ABSTRACT
William Tabbernee and Peter Lampe claim to have discovered Pepouza and Tymion, cult sites associated with Montanism (or “New Prophecy”). Drawing upon the literary and material evidence associated with the group and these sites, this chapter builds upon the work of Christoph Markschies to challenge Tabbernee’s and Lampe’s identification. It allows for the possibility that these sites could have been considered Pepouza and Tymion at some point but nevertheless demonstrates that all of the extant evidence remains unconvincing. Projects like Tabernee’s and Lampe’s construct fantasies of a pure, original Christianity standing in opposition to “the orthodox,” thereby participating in anti-Catholic discourses. Instead, this study shows that the recovered evidence can provide opportunities for further research without reinscribing problematic claims about an already-fraught category—Montanism.
