Anthroponymy in Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis: names and anonyms, substitute names and taboo names

   In Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis, some characters are referred to by their names, others by substitute names or descriptively, others only by function, office or kinship etc. The article explores names in their social aspect: what they say or can say us about their bearers, and the presumed perception of names by the anonymous Narrator, who generally gives the events a symbolic meaning, and imbues the common names with a providential sound. Special attention is paid to the name “Perpetua”. The name is put in connection with the Carthaginian family of high-ranking statesmen Perpetui, who at the turn of the 2^nd – 3^nd centuries, who were close to Septimius Severus, the emperor of African origin. It is hypothesised that “Perpetua” is a gamonym, a cognomen received from her husband, whose reticence keeps us guessing as to its causes. The hypothesis of Perpetua’s divorce from her husband is clarified, if one takes into accout his position as a member of family close to the emperor, which is incompatible with matrimony with a Christian woman. The author assumes that in “Passio” the reader is dealing with a documentary book consisting of texts by five authors. When analysing whom and how and which of the five names or leaves characters unnamed, the author of the article reveals both the peculiarities of the name choice in the individual parts (for example, in the Prologue and Epilogue only the hypostases of the Trinity are mentioned, while the Editor-Compiler gives only the names of the martyrs). And the common “strategy” of naming persons involved in the poles of the sacred: the pole of profanity (the devil, the Egyptian, the judge-consul Hilarian, the pagan deities Saturn and Ceres) and the pole of abomination (the Holy Spirit, the Lord, Jesus Christ, God, and their substitute names: Lanista, Pomponius, as well as martyrs and clerics both in mortal life and in the other world, the souls of the martyrs (late younger brother Dinocrates, whom Perpetua begged from hell). The others are described by function. With the exception of the martyrs Perpetua and Saturus, the authors of the rest of the Passio remain nameless according to this strategy. But the catechumen Rusticus, who was directly in the arena during the bestiality and who supported Perpetua, falls out of all groups. This reinforces the earlier published idea that Rusticus is the author of the description, who introduced his name by “smuggling” sphragis.

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