The Roman Martyrs Project
A Project of the Centre for Late Antiquity
Introduction
The Roman Martyrs Project is dedicated to the study of the gesta martyrum, the anonymous martyr romances produced in the city of Rome in the fifth and sixth centuries. The Roman gesta martyrum are a group of little-known Latin hagiographical romances set by their anonymous early medieval authors in pre-Constantinian Rome, though the texts themselves seem to date from the fifth and sixth centuries at the earliest, and in some instances much later. These are texts which have both literary significance (as a 'missing link' between the ancient novel and medieval romance) and historical import, bearing clues to the relations of affinity among the Roman clergy and laity at the end of antiquity. Click here for further information
Project Resources
Roman Martyrs Database
The Roman Martyrs Database: This resource offers a web-searchable narrative, prosopographical, and topographical index to the (number) texts indexed by the Roman Martyrs Project.
Click here to connect to the Roman Martyrs Database
Handlist of Roman Martyrs
The Handlist of Roman Martyrs: This document gives basic bibliographical information relating to the (number) texts indexed by the Roman Martyrs Project, and additional information on other saints referred to by the Martyrologium Hieronymianum as having been martyred at Rome, for whom no texts have survived.
Samples of Roman Martyr Dossiers
The attached documents give an example of the dossiers held on the Roman martyr tradition in the Roman Martyr Project office--these dossiers are available to other researchers on request.
Director:
Dr. Kate Cooper (Religions and Theology)
Associated Staff:
Dr. Anne Kurdock (2005)
Research Associate Centre for Late Antiquity, University of Manchester
Dr. Carole Hill (1996-2005)
Honorary Research Fellow, Centre for Late Antiquity, University of Manchester
Dr. Clare Pilsworth (2000-2002)
Currently a Wellcome Trust Research Associate, University of Manchester
Dr. Catherine Conybeare (1996-97)
Currently Associate Professor on the Rosalyn R. Schwartz Lectureship in the Department of Greek, Latin and Classical Studies at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, USA
Dr. Mark Humphries (1997-98)
Currently Senior Lecturer in the Department of Ancient Classics at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth
External Funding:
British-Academy funded 1996-1999, Leverhulme Trust funded in 2000/01 and 2001/02