Article in Dutch on the fictitious Acts of Pilate mentioned by Eusebius. Outcome of a Research Trainee project at Leiden University on the circulation of manipulated official documents in the Roman... Show moreArticle in Dutch on the fictitious Acts of Pilate mentioned by Eusebius. Outcome of a Research Trainee project at Leiden University on the circulation of manipulated official documents in the Roman world. Show less
This dissertation is the first research project that investigates the totality of the Greek anti-Manichaean corpus and the anti-Manichaean Roman imperial legislation to reconstruct the history of... Show moreThis dissertation is the first research project that investigates the totality of the Greek anti-Manichaean corpus and the anti-Manichaean Roman imperial legislation to reconstruct the history of the Eastern Roman Manichaeans, from the time their first missionaries arrived in the territory of the Roman East (late 3rd to early 4th cent.) until the disappearance of Manichaeism from the Eastern Roman Empire (6th cent.). By the systematic comparative examination and analysis of the sources of the two above corpora with other anti-Manichaean texts (Latin, Syriac, etc.), and with genuine Manichaean sources, the emergence of a more complete and inter-subjective image is achieved. The thesis is also in constant dialogue with the secondary bibliography taking into account the latest research findings. In this context, it also revises clichés and generalizations present in previous scholarship regarding the value and importance of Greek anti-Manichaica. It contextualizes insufficiently clarified key terms (such as heresy and religion), critical for the correct interpretation of the data, especially on the issue of the classification of the Manichaeans. Βy taking into account the dimensions of the phenomenon of crypto-Manichaeism, this study argues that the death of Manichaeism in the Eastern Roman Empire seems to have been not as abrupt and violent as modern scholarship commonly implies, but was a rather slow process of absorption, assimilation, and dissolution into Christianity. Show less
This article analyses the legal position of Christian communities in the Roman Empire before the middle of third century CE. It will be argued that the treatment of this group, which has often been... Show moreThis article analyses the legal position of Christian communities in the Roman Empire before the middle of third century CE. It will be argued that the treatment of this group, which has often been marked as unique by both public opinion and academic debate, can only be explained by placing Christianity within the broader societal and administrative framework of the Roman world. A comparison with the treatment of other contemporary religious groups is necessary for a better understanding of the underlying principles and mechanisms that collectively shaped the Roman authorities’ attitudes towards these religious communities. Show less
The legal treatment of Christianity in the Roman world continues to be a source of seemingly endless cultural and historical fascination. At least partially due to numerous well-known stories about... Show moreThe legal treatment of Christianity in the Roman world continues to be a source of seemingly endless cultural and historical fascination. At least partially due to numerous well-known stories about persecution and martyrdom, the idea has persisted that the marginalised position of early Christians was unusual, or even unique, within the otherwise almost proverbially religiously tolerant Roman world. This study aims provide a more nuanced understanding by systematically analysing how early Christians were embedded in, and interacted with, the Roman legal system of the imperial period. It does so in two ways. Firstly, this project is not just concerned with the contents of Roman legal measures, but also with their origins and enforcement. By taking all stages of the legal process into account, it becomes possible to investigate the mechanisms and underlying principles that shaped these measures, and to firmly embed them in their historical context. Secondly, the legal position of Christians is compared to two contemporary religious movements, namely Jewish communities and practitioners of divination. This serves to paint a more comprehensive picture of the legal treatment of religious groups in the Roman world in general, and to more precisely locate early Christianity within the wider religious landscape. Show less
This dissertation presents the results of a computer-assisted linguistic analysis of the __Book of the Laws of the Countries__, a religious prose text, attributed to the 3rd-century theologian... Show moreThis dissertation presents the results of a computer-assisted linguistic analysis of the __Book of the Laws of the Countries__, a religious prose text, attributed to the 3rd-century theologian Bardaisan, which is one of the earliest representatives of Syriac literature. Using the computational tools and methods that were developed in the Leiden project __Turgama: Computer-Assisted Analysis of the Peshitta and the Targum: Text, Language and Interpretation__ by dr. Wido van Peursen, I have analysed this corpus on different linguistic levels: orthography / morphology, phrase structure, and clause structure. This analysis enables us to gain deeper insight in the peculiarities of the Syriac language of the 3rd century; the same period in which the Hebrew Bible was translated into Syriac, resulting in the so-called Peshitta. As such, the Book of the Laws of the Countries represents a corpus written in __native__ Syriac, to which the translated Syriac of the Peshitta can be compared. This will allow us to attain a better view of the considerations which played a role in the creation process of the Syriac Bible; e.g., the amount to which translation was influenced by interpretation, the two possible meanings of the Syriac word __Turgama__. Show less
