Two Christian Women of Late Antiquity: Olympias and Faltonia Betitia Proba

FAIN: FT-13729-78

Elizabeth A. Clark
Duke University (Durham, NC 27705-4677)

To translate the anonymous Life of St. Olympias from the Greek, Proba's Latin poem on the creation of the world and life of Christ (which she constructed out of lines from Vergil), and write commentaries on these works and the women they concern. During the 4th and 5th centuries, these two women were John Chrysostom's friends. Olympias was a deaconess and organizer of a convent in Constantinople, and Faltonia Betitia Proba was a Roman aristocrat and poet. Rather than publish each translation and essay separately, P.I. prefers to issue the results of his study as a monograph, illustrating two different styles of Christian devotion open to women in late antiquity. Project represents an exploration of women's role in early Christian history.