Melissa Sellew

The Life of Thecla

History & Biography

“Andrew Jacobs offers a major advance in our understanding of Thecla’s literary and hagiographical afterlife. The authoritative introduction sets the compositional techniques of the Life of Thecla firmly within the context of elite rhetorical practices of the fifth century. The annotated translation is engaging and useful, demonstrating how thoroughly the Life fills interpretive gaps left open in the second-century Acts of Thecla. Recommended for all those who study early Christian narrative, martyrology, and hagiographical biography.”