Translated texts for historians ;

Contains a series of anecdotes about the lives and cults of Christians who witnessed to their faith through their exemplary lives. These anecdotes provide important historical evident, first, for the ways bishops and their congregations manipulated traditions about the development of the early Church, and second, for the contemporary functions and meanings of the cults of saints during the sixth century. The spontaneity and literary modesty of many of the anecdotes make them especially valuable for modern historians intent upon understanding the early Frankish Church. In addition to the translation, this volume includes an introduction and commentary. The introduction summarizes essential information about the chronology, composition and purposes of the "Glory of the Confessors", and also discusses other relevant topics, such as the role of these anecdotes in the celebration of the liturgy and the contrast between 'rusticity' and correct behaviour and beliefs. The commentary provides only basic identifications, dates, background and references to other secondary scholarly literature.

"Part One presents 12 texts written between 636 and 847, including date-lists, king-lists, anecdotal chronicles, inscriptions and a contemporary memorandum of the Arab conquest. Part Two contains a long extract from the Chronicle of AD 1234 with supplementary material from Michael the Syrian ... Part Three contains the last part of the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius and a related text from Edessa"-- Back cover.

"Focusing on the first and last years of Libanius' Antiochene career (AD 354-388), the speeches in this volume illustrate the great range of Libanius' rhetorical skills, while at the same time illuminating the intrigues of city politics and university life. The book's focal points are the great patriotic Antiochikos (Oration 11), delivered soon after Libanius' return to his native city, and the long defence of his educational system (Oration 62) from almost thirty years later, in which a bellicose tone is adopted to rebut a personal attack on Libanius' failure to produce a really successful student. The shorter speeches give unparalleled insights into problems of sharply contemporary relevance - teachers' pay, student indiscipline and rioting, threats from the rival Latin curriculum, accusations of professional incompetence, as well as everyday details of academic life. The majority of these speeches have not previously been translated into English. This volume will interest not only students of Libanius and of Antioch, but also those engaged in the broader study of education, rhetoric, Hellenic culture and upper-class pagan society in late antiquity."-- Publisher description.