The Rhetoric of the Pious Empire and the Rhetoric of Flight from the World: a Socio-Rhetorical Reading of the Life of Melania the Younger

My analysis of the rhetoric of flight from the world and of the pious empire in the Life of Melania the Younger (written in the fifth century) aims to shed new light on asceticism of the heart and imperial Christian aspects in the ascetic life of Melania, in particular and of a specific group of Roman aristocratic ascetic women, in general. I draw on the examination of multiple textures according to socio-rhetorical criticism by which I investigate the broader contexts of the textual production of the Life, beyond the hagiographer’s intentions. The inner aspects of those women’s asceticism—a little studied field—linked to the ascetic language of fleeing from the world are illuminated by means of explorations of the intertexture and sacred texture of the Life of Melania through Origen’s ascetic writings, Egyptian desert monastic writings, and late antique Christian writings related to ascetic migration to Jerusalem and to monastic views of Jerusalem. The asceticism of the heart practiced by those women in the context of flight from the world comes to light in their manner of understanding the human heart and its movements and of training the heart to be open to others in their journey toward perfect union with God. By offering an intertextual reading of the Life of Melania, writings of fourth and fifth century church historians, and the homilies of Proclus, my interpretation of the ideological texture around the rhetoric of the pious empire locates Melania and her female co-ascetics within the framework of the Roman Empire’s ideology of victory associated with Christian ascetic piety. In particular the dissertation investigates the settlements, building projects and material activities undertaken by these women in and around Jerusalem through a further interpretation. Such a reading draws on the theme of Christian imperial ownership over other people’s territory and resources. This study contributes to a new configuration and synthesis of a type of double-sided ascetic subjectivity exemplified by a specific group of holy women, particularly Melania the Younger, bringing Christian ascetical theology and political theology into the recently developing discipline of literary-cultural approaches in late antique Christian studies.Doctor of Philosophy (PhD