Journal article
The downfall of Caelestis: Salvian of Marseille and the end of public cult in Roman Carthage
- Abstract:
- In De gubernatione dei 8, Salvian claims that Carthaginian Christian noblemen worshipped Caelestis until the Vandalic conquest in 439. This article argues that Salvian’s account is fundamentally unreliable. Augustine and the anonymous Liber promissionum allow one to reconstruct the restrictions on Caelestis’ cult across 399-421. Salvian is ignorant of these developments, and his picture of Carthaginian society does not cohere with Augustine or post-Augustinian sermons. Salvian may not be engaging in outright fiction, but he is distorting cultural patterns attested in Augustine’s works, and so cannot be used as a source for Romano-African cult during its demise.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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- Files:
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 367.5KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.25162/historia-2024-0005
Authors
- Publisher:
- Franz Steiner Verlag
- Journal:
- Historia More from this journal
- Volume:
- 73
- Issue:
- 1
- Pages:
- 103-125
- Publication date:
- 2024-01-01
- Acceptance date:
- 2022-12-16
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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2365-3108
- ISSN:
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0018-2311
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1331110
- Local pid:
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pubs:1331110
- Deposit date:
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2023-03-03
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Franz Steiner Verlag
- Copyright date:
- 2023
- Rights statement:
- © Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2023
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