The Greek Life and Martyrdom of *Thalelaios (martyr of Aigai in Cilicia, S01137). Skeleton entry
Evidence ID
E06778
Type of Evidence
Literary - Hagiographical - Accounts of martyrdom
Life and Martyrdom of Thalelaios (BHG 1707-1708)
We have not examined this text.
Source
For the manuscript tradition, see:http://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/oeuvre/17912/
http://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/oeuvre/17913/
[Note added 26/05/2025] For a scholarly edition and discussion by Bröcker of three versions of this Martyrdom (BHG 1707, 1708 and 1708d), see Bröcker 1976.
Discussion
[Discussion added 26/05/2025] We have not engaged with Bröcker's edition and discussion at first-hand. Halkin (1977), however, summarises and discusses one of his central ideas: that the martyr Thalelaios was in origin a mid-fifth-century ascetic and miracle-worker of the same name, who was visited and described by Theodoret of Cyrrhus (see E00446). Theodoret tells us that this Thalelaios was active south of Antioch but was a native of Cilicia. On the basis of this, Bröcker hypothesised that, on the ascetic Thalelaios' death, his body was taken back to Cilicia (the province in which Aigai sits), where, in time, he was elevated to the status of a martyr and provided with a suitable Martyrdom.While ingenious, we agree with Halkin that this hypothetical conflation of two Thalelaioses into one is probably over-ingenious. The name is exceedingly unusual, but it is entirely possible that the ascetic Thalelaios received the name in honour of a martyr venerated in his native Cilicia.
Bibliography
Text:Bröcker, H., Der hl. Thalelaios: Texte und Untersuchungen (Forschungen zur Volkskunde 48; Münster: Verlag Regensburg, 1976) [Reference added 26/05/2025]
Acta Sanctorum, Maii V, 180*-182* (3rd ed. 12*-14*). (BHG 1707)
Acta Sanctorum, Maii V, 183*-192* (3rd ed. 15*-23*). (BHG 1708)
Further reading:
Halkin, F., "Saint Thalélée, anachorète ou martyr?" Analecta Bollandiana 95, no. 1-2 (1977), 72. [Reference added 26/05/2025]
Record Created By
Christodoulos Papavarnavas and Bryan Ward-Perkins
Date of Entry
08/10/2018, added to 26/05/2025
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S01137 | Thalelaios, martyr of Aigai in Cilicia | Certain |
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Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Christodoulos Papavarnavas and Bryan Ward-Perkins, Cult of Saints, E06778 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E06778