The Nero-Antichrist

Founding and Fashioning a Paradigm
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-1-108-49149-5
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 242 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 230 mm, Gewicht: 498 g

Reihe: Classics after Antiquity

It has traditionally been assumed that biblical writers considered Nero to be the Antichrist. This book refutes that view. Beginning by challenging the assumption that literary representations of Nero as tyrant would have been easily recognisable to those in the eastern Roman empire, where most Christian populations were located, Shushma Malik then deconstructs the associations often identified by scholars between Nero and the Antichrist in the New Testament. Instead, she demonstrates that the Nero-Antichrist paradigm was a product of late antiquity. Using now firmly established traits and themes from classical historiography, late-antique Christians used Nero as a means with which to explore and communicate the nature of the Antichrist. This proved successful, and the paradigm was revived in the nineteenth century in the works of philosophers, theologians, and novelists to inform debates about the era's fin-de-siècle anxieties and religious controversies.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Malik, Shushma

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Kirchengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Bibelwissenschaften
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Geschichte der klassischen Antike
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturgeschichte und Literaturkritik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction: Neronian Myths; 2. Nero and the Bible; 3. The Invention of the Nero-Antichrist; 4. Reviving the Nero-Antichrist; 5. Epilogue: The Legacy of Revival; Appendix A. List of Early-Christian References to the Nero-Antichrist; Bibliography; Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Malik, Shushma
Shushma Malik is a Lecturer in Classics at the University of Roehampton. She has published book chapters and articles in international journals such as Classical Quarterly. Shushma has also featured as a guest on BBC Radio 3's The Sunday Feature: The Deluxe Edition and BBC Radio 4's In Our Time: Nero.