Saint Stephen in Africa: On Saints, Spinsters, and Synagogues in Late Antiquity

Abstract: This study forges a novel link between an image molded unto an oil lamp from Carthage and the text that inspired it. Wrongly considered unique and misinterpreted for over a century, the lamp features a hallowed figure holding a cross in its right arm and crushing a serpent-dragon under its feet. This triad—man, cross, beast—is planted atop an inverted seven-branch candelabra, the ubiquitous Jewish symbol of Late Antiquity. Behind the story of the pictured saint simultaneously subduing a dragon and a candelabra is a tradition of vehement anti-Judaism based on the New Testament and richly laced with African theology and martyrology. Using as interpretative keys a group of oil lamps manufactured in North Africa for Christian and Jewish customers, this study traces the evolution of new, peculiarly African discourses of sainthood, of martyrdom, and of Jewishness.