Abstract

I fully agree with Rebillard that, unlike many earlier studies, we should not try to reduce the early martyrdom accounts to just a reflection of their court cases. While the more authentic ones sometimes come close to being eye-witness reports, they always contain theological reflections and often literary embellishments as well. However, it is also important to stress that this examination should be as unprejudiced as possible. To exclude beforehand internal evidence robs the historian of an important source of information. To avoid analysing earlier discussions makes one invent the wheel again. In the end, there is no satisfactory solution to the problem of historical authenticity that covers all cases, and we must rest content with the fact that no reconstruction of the original form of the accounts can claim absolute certainty. Like any other historical source, these texts, too, must be examined on their own terms.