Subversive Virtue: Asceticism and Authority in the Second-Century Pagan World

by James A. Francis

Book Overview

Much attention has been devoted in recent years to Christian asceticism in Late Antiquity. But Christianity did not introduce asceticism to the ancient world. An underlying theme of this fascinating study of pagan asceticism is that much of the work on Christian "holy men" has ignored earlier manifestations of asceticism in Antiquity and the way Roman society confronted it. Accordingly, James Francis turns to the second century, the "balmy late afternoon...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0271013044
• ISBN13: 9780271013046
• Release Date: December 1994
• Publisher: Penn State University Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"