St Erasmus (Lychnid) and St Thecla (Seleucia) : a study of two early Christian cultic centers
Author(s)
Advisor
Bennett, JulianDate
2004Publisher
Bilkent University
Language
English
Type
ThesisItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
The main purpose of this paper is the study of two regional Early Christian cultic
centers: of St. Erasmus, near the city of Lychnid in the province of Epirus Nova, and
of St. Theda, near Seleukia on the Calycadnos, in the province of Isauria. The
methodology and the problems associated with this are considered in chapter I. The
cult of martyrdom in Christianity is a complex religious, social and cultural
phenomenon, and chapter II deals with the significance of martyr-saints in Christian
theology, their place and role in the Late Antique culture of the Mediterranean, and
the two principal types of artifacts through which we recognize the cults of martyrs,
the hagiography and the sanctuary. This thesis then closely examines, in chapters
III-VI, the establishment, development and the demise or the transformation of these
two sanctuaries, and the related cultic traditions. This inevitably requires
consideration of a large number of factors, starting with the broad historical
conditions in these regions during Late Antiquity, the hagiographies of the venerated
saints, and finally, the formal architectonic expression of the cultic tradition, the
sanctuaries themselves.
Keywords
St. ErasmusLychnid
Ochrid
St. Theda
Seleukia on the Calycadnos
Meryemlik
Early Christian Architecture
Sanctuaries
Martyria