The different manifestations of female patronage in early Christianity

Abstract

The system of patronage constitutes an important means of exchange in societies that are asymmetrically constructed, such as the ancient Greco-Roman one. The relationships of inequalities it sanctions allow for a better understanding of religions discourses and developments. In early Christianity, it describes the link between the divine —patronus— and the devotees —clients. Women were also practitioners, as their way to emulate the role of the benefactor, Christ. In the same way, their leading role in the different manifestations of patronage is paramount to understand the spreading and consolidation of the Christian communities in the urban settlements of the Roman Empire, from the I Century AD.