Pherbutha

Tarbula (d. between 341 and 349), also called Tarbu, Therbuta, Pherbutha, and Phermoutha, (Syriac: ܬܪܒܘ Tarbo) was a Syriac Christian saint, virgin, and martyr who was cut in half by saw after being accused of witchcraft and causing the illness of the Persian queen, wife of Shapur II. Her feast day is 4 April, and she has been commemorated in one of the Persian martyr acts.

Life Tarbula was born in what is now modern-day Iraq. Her brother was Saint Symeon (also called Simeon), bishop of what is now Al-Mada'in. Their father was a fuller. Tarbula also had a sister whose name is unknown. In some texts "Tarbo" or "Tharba " is the name given to Tarbula, while her sister is named "Pherbutha". Tarbula however is how the historian Sozomen translated her name into Greek.

Tarbula, her sister, and a servant were all virgins and lived together "in a kind of ascetic house community", The queen suggested that she marry to increase her position, but Tarbula refused because she had made a vow to a life of service to God and virginity. One of the priests (magi) of the queen's court offered to marry Tarbula as well, but she also refused him; he might have accused the three women of poisoning the queen. though the religion of the Sasanids was Zoroastrianism, the queen was a Jewish convert and "had great confidence in the attachment of her co-religionists".

According to Sozomen, the case against the women was interpreted as retaliation against Emperor Constantine's banning of the prostitution of young girls and the destruction of the temple of Venus. The other two judges also offered the women freedom in exchange for intercourse with them. Their execution was called an "especially cruel martyrdom".

The death of Tarbula and her companions therefore gains a strong symbolic message; that of faithful Christians not denouncing their faith or giving up their virtue even in the face of death. They become martyrs through their execution at the hands of non-Christians and sacrifice in a heathenish ritual.

In the Arts Tarbula is not widely featured in the arts but there are some notable examples such as;

A pieta engraved by Hieronymus Wierix

Martyrdom of St. Tarbula (ca. 1634) copper engraving by an unknown artist (possibly Adriaen Collaert) in' Sacrum Sanctuarium Crucis ' by Petro Bivero

Balthasar I Moretus depicted the Martyrdom of St. Tarbula with turbaned onlookers. The image reinforces the Christian theme of resurrection through Christ even after torture and death.