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( Aurelius Augustinus) A. Historical dimension A. (AD 354–430), Augustine, was Bishop of Hippo from AD 395/96 to 430 (Annaba in present-day Algeria), and is regarded as the most influential early Christian thinker of the Latin West. Born at Thagaste (North Africa, then a Roman province), son of a Christian mother, Mon(n)ica, and a pagan father Patricius, he embodied the transitional phase of Late Antiquity, in which Christianity was becoming increasingly established as the Roman Empire underwent a slow political disintegration. In his spiritual autobiography, the  Confessiones ( c…

[German Version] was presbyter in Marseille (492–496). His most important preserved work, De viris illustribus (c. 475), a Christian history of literature (continued by Isidore of Seville and Ildefons of Toledo), includes 103 Greek and Roman authors and continues the catalogue of authors of the same name by Jerome. Also often attributed to Gennadius are: (1) Liber (or: Definitio) ecclesiasticorum dogmatum, a compilation of orthodox and heretical doctrinal statements (abridgment c. 470), (2) Statuta ecclesiae antiqua, a collection of canons with significance for liturgy…

[German Version] (died after 455), a monk who probably fled from the Vandals invading Africa, lived in Rome after c. 432; he was an opponent of Augustine's doctrine of grace (Augustine). He has been little studied. Two manuscripts are attributed to him: Commentarii in Psalmos (possibly written in Africa before 428), which uses typological interpretation to relate the text, especially messianic prophecies, to NT events, and Conflictus Arnobii et Serapionis, an anti-Monophysite disputation written between 449 and 451 (Monophysites). Other works attributed to Arnobius include Liber…

[German Version] (5th cent.), secularly educated Christian, whose Paschale carmen (“Easter Song”) was written to edify educated Christians. It and two other hymns by him were commented on by Remigius of Auxerre. Later Sedulius wrote a prose paraphrase of the Paschale Carmen, the Paschale opus (“Easter Work”), likewise in five books. The two versions became a model for the medieval opus geminatum. Karla Pollmann Bibliography CPL 1447–1449 Ed.: J. Huemer, CSEL 10, 1885 On Sedulius: M. Mazzega, Carmen paschale. Buch III, 1996 (text; comm.).

[German Version] (better: Victorius; died between 425 and 450 ce), rhetor in Marseille; not to be confused with the philosopher and theologian Marius Victorinus. He composed a hexametric biblical epic Alethia [Truth] in three books, freely paraphrasing Genesis from creation to Sodom and Gomorrah. Since Gennadius of Marseille ( Vir. ill. 61, Richardson) speaks of four books, a fourth book may have been lost. Besides didactic elements intended for the instruction of youth (see the introductory prayer), Platonic influence is noticeable. The paraph…

[German Version] (Aurelius P. Clemens; 348/349 Spain – after 405), often called the Christian Virgil or Horace, since he was among the first to use classical meter to articulate Christian theological doctrines, often very complex, making him probably the greatest and most innovative Christian poets of Late Antiquity. His works include the lyric cycles Cathemerinon liber [Book of hours] and Peristephanon liber [Book of the martyrs’ crowns], the two didactic poems in hexameters “Apotheosis” [Deification] and “Hamartigenia” [The Origin of sin], and the Psychomachia [The Struggle …

[German Version] I. History of Literature (Early Church) – II. Philosophy of Religion – III. Fundamental Theology – IV. Dogmatics – V. Ethics – VI. Ecumenism – VII. Dialogue and Mission I. History of Literature (Early Church) Dialogue, as a philosophical disputation with the objective of vanquishing the opponent at all costs, originated with the Sophists (Sophistic School); as a literary form, Plato's …

[German Version] (c. 250–325), Christian Latin writer. Lactantius pursued extensive literary and philosophical studies; one of his teachers was Arnobius the Elder. At some time prior to 300, he was summoned to Nicomedia by Diocletian to teach rhetoric. At the outset of persecutions of Christians under Diocletian (303), he resigned from his teaching position and began to write as an apologist for the Christian religion. Because of his polished Latin, he has been called a “Christian Cicero.” Circa 314/315, Constantine brought him to Trier to tutor Crispus. In the treatise De opificio D…

[German Version] Sidonius Apollinaris, Gaius Sollius (429/431, Lyon – 486(?), Clermont-Ferrand), bishop in Clermont-Ferrand. The son-in-law of the emperor Avitus, he is considered the most important Latin writer of both poetry and prose in 5th-century Gaul. Contrary to the increasing Germanic influence in Gaul, he modeled his works – very popular in the Middle Ages – on classical Latin authors, including pagans. His three verse-panegyrics ( Carmina 1–8) on the emperors Avitus, Majorian, and Anthemius are based on Claudius Claudianus, his occasional poems ( Carmina 9–24) on the Silv…

[German Version] (c. 530, Treviso, northern Italy – before 610, Poitiers), Christian Latin poet who studied in Ravenna and in 565, in gratitude for liberation from an eye ailment, undertook a pilgrimage to the grave of St. Martin of Tours. In 567 he went to Poitiers, where he became bishop c. 600. Fortunatus wrote occasional poems in the classical style for rich and well-placed patrons, e.g. the Thuringian princess Radegunde. In addition he wrote the epic poem “Vita Martini,” lives of saints in pr…

[German Version] I. Bible and Ancient Judaism 1. Old Testament a. General. In biblical studies, poetry (Gk ποίησις/ poíēsis) in contrast to prose generally comprises stanzaic texts in language employing patterns of rhythm and sound, whose structure and style are determined by both linguistic (sound patters, rhyme, clause sequences, etc.) and nonlinguistic factors (so-called constraints: music, ¶ extent, parallel structure, setting, etc.). We do not know the ancient Hebrew poetic terminology, although poetry constitutes a significant portion of Old …

[German Version] (3rd [probably not 5th] cent. North Africa?) was the earliest Christian Latin poet. Works: 1. Instructiones: conversion of Jews and pagans, instructions for the Christian way of life; 2. Carmen apologeticum: a portrayal of Christianity as the true faith in 1060 hexameters containing chiliastic-eschatological motifs. The works are characterized by the programmatic rejection of classical (because untrue) diction and meter. Karla Pollmann Bibliography CPL, 1470f. CChr.SL 128, 1960 A. Salvatore, ed., Instructiones, 1965–1968 idem, Carme apologetico, 1977 E. He…

[German Version] (of Sicca, Numidia Proconsularis), a teacher of rhetoric (one of whose students was Lactantius), converted to Christianity late in life. Between c. 303 and 310, in defense of Christianity he wrote the apology Adversus nationes in seven books, the last left incomplete. In it he attacks a variety of opponents of the Christians, especially the adherents of pagan religion; the work is dominated by elaborate rhetorical polemic designed to “fling back” ( retorsio) the charge of impiety leveled by the enemies of Christianity, but …

[German Version] (c. 360 – after 433), a classically educated teacher of rhetoric (?) and later priest in Pelusium (eastern Nile Delta), withdrew to the nearby wilderness as an ascetic monk, nonetheless remaining active in church politics. Approximately 2,000 of his letters as well as apophthegmata have been preserved. The deacon Rusticus (6th cent.) translated 49 letters into Latin. The letters are addressed, in some cases, to high-ranking personalities (e.g. Emperor Theodosius II; Cyril of Alexa…

(Μιλτιάδης; Miltiádēs). From the 7th (Paus. 4,23,10; 8,39,3) to the 4th cent. BC, a name belonging to the family of the Philaïdae in Athens. [German version] [1] M. the Elder Victor in the four-horse chariot race at Olympia, probably in 548 BC. Son of Cypselus (archon 597/6 BC), grandson (?) of the tyrant Cypselus [2] of Corinth, relative ([7. 7]: adoptive son) of Hippocleides (archon 566/5); from the same mother as the three-time Olympian victor Cimon [1]. M. was victor in the four-horse chariot race at Olympia (548?). ‘Dynast’ alongsi…

[German version] In the C. (end of 4th cent. AD [3. 124-130]), a Christian anonymous author speaks out -- in 85 hexameters -- against the absurdity of the pagan cults of  Mater Magna (6-20) and  Isis (21-34), triggered by the apostasy (1-5; 35-50) of a formerly Christian legate (27). The pamphlet copies some satirical elements from  Horace and especially  Juvenal [2. 156f.]. Pollmann, Karla (St. Andrews) Bibliography Edition: 1 R. Peiper, CSEL 23, 1891, 227-230. Secondary literature: 2 R. B. Begley, The C., diss. Ann Arbor 1984 3 L. Cracco Ruggini, Il paganesimo romano tra re…

[German version] I. General Literary communication is communication by means of texts - stabilized, coherent and substantial statements. These may be written or eventually put down in writing, but they may also remain oral ( Literacy). Since for earlier societies as a rule only written texts can be studied, the term ‘literature’ focusses on such sedimented media of literary communication. Nevertheless, particularly for ancient societies the mainly oral character of literary communication must be emp…

[German version] (previously: Marcionem). Hexametrical Christian didactic poem ( didactic poetry) in 5 bks. (summary 5,1-18), which is aimed at the heretical positions of the Marcionites ( Marcion) (1,141-144). It is not written by   Tertullian, but rather by an anonymous author, whose origins are difficult to ascertain [2. 15-22, 29f.]. The poem was written sometime between AD 420-450 [2. 28-33]. Bk. 3 takes up the concept of the ecclesia ab Abel from Aug. Civ. 15. In order to prove the unity of OT and NT, the author employs numerous, and at times complex,  ty…

[German version] After the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451) [3.72-75], he wrote an extensive commentary on the Song of Solomon in 12 bks. Inspired by  Origenes [2], in a triple  allegoresis A. interprets the Song of Solomon as a dialogue between Christ and the church, or between the Word of God and the soul of man, or -- and this was his own accomplishment [3. 58, 174] -- as the love of the soul of Christ for the Logos. In the Middle Ages, the commentary was greatly used, first by Beda [2]. Pollmann, Karla (St. Andrews) Bibliography Editions: 1 B. de Vrégille/L. Neyrand, CCL 19, 1986. Literature: 2 …

[1] D. of Carthage, Donatists [German version] A. Definition Donatism is a derogatory term for an ethically radical Christian movement that attached itself to traditional elements in the African Church in Roman North Africa in the 4th-7th cents. AD. It led to a schism in the African Church during disputes over the consequences of the Diocletian persecutions of Christians, i.e. the question of how to deal with lay persons and clerics who had given in to the governmental authorities and in some way had become lapsi, e.g. had surrendered Holy Scriptures ( traditores). A separate Donatist …