Crying Wolf: The Pope and the Lupercalia

McLynn, Neil

doi:10.3815/007543508786239346

Cited by 46 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In the 490s, Gelasius was forced to go to some lengths to defend one against the accusation of adultery. 65 Then after Gelasius' death, the Roman church descended into schism as the deacon Symmachus and the archpriest Laurence both laid claim to the papacy. Schism was normal, but this one was unusually violent and prolonged.…”

Section: University Of Oxfordmentioning

confidence: 99%

Through the eyes of a deacon: lesser clergy, major donors, and institutional property in fifth‐century Rome

Leyser

2021

Early Medieval Europe

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This is a study of the cults of two holy deacons at Rome: St Stephen and St Laurence. It is argued that the narratives associated with these saints were a medium for the resolution of two key, overlapping areas of tension: status anxiety within the clerical hierarchy, and relations between clergy and wealthy lay patrons. Controlling the ambitions of lesser clergy on the one hand, and on the other commanding the attention of major donors, absorbed a great deal of the energies of Roman priests and their bishop in this period. These issues converged on the figure of the deacon, understood in its early Christian sense as the helper/patron of the bishop. Defining the role of ‘deacons’ through the medium of saint cult was a necessary condition of the institutional development of the Roman church, and of church property.

show abstract

Section: University Of Oxfordmentioning

confidence: 99%

Through the eyes of a deacon: lesser clergy, major donors, and institutional property in fifth‐century Rome

Leyser

2021

Early Medieval Europe

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“… 21 Markus 1990: 131 (comparing the Lupercalia, as celebrated in Gelasius’ Rome, with the feast. See now McLynn 2008 on this later rite).…”

mentioning

confidence: 95%

A Feast in Carthage: Testing the Limits of ‘Secularity’ in Late Antiquity

Gassman

2020

J. Rom. Stud.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A now conventional model, developed by Robert Markus, sees late Roman cities as fundamentally secular landscapes. Focusing on Augustine's sermon against a feast of the genius of Carthage (Sermo 62), this article argues that narratives of ‘secularity’ have neglected pagans’ own attitudes and the circumstances that drove ordinary Christians’ participation in civic rites. Behind Augustine's charges of ‘idolatry’ lay the religious convictions of the feast's non-Christian sponsors and behind their expectations of Christian attendance lay the recent destruction of a pagan shrine on church property. For Augustine's listeners to construe the feast as religiously irrelevant was an expression not of routine social solidarity, but of fear before powerful patrons. What was ‘secular’ was open to doubt and negotiation, both here and in empire-wide celebrations such as the Kalends of January; the boundary between the ‘pagan’ and the ‘secular’ can be located only with careful attention to the diversity of opinions about each particular rite.

show abstract

“… 38 Some scholars have already raised doubts about this, but only in passing (Ziolkowski, 1998–9: 199, n. 33; McLynn, 2008: 173; North, 2008: 156).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 55 For a series of discussions on the relationship between pagans and Christians in late antiquity see Brown and Lizzi Testa, 2008. On Gelasius’ (pope ad 492–6) letter against the senator Andromachus see McLynn, 2008: 161–75.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Topography of the Lupercalia

Vuković¹

2017

Pap. Br. Sch. Rome

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Lupercalia is one of the most important and most controversial of Roman festivals. This paper addresses the issue of its topography, which has received renewed attention in recent years. It is divided into two main sections, the first discussing the hotly debated location of the Lupercal cave, and the second the course of the running Luperci. The former section reviews the literary and archaeological evidence for the location of the cave, discusses its significance as a unique religious site, and calls for further investigation in the area of the southwest Palatine. The second section seeks to challenge the most influential theories on the course of the Luperci by carefully examining the ancient evidence and the terminology it uses. A contextualization of the sources and the topographic elements they describe shows that many modern theories contain serious flaws when it comes to this subject. Most modern interpretations rely on a passage of Augustine which is very problematic because of his biased interpretatio Christiana. The conclusion is that the festival’s typology as a ritual of lustration is key to understanding the course of the Luperci.

show abstract

Crying Wolf: The Pope and the Lupercalia

Cited by 46 publications

References 1 publication

Through the eyes of a deacon: lesser clergy, major donors, and institutional property in fifth‐century Rome

Through the eyes of a deacon: lesser clergy, major donors, and institutional property in fifth‐century Rome

A Feast in Carthage: Testing the Limits of ‘Secularity’ in Late Antiquity

The Topography of the Lupercalia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About