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The pleasure of child nursing: St. Anne and the infant Mary in texts and Byzantine art

Abstract:
After waiting for decades to become a mother there can be no doubt that Anne took great pleasure in bringing her daughter Mary up. The literature and iconography of the Byzantine Middle Ages reflect Anne’s happy and harmonious family life. Little Mary brought many joys to her parents and that becomes obvious from listening to the hymns dedicated to her and to them and from looking at the visual scenes in which she is depicted being milk-fed, caressed as well as taught to walk and read. My chapter is concerned with how Anne’s delight in motherhood is represented in the Byzantine theological, historical, and iconographical sources that considered the act of milk-nursing as pertaining not only to the mundane, but also to the divine realm.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Publisher copy:
10.1007/978-3-319-89399-0_2

Authors

More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
HUMS
Department:
History
Oxford college:
Wolfson College
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0002-9946-8580

Contributors

Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
HUMS
Department:
History
Oxford college:
Wolfson College
Role:
Editor


Publisher:
Palgrave Macmillan
Host title:
Devotion to St. Anne in Texts and Images: From Byzantium to the Late European Middle Ages
Pages:
33-54
Chapter number:
2
Place of publication:
Cham, Switzerland
Publication date:
2018-06-22
Edition:
1
DOI:
EISBN:
9783319893990
ISBN:
9783319893983


Language:
English
Keywords:
Subtype:
Chapter
Pubs id:
2297185
Local pid:
pubs:2297185
Deposit date:
2025-10-03
ARK identifier:

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