The great feminine models at the beginnines of Christianity (I-V centuries)

Abstract

The feminine models of the first centuries of Christianity are analyzed on the basis of
the Greco-Roman and Jewish traditions, mythical as well as historical. Values such as
chastity, fidelity, sacrifice, patience or piety are considered since then as universal, the forms
is on the feminine heroisme in order to protect them. Christian women needed new models
which were supplied by the creation and difusion of new stories about the lives of holy and
martyr women. In this sense, a feminine hagiography, parallel to the masculine, was produced.
Christian women could find in those examples the real value for a personal affirmation.