ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the addressees of apologetic texts, the motive of defence and its relation to identity formation, some apologetic strategies and, finally, the most common motives in apologetic treatises. Apologists can be found in many cultural, political and religious settings. Of concern to us in this context are the Christian Apologists from the second and the first half of the third centuries ce. The Apologists' defence of Christianity thus also included a positive explanation, directed towards the attackers, of what Christianity was in the view of the Apologists. Minucius Felix' Octavius is one of the latest of the early Christian apologies from around 200 ce and is particularly interesting for the discussion of apologetic strategies. The Apologists used different styles, arguments and methods, and their treatises had different addressees and could be focused on different themes.
