Articles and Book Chapters by Maria Dell'Isola
The series at hand is a product of the German Research Foundation-sponsored Collaborative Researc... more The series at hand is a product of the German Research Foundation-sponsored Collaborative Research Centre TRR 294, "Structural Change of Property," based primarily at the Universities of Jena and Erfurt. This series is dedicated to the systematic, interdisciplinary study of the topics outlined above and features outstanding scholarly works on the past, present, and future of property. 6 Cf. Herrmann-Pillath 2023, 22: "Feudal land law is only one example for the universal phenomenon that possession of land was never strictly individualized before the emergence of capitalist property." 7 For Classical antiquity, and only in some specific cases for Late antiquity, the abbreviations of ancient authors and their works follow the fourth edition of the Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by Hornblower-Spawforth-Eidinow 2012. 8 For antiquity, see, for instance, Gai. Inst. 2.2-3, 5-6, 9. For modern times, the scholarly debate is extensive, so we will only mention a few important scholars who have evaluated earlier ideas and advanced the 'state of the art', such as Ramon 2016/2017; Lanfranchi 2017; Santi 2004. was modelled on the basis of it. While a res mancipi-namely land, just like enslaved people, cattle, and rights such as those of way, waterways, etc.-were not for sale or purchase, the mancipatio also made it possible to buy and sell, and through its model being adapted for the testamentum per aes et libram also to deviate such 'goods' from heirs. In the Jewish tradition, other workarounds existed, or older traditions were ignored. For the further development of the notion of property from divine ownership through economic property to possession, individual possession in particular, with a growing understanding of the full right over what is being possessed, this volume traces the first re-conceptualizations of ownership towards property and possession within Christian traditions from the second to the fourth centuries. It was within Christian philosophical and economically powerful circles that a full notion of human ownership of land, hence of landed property, was created. This was based on the theological construct of heritage and testament: As the divine owner had endowed all that he owned to the saving Messiah, Christ, his Son, and as this Son had made the 'sons of God' his heirs, humans were no longer lent that which belonged to the divine, but as God's heirs they were entitled to claim full ownership, property and possession of the land that was given to them. As a result, the Christian Emperor Justinian in the sixth century removed the older Roman workaround constructs and replaced them with the modern concepts of private legal procedures for selling and buying land. Land became a commodity, no longer only the basis for its owners belonging, but also ready to serve as transferable property and for individual's possession. Still, as the discussions of this period show, voices insisted on restrictions and limitations of human ownership with regards to communal grounds, common goods, and the needs of the poor, but a door had been opened widely for more rigorous claims and a further commodification of land that developed over the medieval period and was grasped in modern times. Enslavement (the Colonial/Racial/Capital) 11 One of the most important contributions of this volume is the way in which it addresses the significance of slavery to histories and theories of landed property. In coming together over the course of two years to discuss practices of relating to land in our various disciplines (religious studies, philosophy, history, legal studies, sociology, and Black studies), it became apparent that analyses of landed property tend to dismiss and discount both Indigenous and enslaved people's practices of relating to land. These analyses focus on Lockean theory, for example, without acknowledging John Locke's explicit dismissal of both enslaved people's humanity and Indigenous people's millennia of relating to land in the practice of agriculture. 12 Asking the question How did historical actors relate to land? presented a conundrum in disciplines that tend to discount the lived experience of relating to land(ed property) as an enslaved person. What happens to the history of Mancipatio, for example, when one of the alleged 'objects' of property upholding Anglo-European legal traditions is acknowledged as human, as in Lydia von der Werth's contribution in this volume? How does Lockean theory as propagated by Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur force into relief the violent contradiction of Western European 'locality' offering itself up as a liberatory, general theory of property while denying enslaved people's humanity, as Dirk Schuck elucidates in this volume? How does a history of relating to landed property highlight the limitations of Marxist thought for formerly enslaved Americans who, as William E. B. Du Bois argues, liberated themselves en masse via a 'general strike' known as the American Civil War, yet whose reparations claims, Packo writes in this volume, were systematically denied in favor of securing landed property for white Southern aristocrats? Scholars in the field of Black studies have spent decades decrying Western theory's commitment to delegitimizing and discounting enslaved and Indigenous people's experiences of relating to landed property. Following Cedric J. Robinson's profound critique of Marxism in Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition, Fred Moten, for example, has explicated 11 This is a reference by Denise Ferreira da Silva to "the confluence of juridical, economic, symbolic and ethical histories that constitute the global present"; Afeworki
Emperor Julian, an appropriated word, and a different view of 4th-century "lived religion" 517 Ka... more Emperor Julian, an appropriated word, and a different view of 4th-century "lived religion" 517 Katharina Bracht The appropriation of the book of Jonah in 4th century Christianity by Theodore of Mopsuestia and Jerome of Stridon 531 Emiliano Rubens Urciuoli Weapons of the (Christian) weak: pedagogy of trickery in Early Christian texts 553
Idee di lavoro e di ozio per la nostra civiltà, Edited by: Ammannati, F.; Brogi, S.; Faitini, T.; Fermani, A.; Mari, G.; Seghezzi, F.; Tonarelli, A., Firenze University Press, 2024
Il presente contributo si propone di analizzare lo stretto nesso che intercorre tra lavoro e ozio... more Il presente contributo si propone di analizzare lo stretto nesso che intercorre tra lavoro e ozio nel cristianesimo antico mediante l'adozione di una prospettiva di genere e scegliendo, dunque, come laboratorio privilegiato d'osservazione l'episodio narrato da Luca nel suo vangelo che vede protagoniste due donne, di nome Marta e Maria (Lc 10, 38-42) 1. Più nello specifico, si tenterà di coniugare 1 Le figure di Marta e Maria vengono menzionate anche nel vangelo di Giovanni (cfr. Gv 11, 1-44; 12, 1-3), in cui tuttavia l'attenzione è interamente incentrata sulla morte e resurrezione di Lazzaro, il fratello delle due donne. In questa sede mi concentrerò dunque esclusivamente sulla pericope lucana, dato l'interesse primario per l'idea del rapporto ozio-lavoro al centro del presente contributo. Tale rapporto, infatti, non sembra rivestire un'importanza fondamentale nel racconto giovanneo, essendo presente una fugace allusione al servizio di Marta soltanto nei primi versetti del capitolo 12. Si segnala, tuttavia, in Gv 11, 1-44, una distinzione di atteggiamenti e reazioni relativamente alle due donne che sembra richiamare direttamente l'opposizione tra attività e passività che Luca attribuisce rispettivamente a Marta e a Maria. Quando, infatti, saputo che Lazzaro era morto, Gesù decise di recarsi a Betania, il villaggio in cui vivevano le due sorelle, Marta, saputa la notizia dell'arrivo dello stesso Gesù, subito gli corse incontro, mentre Maria restò seduta in casa (cfr. Gv 11,20). Dopo un breve ma intenso scambio con Gesù a proposito della resurrezione, Marta andò a chiamare Maria, che ancora restava in casa, per chiederle di raggiungere il luogo in cui Gesù stesso si trovava (cfr. Gv 11, 21-31). Anche in seguito, quando i tre si furono recati presso il sepolcro in cui Lazzaro era stato sepolto, è solo Marta a interloquire attivamente con Gesù (cfr. Gv 11, 38-44).
Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum, 2022
Vetera Christianorum , 2022
Adamantius, 2020
The present article attempts to discuss the relationship between words and images in early Christ... more The present article attempts to discuss the relationship between words and images in early Christian literature against the wider background of the notion of ‘visual construction’. More specifically, I will focus on the construction – and perception - of women’s agency through a literary representation. Tertullian’s works represent a significative case in this regard. He condemns the excessive attention paid to outward appearance. However, the opposite tendency to reject a traditional female appearance is similarly condemned at various levels. This is due to the fact that the abovementioned tendency is perceived as a symbolic act which visually constructs a disruption of the established social order. This means that a visual representation has a direct impact on society. Starting from Tertullian’s works, I will therefore attempt to describe the definition of women’s agency in early Christianity by stressing that the textual creation of well-defined female images influenced women’s roles within society.
Studia Philologica Valentina, 2020
Paradigmi del maschile e femminile nel cristianesimo antico. XLVII Incontro di Studiosi dell'Antichità Cristiana (Roma 9-11 maggio 2019), 2020
Tempo di Dio, tempo dell'uomo. XLVI Incontro di Studiosi dell'Antichità Cristiana (Roma, 10-12 maggio 2018), 2019
Texts, Practices and Groups. Multidisciplinary Approaches to the History of Jesus Followers in the First Two Centuries, edited by A. Destro - M. Pesce, 2017
Adamantius, 2015
1 Il presente articolo è la versione ampliata e rielaborata della relazione da me presentata al C... more 1 Il presente articolo è la versione ampliata e rielaborata della relazione da me presentata al Convegno Interpretazione. Tra storia culturale e storia intellettuale, tenutosi presso la Fondazione Collegio San Carlo di Modena il 20-21 Giugno 2013. 2 Epiph. Pan. 48,1,1. Tutte le traduzioni dei passi del Panarion sono mie. 3 Il montanismo, affermatosi in Frigia alla metà del secondo secolo a opera di Montano, considerato il suo fondatore, e di due donne, Prisca e Massimilla, che lo accompagnarono costantemente nella sua attività profetica, si presenta come un movimento cristiano pervaso da una forte tensione escatologica e dall'adozione di una rigida condotta morale, caratterizzata da severe rinunce sia in ambito sessuale che alimentare, e ritenuta necessaria per prepararsi alla fine imminente dei tempi. Dell'attività profetica di Montano abbiamo notizia da quelle fonti eresiologiche (primi fra tutti Eus. HE V,16-18 e Epiph. Pan. 48) che ci trasmettono indirettamente anche gli oracoli tradizionalmente attribuiti ai tre profeti frigi. Per i principali studi sul montanismo, con particolare riferimento alla produzione oracolare del movimento e alle fonti eresiologiche che ce ne danno notizia, vd. P. DE LABRIOLLE, La crise montaniste, Paris 1913, e sempre dello stesso
Conference Presentations by Maria Dell'Isola
EASR Conference 2021 (Pisa, 30/08-03/09/2021)
Nicole Loraux, in her seminal Les Expériences de Tirésias of the early 1990s, put forward the pro... more Nicole Loraux, in her seminal Les Expériences de Tirésias of the early 1990s, put forward the provocative and revolutionary hypothesis that under the heavy armour Athena's body simply does not exist. Her possible invisibility is a strategy of resilience: a way of evading being seen and, at the same time, enhancing the symbolic and sacred function of the body. From Athena onwards, and perhaps even before, the body is the medium through which female figures in myth and polytheistic religion defend their identity and protect their vulnerability from any enemy, external or internal.
The conference investigates the representation of women’s authority and holiness from a diachroni... more The conference investigates the representation of women’s authority and holiness from a diachronic perspective. By underlining the connection between early Christianity and Byzantium, it brings together texts from different periods and genres, which have traditionally been studied in isolation (e.g. apocrypha, visions, hagiography). The conference centers around the notion of time, used to indicate not only temporal passing and its articulation, but also embodied, experiential time and its construction. By looking at time as intertwined with the construction and the experience of social and gendered roles, the conference explores motifs and narratives related to the different and often varying articulation of female authority, considered against the wider background of Christian ideals of holiness. Speakers will explore the interplay between temporality and traditional gender roles, the transmission and reception of female authority and sainthood between early Christianity and hagiographical texts, and the connection between temporality and female holiness in Byzantine hagiography.
The present paper attempts to discuss the image of women in the Acts of Thomas against the wider ... more The present paper attempts to discuss the image of women in the Acts of Thomas against the wider theoretical background of temporality as it was perceived and construed through the text. More specifically, I will focus on how specific notions of time that emerged in the early centuries of Christian era proved to be a key factor in shaping women’s agency as this is reflected more generally in some of the apocryphal Acts. The nexus between time and the construction of the feminine in these Christian Apocrypha emerges as being particularly interesting because it sheds light on many relevant questions in early Christianity, such as chastity, asceticism, reconfiguration of family ties, social norms and roles. Being dominated by an eschatological perspective, early Christian temporality entails a paradox. The end of times is situated outside history; therefore, it is excluded from the rhythm regulating social life. As a consequence, early Christian ideals of chastity, and more generally asceticism, are to be read against this background. In some cases, the rupture entailed by eschatological time brings about a negation of women’s functions within the patriarchal structures of ancient society. Since the end of times was approaching, a traditional social structure gradually lost importance; on the contrary, the importance of chastity as a means of purifying the body in order to gain salvation entailed a reconfiguration of family ties and corresponding social roles. In this sense, traditional life-rhythms are replaced by a new subversive trajectory, and women can give up the roles of wives or mothers. The Acts of Thomas represent a significative case in this regard, albeit with some variations related to the notions of time construed through the text. The emphasis on chastity, the rejection of marriage as a symbol of an earthly human dimension, the exhortation not to have children in order to avoid the anxieties of this world, the rupture of family ties caused by women who decided to embrace a life of asceticism are all factors that characterize the narrative of the Acts of Thomas and contribute to creating a rigorously ascetic framework. Furthermore, the narrative appears to be characterized by a series of temporal determinations that constantly create a contrast between what is temporary and what instead is eternal. And most importantly, the temporary dimension is associated with earthly life, while eternity refers to a true life. In this sense, although the eschatological expectations had begun to slowly decline, a contrast between the present and the future, with a consequent devaluation of earthly life, is still a key factor in shaping the narrative. Building on this evidence, I aim to identify a set of key features that may define the relationship between different notions of time and asceticism and their influence on the roles and agency of women as they are represented in the Acts of Thomas.
Early Christianity appears to be dominated by strong eschatological expectations which reoriented... more Early Christianity appears to be dominated by strong eschatological expectations which reoriented social roles and norms against the wider background of a new temporality. Since the end of times was approaching, especially during the first two centuries of Christian era chastity was conceived as a means of purifying the body in order to gain salvation. That being the case, traditional life-rhythms were replaced by a new subversive trajectory, and women in many cases gave up the roles of wives or mothers. Early Christian ideals of female sainthood and piety are to be read against this background, as the well-known example of Thecla in the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla demonstrates. However, eschatological expectations slowly started to decline, and at the same time new notions of secular temporalities, emphasizing linear progression within history, emerged. This restoration of a historical time led to a reassessment of social norms and women’s roles within society, with a renewed emphasis on the backbones of a traditional ancient society, such as marriage and family.
The present paper attempts to discuss the image of women in two Byzantine Lives of female saints, the Life of Mary the Younger (11th century) and the Life of Thomaïs of Lesbos (10th century), against the wider theoretical background of temporality as it was perceived and construed through the texts. More specifically, I focus on how the turn from an early Christian eschatological temporality to a restored notion of historical time proved to be a key factor in shaping women saints’ agency as this is reflected more generally in the Byzantine Lives of female saints, and in the two above-mentioned Lives in particular. The Life of Mary the Younger and the Life of Thomaïs of Lesbos represent a significative case in this regard. In both texts an emphasis on marriage as a backbone of a traditional society is evident. Added to this is a tendency to stress the importance of the management of the household property. Chastity here is still a very significant Christian precept, but sanctity can be achieved also in married life. All of these details reveal the influence of a changed sense of time.
By looking at time as a key factor in shaping female religious agency in these Byzantine Lives, I aim to identify a set of key features that may define the relationship between a specific notion of time – a linear progression of life stages - and the construction of female holiness as it is represented in the Life of Mary the Younger and the Life of Thomaïs of Lesbos. In this sense, the present paper sheds new light on a widely debated topic – female holiness – by looking specifically and in a new way at social and gendered constructions of temporality in hagiographical narratives. To that end, I focus on details in the description of religious agency revealing a direct influence of different notions of time on women’s life and on a consequent construction of female sanctity.
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Articles and Book Chapters by Maria Dell'Isola
Conference Presentations by Maria Dell'Isola
The present paper attempts to discuss the image of women in two Byzantine Lives of female saints, the Life of Mary the Younger (11th century) and the Life of Thomaïs of Lesbos (10th century), against the wider theoretical background of temporality as it was perceived and construed through the texts. More specifically, I focus on how the turn from an early Christian eschatological temporality to a restored notion of historical time proved to be a key factor in shaping women saints’ agency as this is reflected more generally in the Byzantine Lives of female saints, and in the two above-mentioned Lives in particular. The Life of Mary the Younger and the Life of Thomaïs of Lesbos represent a significative case in this regard. In both texts an emphasis on marriage as a backbone of a traditional society is evident. Added to this is a tendency to stress the importance of the management of the household property. Chastity here is still a very significant Christian precept, but sanctity can be achieved also in married life. All of these details reveal the influence of a changed sense of time.
By looking at time as a key factor in shaping female religious agency in these Byzantine Lives, I aim to identify a set of key features that may define the relationship between a specific notion of time – a linear progression of life stages - and the construction of female holiness as it is represented in the Life of Mary the Younger and the Life of Thomaïs of Lesbos. In this sense, the present paper sheds new light on a widely debated topic – female holiness – by looking specifically and in a new way at social and gendered constructions of temporality in hagiographical narratives. To that end, I focus on details in the description of religious agency revealing a direct influence of different notions of time on women’s life and on a consequent construction of female sanctity.
The present paper attempts to discuss the image of women in two Byzantine Lives of female saints, the Life of Mary the Younger (11th century) and the Life of Thomaïs of Lesbos (10th century), against the wider theoretical background of temporality as it was perceived and construed through the texts. More specifically, I focus on how the turn from an early Christian eschatological temporality to a restored notion of historical time proved to be a key factor in shaping women saints’ agency as this is reflected more generally in the Byzantine Lives of female saints, and in the two above-mentioned Lives in particular. The Life of Mary the Younger and the Life of Thomaïs of Lesbos represent a significative case in this regard. In both texts an emphasis on marriage as a backbone of a traditional society is evident. Added to this is a tendency to stress the importance of the management of the household property. Chastity here is still a very significant Christian precept, but sanctity can be achieved also in married life. All of these details reveal the influence of a changed sense of time.
By looking at time as a key factor in shaping female religious agency in these Byzantine Lives, I aim to identify a set of key features that may define the relationship between a specific notion of time – a linear progression of life stages - and the construction of female holiness as it is represented in the Life of Mary the Younger and the Life of Thomaïs of Lesbos. In this sense, the present paper sheds new light on a widely debated topic – female holiness – by looking specifically and in a new way at social and gendered constructions of temporality in hagiographical narratives. To that end, I focus on details in the description of religious agency revealing a direct influence of different notions of time on women’s life and on a consequent construction of female sanctity.
La presente relazione intende offrire un tentativo di ricostruzione storico-culturale degli effetti prodotti dal radicalismo ascetico circolante all’interno di specifici gruppi cristiani sullo sviluppo naturale degli eventi che tradizionalmente regolavano la vita dell’uomo (e dunque anche dell’uomo cristiano) nel mondo antico. Partendo dall’osservazione di alcuni precetti contenuti negli oracoli montanisti e riguardanti in particolare la relazione tra moderazione nella condotta sessuale, attesa escatologica e martirio, l’analisi verrà estesa in un secondo momento anche ad altre figure considerate rappresentative della stessa tendenza cristiana all’ascesi escatologicamente orientata, cui anche la pratica del martirio può in taluni casi essere direttamente ricollegata. Una preferenza deliberata verrà accordata a specifiche figure femminili (Perpetua e Tecla) sia in virtù della rilevanza che il genere riveste nel loro accostamento (storico-culturale-sociologico) alle esponenti femminili del movimento montanista, sia perché l’incidenza della synteleia si rivela maggiormente profonda in quelli che sono gli eventi naturali (e le conseguenti costruzioni culturali) che regolano l’esistenza terrena della donna.
La comparazione così istituita cercherà di porre in rilievo, mediante l’individuazione di punti di contatto e analogie, la carica “sovversiva” che l’escatologia fu in grado di imporre nel suo incontro/scontro con il tempo terreno della vita dell’uomo.
The present paper attempts to reconstruct the Montanist prophetic experience via a re-evaluation of the available literary narrative. Therefore, the description of the Montanist ecstasy in the heresiological texts is compared with other Christian reports about ecstatic prophecy in non-polemical works. On such basis, I set out to identify a set of key features that may constitute a more reliable outline of this particular religious experience as it occurred in the Montanist circles. More specifically, the analysis of the linguistic components that heresiologists used to describe ecstasy is contrasted with the vocabulary of other Christian texts which illustrate the same basic model of religious experience. Finally, the conclusions draw attention to the discourses and interpretations of ecstatic prophecy related by different observers.
Laboratorio di ricerca interdisciplinare
Religions Matter. Methods, Theories, and Practices in the Study of Religion // Religions Matter. Metodi, teorie e tendenze della ricerca
Presiding: Maria Dell’Isola & Mario Resta
BARBARA CROSTINI (Newman Institute, Uppsala)
Women-with-Child on Show: Painting Motherhood from Dura to Luke
MARIANNA CERNO (University of Udine)
Dreams and Virtues of the «Women of Clement». Matthidia and Procula in the Light of a Newly Recovered Pseudo-Clementine Fragment
TOMMASO INTERI (University of Turin)
Womanhood as Exegetical Paradigm in Eusebius
ALESSANDRO DE BLASI (University of Padua)
(Im)pious Sisterhood. Once More on Greg. Naz. carm. II 1, 41, Contra Maximum
Chapters 33 and 34 of Palladius’ Lausiac History represent a significative case in this regard. The emphasis on a sharp separation between male and female monasteries, the liminality of gendered spaces, and the crossable boundaries between opposite areas are all factors that characterize the narrative of both chapters and contribute to the creation of a rigorously property-related monastic framework. Most importantly, the association between boundary violation and gender is functional to highlight the interplay between space restriction and limitation of freedom in terms of social and religious agency.
Building on this evidence, I aim to identify a set of key features that can define the relationship between monastic property, gendered spaces, and freedom of movement as they are represented in Palladius’ Lausiac History 33-34. By looking at the dynamics of access, trespassing and exit, the present paper will attempt to contextualize the role of physical borders by shedding new light on the significance of containment and transgression of spaces within the definition of religious agency.