Extract

Justin Martyr (c. 100–165 ce), a Christian *apologist, flourished under *Antoninus Pius and died a martyr in Rome after his condemnation as a Christian (see christianity) by the *praefectus urbiQ. *Iunius Rusticus. At the beginning of his First Apology he tells us that he was born at Flavia Neapolis (the ancient Shechem in Samaria) of *pagan parents. He seems never to have been attracted to Judaism, though he knows seven Jewish sects (Trypho 80. 4). His account of his early disappointments in philosophy (Trypho 3 ff.) is conventional, but he was certainly a Platonist (see plato(1)) when converted to Christianity. The Stoics (see stoicism) he knew and admired, but more for their lives than for their teachings, and his conversion owed much to the constancy of Christian confessors (2 Apol. 12).After leaving *Samaria, he set up a small school in Rome, and wrote two apologies, nominally directed to Antoninus Pius.