How many co-authors had Perpetua and Saturus?

Abstract

The early Christian work “The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity” consists of different parts combined into a single book. Three parts are generally accepted: 1) Perpetua’s Notes, 2) Saturus’s Vision, 3) the Eyewitness story and the Prologue and Epilogue written by the same author. We argue that the Prologue plus Epilogue and the Eyewitness story had different authors and there was one more person, who was neither a participant nor a contemporary of the Carthaginian martyrdom. The results of his activity can be found in short sentences connecting the parts, as well as in violations of the structure of the narrative and a serious mistake made in the enumeration of the arrested catechumens. The authors claim also that this kind of collection as in The Passion had no analogues in ancient classical literature and followed the model of the New Testament.