Wiener Studien 130/2017, pp. 291-360, 2017/06/26
Zeitschrift für Klassische Philologie, Patristik und lateinische Tradition
In this article the author provides a critical edition of the Acta Sancti Marcelli centurionis (BHL 5253 – 5255A) and a study of the textual tradition. Marcellus, a soldier of the Mauretania Tingitana, was martyred in 298 AD. The acts which narrate his martyrdom are generally considered authentic, and are of interest to hagiographical scholars and historians of late Antiquity in particular because of their treatment of the question of military service in the ancient church. The manuscript tradition is particularly complex because the text has been rewritten and modified several times over the centuries. Although the present study offers evidence of new manuscripts and further rewritings, we are still not able to establish a single original text, but only several traditions. The author proposes three textual redactions (MN1N2) which refer to later drafting of the original.