride of Christ .......................................................................................... 59 The Acts of Thomas .............................................................................................................. 59 The Hymns of Ephrem .......................................................................................................... 62 Implications............................................................................................................................... 66 Did Bride of Christ Symbolism Offer Agency to Syriac Christian Women? ........................... 69 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 70 Chapter 3: Babylonian Bypassing: Women Diverting Social Norms in Late Antique Judaism .. 72 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 72 Prior Scholarship on Women and the Talmud .......................................................................... 74 Practical Problems for Women ............................................................................................. 74 Spiritual Problems for Women ............................................................................................. 80 Passages of the B.T. that Enabled Women to Subvert Social Norms ....................................... 84 Divorce – Giṭṭin 5a................................................................................................................ 84 Monetary Concerns of Marriage
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