Asterios of Amaseia’s Ekphrasis on the Holy Martyr Euphemia

Abstract Asterios of Amaseia’s Ekphrasis on the Holy Martyr Euphemia focuses on a set of paintings depicting the martyrdom of the local saint that the author purportedly saw when he was in residence in Chalcedon. This chapter offers a new reading of the Ekphrasis, concentrating on two neglected but significant aspects: its place as an answer to the anguished deliberations of church fathers over the importance of classical paideia in Christianity, and the text’s implicit yet clear stance that the written and spoken word can compete with and indeed surpass works of art of the same subject. Following the rules of the genre outlined in the rhetorical manuals while telling the story of a Christian martyr, the Ekphrasis demonstrates how an educated person can employ his education in the service of the new, Christian message, and can even argue for its superiority over pagan traditions. Concomitantly, the Ekphrasis reinforces the notion that the word is superior to art because only an educated speaker or author can adequately interpret a work of art and dictate the proper ways of viewing and responding to it.