The Life of Thaïs and The Life of Abraham and his Niece Mary: An Intertextual Connection
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This article brings to light an intertextual connection between two hagiographical texts that has not been acknowledged in scholarship: the Life of Thaïs (bhg 1695) and the Greek Life of Abraham and his Niece Mary (bhg 5). The first part of the article presents an overview of the different possibilities of interdependence. Next, the textual correspondences and the contextual divergences between the two passages are discussed. In the final part, the intertextual connection between the two stories is understood as the result of a shared narrative purpose, and the divergences are interpreted within the specific narrative context of each text. This discussion considers the two texts against the background of other Lives of so-called ‘holy harlots’.
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F. Nau (ed.), “Histoire de Thaïs : publication des textes grecs inédits et de divers autres textes et versions,” Annales du Musée Guimet 30 (1902) 51-113 at 73.
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Nau, “Histoire de Thaïs,” 55. Nau compared all the inedited Greek redactions of the Life and observed that the monk who is responsible for Thaïs’ conversion in all these texts is called Serapion, or Serapion the Sinondite. He argues that a Latin translator replaced the name Serapion with Paphnutius. In the Syriac translation, the name Serapion was rendered as Besarion.
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R.M. Karras, “Holy Harlots: Prostitute Saints in Medieval Legend,” Journal of the History of Sexuality 1.1 (1990) 3-32.
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K.G. Phrantzoles (ed.), “In Vitam Beati Abrahamii et Eius Neptis Mariae,” Ὁσίου Ἐφραίµ τοῦ Σύρου ἔργα vol. 7 (Thessaloniki, 1998) 356-394. His text is based on the text published in the Acta Sanctorum (Mart. ii [1668], 741-748; 3rd ed. 932-937), and is accompanied by a modern Greek translation.
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W. Lüdtke, “Die koptische Salome-Legende und das Leben des Einsiedlers Abraham,” Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Theologie 49 (1906) 61-65.
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S.P. Brock, “Greek into Syriac and Syriac into Greek,” Journal of the Syriac Academy 3 (1977) 406-422 at 14.
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The Life of Thaïs and The Life of Abraham and his Niece Mary: An Intertextual Connection
In: Vigiliae ChristianaeSearch for other papers by Julie Van Pelt in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
This article brings to light an intertextual connection between two hagiographical texts that has not been acknowledged in scholarship: the Life of Thaïs (bhg 1695) and the Greek Life of Abraham and his Niece Mary (bhg 5). The first part of the article presents an overview of the different possibilities of interdependence. Next, the textual correspondences and the contextual divergences between the two passages are discussed. In the final part, the intertextual connection between the two stories is understood as the result of a shared narrative purpose, and the divergences are interpreted within the specific narrative context of each text. This discussion considers the two texts against the background of other Lives of so-called ‘holy harlots’.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 281 | 60 | 34 |
| Full Text Views | 196 | 2 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 88 | 10 | 0 |