Cover not available
Part of
The Reality of Women in the Universe of the Ancient Novel
Edited by María Paz López Martínez, Carlos Sánchez-Moreno Ellart and Ana Belén Zaera García
[IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature 40] 2023
► pp. 297–328

Chapter 19
Algunos aspectos de la mujer en la hagiografía bizantina

 | UBA-UCA-CONICET-AAL
Women feature prominently in hagiography, either as authors or as protagonists or minor characters. Their social, economic, and cultural condition vary greatly in these works as well as their work and family situations. This diversity seems to be a reflection of “reality”, even in stories that aim at moral and spiritual development. Women occur both in private and public contexts and in both instances they may reach holiness, even though some circumstances require a supposedly manly strength. Women’s potentialities and values are depicted in a positive light by hagiography.
Keywords: hagiography, manliness, woman author, protagonist, minor character, social rank, biography, narration, holiness, marriage and family
Article outline
  • Conclusiones
  • Notes
  • Bibliografía
Published online: 1 December 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.40.19cav
References (124)
Bibliografía
Agapitos, P. (2004). Mortuary typology in the lives of saints Michael the Synkellos and Stephen the Younger. In P. Odorico & P. Agapitos (eds.), Les vies des saints à Byzance. Genre littéraire ou biographie historique? Paris: Centre d’études byzantines, pp. 103–135.Google Scholar
Alwis, A. (2011). Celibate marriages in late Antique and Byzantine hagiography. The Lives of Saints Julian and Basilissa, Andronikos and Athanasia, and Galaktion and Episteme. London: Continuum. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Angelidi, Ch. (1996). Pulcheria: la castità al potere. Milano: Jaca Book.Google Scholar
Anson, J. (1974). The female transvestite in early monasticism. Viator, 5, 1–32. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ashbrook Harvey, S. (1990). Women in early Byzantine hagiography. Reversing the story. In L. Coon, K. Haldane & E. Sommer (eds.), That gentle strenght. Historical perspectives on women in Christianity (pp. 36–59). Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.Google Scholar
Ashton, G. (2001). The generation of identity in late medieval hagiography. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Baer, R. (1970). Philo’s use of the categories of male and female. Leiden, Brill. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Beaucamp, J. (1998). Les femmes et l’espace public à Byzance: Le cas des tribunaux, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 52, 129–145. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bohdziewicz, O. (2012). La ‘historia de Pelagia’ en la Vida de Juan el Limosnero de Leoncio de Neápolis. Byzantion Nea Hellás, 31, 189–202.Google Scholar
Bréhier, L. (1949). La femme dans la famille à Byzance. Annuaire de l’ Institut de Philologie et d’Historie Orientales (Pankarpeia. Mélanges H. Grégoire), 9, 105–108.Google Scholar
Burrus, V. (2003). Macrinas’ tatoo. Journal of medieval and early modern studies, 33/3, 403–417. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Caracausi, G. (1990). Lessico greco della Sicilia e dell’Italia meridionale (secoli X-XIV). Palermo: Centro di Studi filologici e linguistici siciliani.Google Scholar
Caseau, B. (1999). Christian bodies: the senses and early Byzantine Christianity. In L. James (ed.), Desire and denial in Byzantium. Aldershot: Ashgate, 101–109.Google Scholar
Cavallero, P. (2014). ¿Una prueba de autoría? La inmediatez como tópos en Leoncio de Neápolis. Νέα Ῥώμη, 10, 37–66.Google Scholar
(2018). ‘Τὸν ἄριστον βίον’ (Hist. Lausiaca 62). Castidad y soberbia en el contexto ascético de la hagiografía protobizantina. Anales de filología clásica, 31/1, 37–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2023). Función de la magia en la literatura hagiográfica bizantina. In L. Pégolo, E. Tola, V. Diez (eds.), Homenaje a Alfredo Schroeder. Buenos Aires: Universidad de Buenos Aires, en prensa.Google Scholar
Cavallero, P. et al. (2014). Leoncio de Neápolis: Vida de Espiridón, edición crítica con introducción, traducción, notas y apéndices. Buenos Aires: Universidad de Buenos Aires, FFyL.Google Scholar
Cavallo, G. (1994). El hombre bizantino. Madrid: Alianza.Google Scholar
(2004). Le pratiche di lettura. In La cultura Bizantina, vol. I de Lo spazio letterario del medioevo, 3: Le culture circostanti. Roma: Salerno, 569–604.Google Scholar
Clark, E. (1989). Piety, propaganda and politics in the Life of Melania the Younger. Studia patristica, 18/2, 167–183.Google Scholar
Constantinou, S. (2004). Subgenre and gender in saints’ lives. In P. Odorico & P. Agapitos (eds.), Les vies des saints à Byzance. Genre littéraire ou biographie historique? (pp. 411–423). Paris: Centre d’études byzantines (Actes du colloque (2002)).Google Scholar
(2014). Holy Actors and Actresses. Fools and Cross-Dressers as the Protagonists of Saint’s Lives. In S. Efthymiadis (ed.), The Ashgate research companion to Byzantine hagiography (pp. 343–357). Farnham: Ashgate, II.Google Scholar
Constas, N. (1996). The Life of saint Mary/Marinos. Introduction and translation. In A. Talbot (ed.), Holy women of Byzantium. Ten saint’s Lives in English translation (pp. 1–12). Washington: Dumbarton Oaks.Google Scholar
Coon, L. (1997). Sacred fictions. Holy women and hagiography in Late Antiquity. Philadelphia (The Middle Ages Series): University of Pennsylvania Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cunningham, M. (1999). ‘Shutting the gates of the soul’: spiritual treatises on resisting the passions. In L. James (ed.), Desire and denial in Byzantium (pp. 23–32). Aldershot: AshgateGoogle Scholar
(2010). Byzantine views of God and the universe. In L. James (ed.), A companion to Byzantium (pp. 149–160). Chichester, Wiley-Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Darrouzès, J. (1977). Questions de droit matrimonial: 1172–1175. Revue des études byzantines, 35, 107–157. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Certeau, M. (1968). Hagiographie. Encyclopaedia universalis, 8, 207–209.Google Scholar
Delehaye, H. (1908). Les femmes stylites. Analecta Bollandiana, 27, 391–392. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1921). Les passions des martyrs et les genres littéraires. Bruxelles: Société des Bollandistes.Google Scholar
(1925). Les recueils antiques de miracles des saints. Analecta Bollandiana, 43, 5–85 y 305–325. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(4(1955). Les légendes hagiographiques. Bruxelles: Société des Bollandistes (orig. (1905).Google Scholar
Delierneux, N. (2000). L’exploitation des topoi hagiographiques: du cliché figé à la réalité codée. Byzantion, 70/1, 57–90.Google Scholar
(2004). Littérature des hommes, biographie des ‘anges’: quelques remarques d’ hagiographie féminine (VIIIe-Xe siècle). In P. Odorico & P. Agapitos (eds.), Les vies des saints à Byzance. Genre littéraire ou biographie historique? (pp. 347–366). Paris, Centre d’études byzantines (Actes du colloque (2002)).Google Scholar
(2014). The literary portrait of Byzantine female saints. In S. Efthymiadis (ed.), The Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography, II: Genres and contexts (pp. 363–381). Farnham: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Detoraki, M. (2014). Greek Passions of the martyrs in Byzantium. In S. Efthymiadis (ed.), The Ashgate research companion to Byzantine hagiography, II: Genres and contexts (pp. 61–101). Farnham: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Dickie, M. (1999). Narrative-patterns in Christian hagiography. Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 40, 83–98.Google Scholar
Di Marco, F. (2010). Undressed: the naked female body as a sign of holiness in apocryphal and hagiographical literature. Studia patristica, 44, 499–508.Google Scholar
Eastmond, A. (1999). Body vs. column: the cults of St. Symeon Stylites. In L. James (ed.), Desire and denial in Byzantium (pp. 87–100). Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Efthymiadis, S. (2011). Hagiography from the ‘Dark Age’ to the age of Symeon Metaphrastes (eight-tenth centuries). In The Ashgate research companion to Byzantine hagiography, vol. I. (pp. 95–142). Farnham-Surrey, Ashgate.Google Scholar
(2014). Greek Byzantine hagiography in verse. In The Ashgate research companion to Byzantine hagiography, II: Genres and contexts. (pp. 161–179), Farnham: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Fernández, T. (2016). Malas mujeres en Leoncio de Neápolis. Rivista di studi bizantini e neoellenici, 53, 43–58.Google Scholar
Festugière, A. (1960). Lieux communs littéraires et thèmes de folklore dans l’hagiographie primitive. Wiener Studien, 73, 123–152.Google Scholar
Flusin, B. (2004). Le serviteur caché ou le saint sans existence. In P. Odorico & P. Agapitos (eds.), Les vies des saints à Byzance. Genre littéraire ou biographie historique? (pp. 59–71). Paris: Centre d’études byzantines.Google Scholar
Fulghum Heintz, M. (2003). The art and craft of earning a living. In I. Kalavrezou (ed.), Byzantine women and their world (pp. 139–159). Cambridge, MA: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Galatariotou, C. (1984). Holy women and witches. Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 9, 55–94. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Garland, L. (ed.). (2006). Byzantine women: varieties of experience 800–1200. Aldershot, Ashgate Publishing.Google Scholar
Garzya, A. (1973). Lingua e cultura nell’agiografia italo-greca. Atti del Convegno storico interecclesiale (Bari, 1969), III: La Chiesa greca in Italia dall’VIII al XVI secolo. Padova, pp. 1179–1186.Google Scholar
Gerstel, Sh. (1998). Painted sources for female piety in medieval Byzantium. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 52, 89–111. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Giannarelli, E. (1980). La tipologia femminile nella biografia e nell’autobiografia cristiana del IV secolo. Roma: Istituto storico italiano per il Medio Evo.Google Scholar
(1989). L’infanzia nella biografia cristiana o la transformazione nell’opposto. Studia patristica, 18/2, 217–221.Google Scholar
Grosdidier de Matons, J. (1970). Les thèmes d’édification dans la Vie d’André Salos. Travaux et mémoires, 4, 277–328.Google Scholar
Grumel, V. (1936). Une question de liturgie et de droit canon: la prohibition des mariages durant l’octave pascale. Échos d’Orient, 35, n°183, 274–279. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Guy, J. (1993–2005). Les apophtegmes des pères. Collection systématique. Paris, Cerf (Sources chrétiennes 178, 474, 498). Vol. I, capp. 1–9 (1993); Vol. II, capp. 20–16 (2003); Vol. 3, capp. 17–21 (2005).Google Scholar
Hadas, M. & Smith, M. (1965). Heroes and Gods: spiritual biographies in Antiquity. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Harmless, W. (2004). Desert Christians. An introduction to the literature of early monasticism. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hartney, A. (1999). Manly women and womanly men: the subintroductae and John Chrysostom. In L. James (ed.), Desire and denial in Byzantium (pp. 41–48). Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Hennessy, C. (2010). Young people in Byzantium. In L. James (ed.), A companion to Byzantium (pp. 81–92). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Herrin, J. (2001). Women in purple: rulers of medieval Byzantium. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.Google Scholar
(2013). Unrivalled influence. Women and Empire in Byzantium. Princeton-Oxford: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hill, B. (1999). Imperial women in Byzantium 1025–1204: power, patronage and ideology. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Holum, K. (1982). Theodosian empresses: women and imperial dominion in Late Antiquity. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
James, L. (ed.). (1999). Desire and denial in Byzantium. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
(2001). Empresses and power in early Byzantium. London: Leicester University Press.Google Scholar
Jazdzewska, K. (2009). Hagiographic invention and imitation: Niketas’ Life of Theoktiste and its literary models. Greek, Roman and Bysantine Studies, 49, 257–279.Google Scholar
Kaplan, M. (2004). Hagiographie et histoire de la société. In P. Odorico & P. Agapitos (eds.), Les vies des saints à Byzance. Genre littéraire ou biographie historique? (pp. 25–47). Paris: Centre d’études byzantines.Google Scholar
Kaplan, M. & Kountoura-Galaki, E. (2014). Economy and society in Byzantine hagiography: realia and methodologian questions. In S. Efthymiadis (ed.), The Ashgate research companion to Byzantine hagiography, II: Genres and contexts (pp. 389–418). Farnham, Ashgate.Google Scholar
Karlin-Hayter, P. (1992). Further notes on Byzantine marriage: raptus-ἁρπαγή or μνηστεῖαι?. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 46, 133–154. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Karras, V. (2004). Female deacons in the Byzantine Church. Church History, 73/2, 279–316. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kazhdan, A. (1990). Hagiography and sex in the fifth to twelfth centuries. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 44, 131–143. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1998). Women at home, Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 52, pp. 1–17. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Laiou, A. (1981). The role of women in Byzantine society. Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik, 31/1, 249–260.Google Scholar
(1992). Mariage, amour et parenté à Byzance aux XIe-XIIIe siècles. Paris (Travaux et mémoires du Centre de recherche d’histoire et civilisation de Byzance. Collège de France. Monographies, 7).Google Scholar
Lequeux, X. (2013). La passion grecque (BHG 2245) inédite de Mamelchta, mystérieuse martyre en Perse. Analecta Bollandiana, 131, 268–275. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Luzzi, A. (2004). La vita di san Nilo da Rossano tra genere letterario e biografia storica. In P. Odorico & P. Agapitos (eds.), Les vies des saints à Byzance. Genre littéraire ou biographie historique? (pp. 175–189). Paris: Centre d’études byzantines (Actes du colloque (2002)).Google Scholar
(2017). The homosexual background attributed to a textual gap in the Life of St Neilos from Rossano: a re-evaluation. In B. Crostini & I. Murzaku (eds.), Greek monasticism in southern Italy (pp. 267–281). New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mattila, S. (1996). Wisdom, sense perception, nature, and Philo’s gender gradient. Harvard Theological Review, 89/2, 103–129. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McCash, J. (ed.). (1996). The Cultural Patronage of Medieval Women. Athens, Georgia.Google Scholar
Mirachvili-Springer, N. (2012). Les pécheresses repenties et les saintes travesties dans l’hagiographie géorgienne. Revue des études byzantines, 70, 149–174. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2014). Prostituées repenties et femmes travesties dans l’hagiographie géorgienne. Paris: CNRS.Google Scholar
Narro Sánchez, A. (2010). Lo scontro tra formazione classica e pensiero cristiano: La vita e miracoli di santa Tecla. Graeco-Latina Brunensia, 15, 1, 27–138.Google Scholar
(2012). Nouvelles réminiscences littéraires décelées dnas la vie et les miracles de sainte Thècle (BHG 1717–1718). Analecta Bollandiana, 130, 303–305.Google Scholar
(2013). Orígenes y desarrollo de la hagiografía griega a través de la figura de santa Tecla. Tesis doctoral. Valencia: Universidad de Valencia.
(2016). The influence of the Greek novel on the Life and Miracles of saint Thecla. Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 109/1, 73–96. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Patlagean, E. (1968). Ancienne hagiographie byzantine et histoire sociale. Annales: économies, societés, civilisations, 23/1, 106–126. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1968b). Recherches récentes et perspectives sur l’histoire du monaquisme italo-grec. Rivista di storia della Chiesa in Italia, 22, 146–166.Google Scholar
(1976). L’histoire de la femme déguisée en moine et l’évolution de la sainteté féminine à Byzance. Studi medievali, 3=17/2, 597–623.Google Scholar
Perreault, J. (1991). Les femmes et le monachisme byzantin. Athens: L’Institut Canadien d’Archéologie à Athènes.Google Scholar
Philippart, G. (1981). L’édition médiévale des légendiers latins dans le cadre d’une hagiographie générale. In H. Bekker & Nielsen et al. (eds.), Hagiography and medieval literature: a symposium (pp. 127–158). Odense University Press.Google Scholar
Pratsch, Th. (2005). Der hagiographische Topos: Griechische Heiligenviten in mittelbyzantinischer Zeit. Millennium Studies, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rapp, C. (1996). Figures of female sanctity: Byzantine edifying manuscripts and their audience. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 50, 313–333+335–344. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reitzenstein, R. (1906). Hellenistiche Wundererzählungen. Leipzig, Teubner.Google Scholar
Richard, M. (1975). La vie ancienne de sainte Marie surnommé Marinos. In Corona gratiarum. Miscellanea patristica, historica et liturgica Eligio Dekkers O.S.B. XII lustra complenti oblata (pp. 83–115). Brugge: Gravenhage I.Google Scholar
Rigueiro García, J. (2020). La mujer en los mosaicos bizantinos raveneses (ss. v–vii). Anales de filología clásica, en prensa. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ringrose, K. (1999). Passing the text of sanctity: denial of sexuality and involuntary castration. In L. James (ed.), Desire and denial in Byzantium (pp. 123–137). Aldershot: Ashgate,Google Scholar
Rydén, L. (1985). The bride-shows at the Byzantine court: history or fiction. Eranos, 83, 175–191.Google Scholar
Schreiner, P. (2004). «Il libro è la mia cella». Le letture monastiche. In G. Cavallo (ed.), La cultura bizantina, vol. I, Lo spazio letterario del Medioevo, 3: le cultura circostanti (pp. 605–631). Roma: SalernoGoogle Scholar
Smythe, D. (2010). Insiders and outsiders. In L. James, (ed.), A companion to Byzantium (pp. 67–80). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Snee, R. (1998). Gregory Nazianzen’s Anastasia Church: arianism, the Goths, and hagiography. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 52, 157–186. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Souarn, R. (1900). Un empêchement canonique du mariage chez les Grecs. Échos d’Orient, 3/5, 257–262. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1900b). L’Ordre, empêchement canonique du mariage chez les Grecs. Échos d’Orient, 4/2 65–71. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1901). La parenté spirituelle, empêchement canonique du mariage chez les Grecs. Échos d’Orient, 4/3, 129–133. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1901b). L’empêchement de parenté naturelle chez les Grecs. Échos d’Orient, 4/4, 193–198. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stolte, B. (1999). Desires denied: marriage, adultery and divorce in early Byzantine law. In L. James (ed.), Desire and denial in Byzantium (pp. 77–86). Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Taft, R. (1998). Women at Church in Byzantium. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 52, 27–87. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Talbot, A. (1985). Late Byzantine nuns: by choice or necessity?. Byzantinische Forschungen, 9, 103–17.Google Scholar
(1998). Women’s space in Byzantine monasteries. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 52, 113–127. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2001). Women and Religious Life in Byzantium. Aldershot (Variorum collected studies series, 733).Google Scholar
(2011). Hagiography in late Byzantium (1204–1453). In S. Efthymiadis, Ashgate research companion to Byzantine hagiography (pp. 173–195). Farnham-Surrey: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Teja, R. (1999). Emperadores, obispos, monjes y mujeres. Protagonistas del cristianismo antiguo. Madrid: Trotta.Google Scholar
Tougher, S. (2002). Eunuchs in Antiquity and beyond. London: Classical Press of Wales.Google Scholar
(2008). The eunuch in Byzantine history and society. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Treadgold, W. (1979). The bride-shows of Byzantine emperors. Byzantion, 49, 395–413.Google Scholar
van Mal-Maeder, D. (2004). Moi, Cyprien d’Antioche, magicien du diable. In O. Bianchi & O. Thévenaz (eds.), Mirabilia. Conceptions et représentations de l’extraordinaire dans le monde antique (pp. 115–13)0. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Van Pelt, J. (2018): Saints in disguise: performance in The life of John Kalyvites (BGH 868), The life of Theodora of Alexandria (BHG 1727) and The life of Symeon Salos (BHG 1677). In Ch. Messis, M. Mullett & I. Nilsson (eds.), Storytelling in Byzantium. Narratological approaches to Byzantine texts and images (pp. 137–157). Uppsala: Universiteit.Google Scholar
van Uytfanghe, M. (1993). L’hagiographie: un genre chrétien ou antique tardif? Analecta Bollandiana, 111, 135–188. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Varvounis, M. (1998). Les traditions populaires byzantines dans les textes hagiographiques. Byzantiaká, 18, 153–170.Google Scholar
Vinson, M. (1999). The life of Theodora and the rhetoric of the Byzantine bride show. Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik, 49, 31–60.Google Scholar
Vogt, K. (1987). La moniale folle du monastère des Tabennésiotes. Une interprétation du chapitre 34 de l’Historia Lausiaca de Pallade. Symbola Osloensia, 62, 95–108. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Walker, A. (2003). Wife and husband, ‘a golden team. In I. Kalavrezou (ed.), Byzantine women and their world (pp. 215–231). Cambridge, MA: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
(2003b). Enhancing the body, neglecting the soul?. In I. Kalavrezou (ed.), Byzantine women and their world (pp. 232–27). Cambridge: MA, Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Ward, B. (1987). Harlots of the desert. A study of repentance in early monastic sources. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publication.Google Scholar
White, J. (Sister Teresa) (1989). The development and eclipse of the Deacon Abbess. Studia Patristica, 19, 111–16.Google Scholar
Zeitler, B. (1999). Ostentatio genitalium: displays of nudity in Byzantium. In L. James (ed.), Desire and denial in Byzantium (pp. 185–201). Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar