Commutavi saecula, non obii:

Eating with the dead in Christian North Africa

Plan of today’s presentation

 Historical context of Roman North Africa in Late Antiquity

 Why study the Cult of the Dead in Roman North Africa?
 The impact of the dead in the realm of the living: The funus, the monuments, the
feasts…
Roman North Africa in Late Antiquity
Rixa sine Fine:
A chasm within the Church
 Augustine of Hippo and the acts of the Conference of 411
 The sources of the schism: Augustine (354-430), Optatus of Milevis (fl. 370’s),
 Issues: story of the schism written over half a century after; Only one side of the
story
The Donatist schism:

 306/308: The disputed election of bishop Caecilius of Carthage

 313, 314: Donatus and his supports object Caecilius’ ordination in the councils of
Rome and Arles to no avail
 347: The Tempora Macariana
 361: Emperor Julian suppresses all legislation targeting schismatics: The Donatist
renaissance
 395: Augustine is ordained bishop of Hippo Regius
 411: The Collatio Cartheginensis
The Historiography of the Schism:

 Augustine: Pertinaci dissensione firmata, in haeresim schisma verterunt (De

Haer. 69.1)
 Gibbon: The peasants who inhabitated the villages of Numidia and Mauretania
were a ferocious race (...) who were imperfectly converted to the Christian faith;
but who were activated by a blind and furious enthusiasm in the cause of their
Donatist teachers.
 Frend: The dissenters were drawn in the main from the opressed and primitive
groups in the population (...) Donatism was not merely a schism, it was a part of a
revolution.
 “Shaw’s tour de force requires us to
reject notions that the schism is a result
of nationalist/ethnic divides or of
economic disadvantage or a revolution
of any sort. Rather, it was a schism is
which both sides considered they were
the true Christian church (…). It was
prompted by differences in historical
memory, according to Shaw’s term,
leading to differing identities (…).” J.
Whitehouse, 2016
Why the study cult of the dead?

 Are the dead really gone? The impact of the dead in the realm of the living
 The cult of the dead as a social tool for self promotion and identity formation: the
laudatio: “inscribing” historical memory
 Frame the Christian cult of the dead as a continuity of the pagan traditions and
habits (pace Peter Brown)
 Carthaginem dico, et urbi Romae maxime adversariam, et in Africano orbe quasi
Romam
 The Funus
 The aristocratic funeral as a
spectacle to further their agenda:
Polybius
 Criticism of the spectacle: the
example of Lucian
 Funerary legislation
The Monument

 The Domus aeterna: the case of Trimachio

 Sine voce loquor de marmore caeso (CIL XIV
480)
 The Christian monument: the logos?
Dining with the dead
Thank you!