(Giornale Italiano di
Filologia, Bibliotheca, GIFBIB 24)
138 p., 156-234 mm, 2021
ISBN 978 2 503 59095 0
The Acta Martyrum
Scillitanorum is the first martyr text in
Latin, and one of the earliest documents in
Christian Latin. This short text presents a
group of young Christians facing trial in
Carthage before a Roman judge on July 17th,
180 A.D. This is the first full commentary on
this important text in English. It studies the
fiery altercation between the defendants and
the Roman proconsul, highlighting the
rhetorical and narrative aspects of the
original Latin (and the Greek translation from
late antiquity). Throughout the book, much
attention is paid to the communication, or
miscommunication, between antagonists. For
this dramatic and narrative approach to the
text, the Acta Martyrum Scillitanorum may be
taken as it is: a coherent body of text,
describing an altercation that either took
place exactly like that, or was deemed by the
author to be probable and natural, that is, a
plausible and convincing dialogue between
contrasting characters in a Roman judicial
context.
Vincent Hunink (1962) is
associate professor of early Christian Greek
and Latin at Radboud University Nijmegen. His
publications in English include commentaries
on Lucan, Apuleius, and Tertullian. He is
widely known as a translator of Latin texts,
mostly in Dutch, but also in English and
German (www.vincenthunink.nl).