This volume questions the prevailing 'female empowering' interpretation of Thecla in the Acts of Paul and Thecla. Rosie Andrious examines the way that Thecla is voyeuristically paraded and subjected to a kind of sado-erotic torture, and demonstrates how this perception clashes with any notion that she is presented as a

'Davis has brought together the Egyptian source material for the first time... a fascinating and cogently-argued book' -Journal of Theological StudiesThecla, a disciple of the apostle Paul, became perhaps the most celebrated female saint and 'martyr' in the early church. Bringing together literary, artistic, and archaeological evidence, the author shows

Not all readers in ancient Greece whiled away the hours with Homer, Plato, or Sophocles - at least, not always. Many enjoyed light reading, such as can be found in the pages of this lively anthology. Various types of popular writing - novels, short stories, books of jokes or fables,

Focuses on how Christianity changed the lives of children in the ancient world. This book explores the hidden lives of children at the origins of Christianity. It draws on insights gained from comparisons of children's experiences in ancient Judaism and the Graeco-Roman world.

Sometime in the second century, an early Christian text began to circulate called the Acts of Paul and Thecla . Since then, the tale of the apostle Paul, along with his strong heroine co-worker named Thecla, has received much attention as an independent source of information about earliest Christianity for