Back Matter

Note

The story of Thekla has come down to us in a document entitled The Acts of Paul and Thekla. As we have it now it is probably much changed from its original form and contains many interpolations. It rests, however, there is very little reason to doubt, on a basis of fact, and may be supposed to date from the beginning of the second century, if not from an earlier time. It is not likely that a later writer would have been acquainted with some curious details which are to be found in the narrative. Queen Tryphæna was a real personage, the widow of a certain King Polemo, and was related to Claudius through the family of Marcus Antonius, the colleague and afterwards the rival of Augustus. This marks the date of the scene in the amphitheatre as having happened in the reign of Caligula or Claudius. No other of the Emperors were related to her.