The persuasiveness of a woman:: The mistranslation and misinterpretation of Eusebius' Historia Ecclesiastica 5.1.41

The text of Eusebius' Historia Ecclesiastica 5.1.41, in which the slave woman Blandina is presented as a manifestation of Christ, has not traditionally been a controversial affair. This article, however, suggests a critical oversight among most English translations. Based on grammatical, syntactical, and interpretive evidence, the authors argue that Blandina should be made the subject of the phrase iota nu alpha pi epsilon iota sigma eta, a translation that leads to a fundamentally different reading of the text. The standard translation reflects an understanding of the story that not only diminishes the importance of Blandina but also obscures both Eusebius' probable purpose for the story's inclusion in his Historia Ecclesiastica and the manner in which the Christians of Lyon understood their relationship to their god.