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ancient female Martyrs

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Eulalia said:
My main reason for believing that Eulalia of Merida was the original and Barcelona 'borrowed' her is that the poem about E of Merida, is a very fine composition by Prudentius (Aurelius Prudentius Clemens), who was an eminent figure (twice provincial governor) in Hispania Tarraconensis, which covered the whole of NE Spain (i.e. Catalonia as well as Aragon), in the later part of the 4th century - he was active at the time when the martyrdom of Eulalia in Emerita Augusta was still a living memory: as his poem describes, a shrine with her remains just outside that city was already a place of popular pilgrimage - so, although 'far distant' (as his poem says), it was already famous in his region. His works were very well-known through the middle ages, and he himself, or his poem, may well have encouraged a cult of the martyr in Barcino (Barcelona), which in time became detached from its origin, and developed into a much more elaborate legend with lots more, very exciting, tortures added along the way.

But I was attracted to Prudentius' version when I was the same age as the young martyr - especially by the cheeky way she thanked her torturers - firstly for writing 'the praises of God in purple' on her skin when they scourged her (purple ink on vellum was reserved for sycophantic addresses to the Emperor - 'purple prose'), and for 'carving the 'Cross of Christ' on her breasts when they tore them with hooks.
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Thank you so much for that Eulalia, I am far from being what may be termed an educated woman, when I left school in the 50 s I had no academic qualifications, so this is all new to me, as is a lot of history in general. Unless anyone can convince me with a better explanation, what you have explained here certainly makes sense, I have come across doubts about the Barcelona version in the tit bits I have found since my interest in Saint Eulalia were aroused by non-other than yourself just a few months ago. Also that “ dove” just has to be too much of a coincidence.

Eulalia said:
I was a bit of a brat then - and still quite a cheeky sub now :p
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It is so much more fun being a cheeky sub,
 
@weru04, in his 1932 film "The Sign Of The Cross" Cecil B. DeMille came up with methods of interest other than crucifixion to dispatch ancient Christian female martyrs.

IMG_0752.jpegIMG_0753.jpeg

(The second one is eaten by crocodiles.)
 
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