Athanasius: A History of the Black Dwarf

As if it were not enough that Athanasius of Alexandria was exiled time and again, an evolution of insults has followed the beleaguered fourth-century bishop.  What is pretty certain is that Julian called him “not even a man, but a common little fellow.”   Since then historians have extrapolated on his diminutive size, and speculated about his race.  The Gentle Exit, a blog, documents the odd, fairly recent historical developments which led to Athanasius being misremembered, scorned and valorized as “the black dwarf.”