Christianity and the Cubiculum : Spiritual Politics and Domestic Space in Late Antique Rome

Introduction

Thi? e??ay explore? the victimizeceptual and clobber hi?tory of a ?ingle dome?tic ? pacing, the cubiculum, and it? importance for the con?truction of epi?copal authority and private faith in late antique Rome. The cubiculum, a ?mall, typically enclo?ed room in a roman print hou?e u?ed for a variety of dome?tic activitie? (?leep, ?ex, bu?ine?? and entertainment, poetry writing, magic, and prayer), see? with ?urpri?ing frequency in both cla??ical and early Chri?tian literature a? the mo?t ?ecret place within the hou?ehold, where it? occupant? efficacy expect to conceal their activitie? to certain degree? from certain hearing?. After a brief delineation of cla??ical, biblical, and patri?tic conceptualization? of the cubiculum a? a ?ecret ?pace a? well a? it? material form in late antiquity, I examine the room? con?truction a? the diseased person? bedroom in a group of anonymou? fifth- and ?ixth-century Roman pa??ion? known a? the ge?ta martyrum. I argue that the?e Roman text? invited reader? to identify their dome?tic cubicula a? legitimate, alternative ?pace? of ?piritual activity in the city, where, like the martyr?, they might practice their own dome?ticated feat? of a?cetic heroi?m without direct epi?copal ?upervi?ion.



Yet rather than view the?e narrative? a? entirely ?ubver?ive in term? of their ?piritual debonair?, I explain their meaning in light of the ri?e of a di?tinctly dome?tic expre??ion of Chri?tian piety and civic tradition in Rome, one which privileged the hou?ehold and it? member? over public, eccle?ia?tical ?pace? and figure? in the emerging hi?tory of Rome? Chri?tianization. [End Page 171]

It can be ?aid with ?ome qualification that take?tantine? conver?ion to Chri?tianity began in the bedroom. According to one Latin ver?ion of the Actu? ?ilve?tri, an anonymou?ly-penned, fifth-century romance that whimsically depict? the fir?t Chri?tian emperor? Roman bapti?m and earlie?t pro-Chri?tian act?, the emperor...

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