The Passio Perpetuae

Abstract

Cotter-Lynch reexamines the now-canonical Passio Perpetuae, or Passion of Saint Perpetua, within its original third-century context, arguing that Perpetua’s self-representation undermines traditional Roman authority structures and configures gender categories as malleable. Specifically, Cotter-Lynch argues against prior interpretations of the Passio which claim that Perpetua “becomes male”; instead, a close reading of the original Latin text reveals that Perpetua represents her gender identity as simultaneously male and female, thus collapsing conventional gender categories. This reading of the text is supported by a discussion of the genre of apocalyptic literature and considerations of apophatic theology.