Category:Androcles (subject)

Androcles is a fictitious character, created by Bernard Shaw in 1912. He is a fugitive Christian slave who was delivered to the beasts in the arena and spared by a lion whose wounds he had healed in the wilderness.

Overview

The story of Androcles as a (1st cent.?) fugitive slave spared by the lion in the arena is told by Aulus Gellius (and by Pliny the Elder). Ever since it has been retold with uncountable variants from the Middle Ages up to contemporary times.

The emphasis on the persecution of early Christians following the publication of Quo Vadis? led people to reimagine the story in a Christian context. In Loius Feuillade's Aux lions, les chrétiens!'' (1911) an unnamed Christian sent to the beasts is spared by the lion, which remembers the act of mercy received in the wilderness.

In 1912 Louis Feuillade and Bernard Shaw were ready to offer a Christian version of the old narrative. Androcles was now a slave because of his Christianity, and the incident was located in a time of religious persecution, in the 1st century under Emperor Nero according to Feuillade and in the 2nd century under Emperor Antoninus Pius according to Shaw. The Shaw version became the standard narrative on stage and in numerous cinematic productions.

Adaptations

External links

Wiki.en

Pages in category "Androcles (subject)"

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Media in category "Androcles (subject)"

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