Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Prelude to Constantine: The Abgar Tradition in Early Christianity

Prelude to Constantine: The Abgar Tradition in Early Christianity

Mirkovic, Alexander
Lüdemann, Gerd

Paperback

Series: Arbeiten Zur Religion Und Geschichte Des Urchristentums / St, Book 15

Literary CriticismGeneral ChristianityGeneral World History

ISBN10: 3631523823
ISBN13: 9783631523827
Publisher: Peter Lang
Published: May 11 2004
Pages: 186
Weight: 0.54
Height: 0.43 Width: 5.83 Depth: 8.27
Language: English
What explains the similarity among the conversion accounts of so many barbarian rulers of the Byzantine Near East? Royal adoptions of a new religion, whether Christianity, Judaism, or Manichaeism, appear to draw on a common literary topos. King Abgar of Edessa's conversion became the subject of several early Christian legends. This analytical comparison of various conversion accounts argues that they played a significant role in fashioning the diverse local ethnic groups in the Near East into Romans. The Abgar legend formed part of a larger literary movement which disseminated often similar accounts of royal conversion within and beyond the borders of the Empire. The conversion stories contain both received and invented traditions which reveal popular and common cultural patron-client patterns. Significantly, various ethnic groups translated these general themes to their unique circumstances. Mirkovic's examination of this tangled web of ethnicity, religion, culture, and politics in the fourth century reveals the historical and literary significance of these legends.

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