In a stunning piece of cultural history, Jacobs shows that Epiphanius was a celebrity in his time, equally at home as a performer and a negotiator. This important and original book opens a new window into late antiquity as it really was. Averil Cameron, Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine History at the University of Oxford Epiphanius of Cyprus presents a different and wholly surprising picture of the infamous fourth-century bishop. A well-established scholar, Jacobs deftly applies modern critical theory in this creative reading of Epiphanius's life and works. This book is an excellent contribution and an original work of the highest academic quality. Young Richard Kim, Associate Professor of History and Classics at Calvin College Andrew Jacobs draws not so much the icon of a saint but the portrait of a multifaceted figure in a shifting landscape. With admirable breadth and mastery of detail, combined with incisive perception and presented in eloquent prose, he paints a vivid picture of the last decades of the fourth century as a time when the boundaries of religion and orthodoxy, of church and empire, and of asceticism and paideia were constantly questioned and renegotiated. Claudia Rapp, Professor of Byzantine Studies at the University of Vienna