Biblical Heroes and Classical Culture in Christian Late Antiquity

"The first English-language monograph on a significant yet often-neglected Latin Christian history from late antiquity (4th century CE), this book introduces a little-known text and shows how Classical culture and Bible heroes helped Christians conceptualize Jewish history in late antiquity"--

1. On the destruction of Jerusalem: Christian, Classical, Biblical, Josephan; 2. Hebrew vs. Jew: identity and differentiation in De Excidio; 3. Abraham, ethnography, exemplarity, and oratory at De Excidio 5.41.2 and 5.53.1; 4. Exemplarity and national decline at De Excidio 5.2.1; 5. Jewish and Christian martyrdom at De Excidio 3.2 and 5.22; 6. King David as Christian-classical exemplum in Pseudo-Hegesippus; 7. Elisha, disaster, and extended exemplarity in De Excidio; 8. A classical world of Biblical Exempla: suicide and patriotism in De Excidio 3.16-17; 9. A Christian world of Hebrew Exempla: war and faith in De Excidio 5.15-16. 10. Conclusion.