Gender and Intersectionality in Cilician Martyr Texts

Martyr texts describe people’s lives at a threshold between life and death. In these liminal situations, especially women often surprised contemporaries as well as readers of their martyrdom with their extraordinary behavior and resilience. The paper examines Cilician martyr texts – such as the martyrdom of Charitine of Corycus and the martyrdom of Iulitta and Cyricus – through an intersectional lens, focusing on categories like gender, age, family, and social status and their effect on the audience. By analyzing how these categories shaped the portrayal of martyrs and their reception, the paper investigates additionally whether there existed an ideal-typical martyr figure in Cilician martyr texts.