‘Magnae feminae’. Elena e altre pellegrine del IV secolo.

Three literary works concerning Christian 'magnae feminae' are dealt with: Egeria's Peregrinatio ad Loca sancta; Jerome's epistle 108, i.e. Paula's epitaphium; Ambrose's passage of the De obitu Theodosii concerning the finding of the Holy Cross by Helena. Such women play an important role within the history of culture, religion and political thought (cf. the political meaning Helena's pilgrimage is endowed with by Ambrose) during the 4th century, when the spread of Christianity takes place also due to the so called Edict of Milan.