Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T00:25:20.449Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the Form and Content of the Certificates of Pagan Sacrifice1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2016

Paul Schubert
Paul Schubert*
Affiliation:
University of Geneva
*
paul.schubert@unige.ch
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Certificates of sacrifice (libelli) were produced during the so-called persecution of Decius (a.d. 250), which is documented through the testimony of Christian authors and through original certificates preserved on papyrus. The aim of this article is to offer a more detailed perspective on some specific points in the procedure as regards the production of the papyri. Although Decius’ edict did not produce an instant and decisive change in the religious balance of the Empire, the procedure that was put in place nonetheless testifies to the effectiveness of the existing structure, and also to the capacity of the officials to adapt this structure so as to obtain maximum compliance from the population.

Keywords

Deciuspersecutionlibellicertificates of sacrificepapyriRoman EgyptTheadelphia
Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 106 , November 2016 , pp. 172 - 198
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2016. Published by The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

I wish to thank Professor Adalberto Giovannini (Geneva), who read a first version of this article. My gratitude also extends to all four anonymous readers for their helpful comments.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bagnall, R. S., and Frier, B. W. 1994: The Demography of Roman Egypt, Cambridge Google Scholar
Barnes, T. D. 2007: ‘Constantine after seventeen hundred years: the Cambridge Companion, the York exhibition and a recent biography’, International Journal of the Classical Tradition 14, 185–220 Google Scholar
Brent, A. 2010: Cyprian and Roman Carthage, Cambridge Google Scholar
Casarico, L. 1985: Il controllo dell popolazione nell’ Egitto romano. 1. Le denunce di morte, Azzate Google Scholar
Clarke, G. W. 1969: ‘Some observations on the persecution of Decius’, Antichthon 3, 63–78 (some passages of this article were taken over in Clarke 1984)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, G. W. 1984: The Letters of St. Cyprian of Carthage, Vol. I, New York Google Scholar
Corcoran, S. 2015: ‘From unholy madness to right-mindedness: or how to legislate for religious conformity from Decius to Justinian’, in Papaconstantinou, A. with McLynn, N. and Schwartz, D. L. (eds), Conversion in Late Antiquity: Christianity, Islam, and Beyond: Papers from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar, University of Oxford, 2009–2010, Farnham/Burlington, 67–94 Google Scholar
Foley, H. 1999: The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Princeton Google Scholar
Fournet, J.-L. 2012: ‘Homère et les papyrus non littéraires: le poète dans le contexte de ses lecteurs’, in Bastianini, G. and Casanova, A. (eds), I Papiri omerici. Atti del convegno internazionale di studi, Firenze, 9–10 giugno 2011, Florence, 125–57Google Scholar
Geoltrain, P. 2005: ‘Roman pseudo-clémentin. Introduction’, in Geoltrain, P. and Kaestli, J.-D. (eds), Écrits apocryphes chrétiens II, Paris, 1175–87Google Scholar
Keresztes, P. 1975: ‘The Decian libelli and contemporary literature’, Latomus 34, 761–81Google Scholar
Kienast, D. 1996: Römische Kaisertabelle. Grundzüge einer römischen Kaiserchronologie, Darmstadt Google Scholar
Knipfing, J. R. 1923: ‘The libelli of the Decian persecution’, Harvard Theological Review 16, 345–90Google Scholar
Kruse, Th. 2002: Der königliche Schreiber und die Gauverwaltung. Untersuchungen zur Verwaltungsgeschichte Ägyptens in der Zeit von Augustus bis Philippus Arabs (30 v. Chr.–245 n. Chr.), Archiv für Papyrusforschung Beiheft 11, Leipzig Google Scholar
Lane Fox, R. 1986: Pagans and Christians, Harmondsworth Google Scholar
Leadbetter, W. L. 1982: ‘A libellus of the Decian persecution’, in Horsley, G. H. R. (ed.), New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity, 1977, North Ride, Macquarie University, 180–5Google Scholar
Legras, H. 1907: La Table latine d'Héraclée, Paris Google Scholar
Lenski, N. 2006: ‘Introduction’, in Lenski, N. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine, Cambridge, 1–13 Google Scholar
Luijendijk, A. M. 2008: Greetings in the Lord: Early Christians and the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Cambridge, MA Google Scholar
Meyer, P. M. 1910: Die libelli aus der decianischen Christenverfolgung, Abhandlungen der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 3, Anh. 5, Berlin Google Scholar
Molthagen, J. 1975: Der römische Staat und die Christen im zweiten und dritten Jahrhundert, Göttingen Google Scholar
Popkes, W. 1976: ‘Gemeinschaft’, Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum 9, 1116–17Google Scholar
Primavesi, O. 1996: ‘Zur Geschichte des deutschen Papyruskartells’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 114, 173–87Google Scholar
Rathbone, D. 1991: Economic Rationalism and Rural Society in Third-Century A.D. Egypt, Cambridge Google Scholar
Rathbone, D. 2009: ‘The first acquisition: the archive of Heroninos’, in Bastianini, G. and Casanova, A. (eds), 100 anni di istituzioni fiorentine per la papirologia, Florence, 17–29 Google Scholar
Richardson, N. J. 1974: The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Oxford Google Scholar
Rives, J. B. 1999: ‘The decree of Decius and the religion of empire’, Journal of Roman Studies 89, 135–54Google Scholar
Rubensohn, O. 1902: ‘Griechisch-römische Funde in Ägypten’, Archäologischer Anzeiger, 46–9Google Scholar
Schubert, P. 2007: Philadelphie. Un village en mutation entre le IIe et le IIIe s. ap. J.-C., Basle Google Scholar
Schwartz, J. 1947: ‘Une déclaration de sacrifice du temps de Dèce’, Revue Biblique 54, 365–9Google Scholar
Selinger, R. 1994: Die Religionspolitik des Kaisers Decius. Anatomie einer Christenverfolgung, Frankfurt a.M./Berlin/Bern/New York/Paris/Vienna Google Scholar
Sijpesteijn, P. J. 1963: Penthemeros-Certificates in Graeco-Roman Egypt, Papyrologica Lugduno-Batava 12, Leiden Google Scholar
Youtie, H. C. 1971: ‘“Bradeos graphon”: between literacy and illiteracy’, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 12, 239–61 (repr. in H. C. Youtie, Scriptiunculae II.30 (Amsterdam, 1973), 629–51)Google Scholar