The Memory of the Eyes: Pilgrims to Living Saints in Christian Late Antiquity (Transformation of the Classical Heritage)

235 Pages·2000·8.95 MB·English

by  Georgia Frank

The Memory of the Eyes
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The Memory of the Eyes
Pilgrims to Living Saints in Christian Late Antiquity
Georgia Frank
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley Los Angeles London
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2000 by the Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Frank, Georgia, 1963–
The memory of the eyes : pilgrims to living saints in
Christian late antiquity / Georgia Frank.
p. cm. — (The Transformation of the classical
heritage ; 30)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-520-22205-9 (alk. paper)
1. Historia monachorum in Aegypto. 2. Palladius,
Bishop of Aspuna, d. ca. 430. Lausiac history. 3. Christian
pilgrims and pilgrimages—History. 4. Monasticism and
religious orders—Egypt—History. I. Title. II. Series.
BR190.H573 F73 2000
270.2—dc21
99-056845
Manufactured in the United States of America
09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 10 9
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) Perma-
nence of Paper.
Portions of chapter 2 have appeared in “The Historia Mona-
chorum and Ancient Travel Writing,” Studia Patristica 30
(1997): 191–95, and in “Miracles, Monks, and Monuments:
The Historia Monachorum in Aegypto as Pilgrims’ Tales,” in
Pilgrimage and Holy Space in Late Antique Egypt, edited by
David Frankfurter (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 483–505. Reprinted
with permission.
Chapter 4 of this book is a revised and expanded version of
my chapter “The Pilgrim’s Gaze in the Age before Icons,” in
Other Ways of Seeing: Visuality before and beyond the Renais-
sance, edited by Robert S. Nelson (Cambridge University
Press, forthcoming). Reprinted with the permission of Cam-
bridge University Press.
For my parents
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
ix
Abbreviations
xi
1. Pilgrims to the Living in Context
1
2. Desert Ascetics and Distant Marvels:
The Historia as Travelogue
35
3. Imagined Journeys:
Literary Paradigms for Pilgrimage to Holy People
79
4. Pilgrims and the Eye of Faith
102
5. How to Read a Face:
Pilgrims and Ascetic Physiognomy
134
6. Pilgrims to the Living and the Memory of the Eyes
171
Select Bibliography
183
Index
211
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many teachers, friends, and colleagues have given generously of them-
selves to support and encourage me during this project. It is a great
pleasure to thank them here. Michael E. Stone first introduced me to
the richness of pilgrims’ stories in a graduate research course at Harvard
University in 1988. The ensuing doctoral dissertation took shape under
the expert guidance of Susan Ashbrook Harvey and Margaret R. Miles.
I count myself fortunate to have had such trusting, generous, and, above
all, inspiring teachers.
Derek Krueger deserves special thanks for reading and commenting
on various drafts of every chapter. An astute reader of saints’ lives, he
deepened my own appreciation for the power of Christian storytelling.
I am also grateful to Peter Brown, Elizabeth A. Clark, James Goehring,
Patricia Cox Miller, and an anonymous reader for UC Press, who, at
various stages, graciously read the entire manuscript and offered valu-
able suggestions for improvement.
Many other colleagues provided expert comments on individual
chapters. Several of them also shared their own research prior to publi-
cation. In particular, I thank David Brakke, Virginia Burrus, Douglas
Burton-Christie, Susan Calef, Amy DeRogatis, David Frankfurter, Hel-
mut Koester, Blake Leyerle, Pierre Maraval, Robert S. Nelson, Claudia
ix