Matronymics at Work: Female Succession Techniques in Lucian’s Dialogi meretricii and Some Early Thecla Literature

Using a matronymic alone was highly unusual in the ancient world. Gathering evidence from three texts from the second and third centuries CE from across confessional divides, I argue that it was a technique to express succession lines in certain female professions—there were simply very few of these in the ancient world. Two works of literature featuring the character of Thecla (the anonymous Act of Paul and Thecla and Methodius of Olympus’ Symposium) and Lucian’s Dialogues of the Courtesans show a persistent concern with professional bonds naturalized into mother-daughter relationships.