Exemplum and Sacrifice, Blood Testimony and Written Testimony: Lucretia and Perpetua as Transitional Figures in the Cultural History of Martyrdom.
In analysing Livius’ narrative the article argues that Lucretia has to be seen as a martyr avant la lettre because not only her death had already been interpreted as a testis but also her blood functioned as a testimony for a cause, i.e. for Brutus’ oath against the emperor. In addition both Lucretia’s and Perpetua’s cases share the appearance of the martyr as a counterfigure of the sovereign because of the the martyr’s attempt to act sovereignly under conditions of lacking freedom resp. in a case of exception. Taking these similarities into consideration, it is not the testimony of blood but rather the invention of written testimonies into the history of ‘self-sacrifice for a cause’ which determines the specific Christian martyr. This figure has become the prototype for the repertoire of rhetorical topoi and pathos formulas which dominate the notion of martyrdom. The conclusion is a reinterpretation of the specificity of the Christian martyr: as a synthesis of martyrium, confessio, constantia and testimonium.