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[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 …

[German version] In c. AD 500, a Christian anonymous author, probably in Africa, wrote the C., a poem of 406 hexameters with epyllic qualities; its topic was the proof of the resurrection of the dead (102-136) and the divine last judgement of good (186-268) and evil (269-355) people. Its style frequently imitates that of  Virgil, but also that of Christian poets [1; 2. 118ff.]; furthermore, verses frequently end in pseudo-rhymes. Pollmann, Karla (St. Andrews) Bibliography 1 J. H. Waszink, Florilegium Patristicum Suppl. 1, 1937, 47-116 2 S. Isetta, C., in: Vetera Christianorum…

[German version] From Mauretania; Christian priest, settled as a teacher of rhetoric towards the end of the 5th cent. AD in Arelate/Arles, where he taught i.a. Caesarius [4] of Arelate (Gennadius Vir. ill. 99; Isid. Vir. ill. 25). Of De natura animae et qualitate eius there are only a few traces;  De vita contemplativa survives in full in 3 bks. and develops a theory of virtue and vice. Though imitative of  Augustinus and Hieronymus [8] the work is independent and was still influential in the Middle Ages. Pollmann, Karla (St. Andrews) Bibliography Edition: PL 59, 415-520. Bibliography: M. S…

[German version] Christian Latin poet (348/349- after 405); born to a wealthy Christian family in Spain, he underwent the obligatory rhetorical education before commencing work as a lawyer. Twice he was provincial governor, and lastly a high official in the central imperial civil service. With hindsight, however, he came to regard this worldly career as squandered time, and, in his 57th year, he decided to devote the remainder of his life, hitherto lacking in Christian service, to praise God with …

(Γαυδέντιος; Gaudéntios). [German version] [1] G. Philosophus Musician and philosopher Author of an introduction to harmony, Ἁρμονικὴ εἰσαγωγή ( Harmonikḕ eisagōgḗ) ─ probably written in line with Claudius Ptolemy's ─ translated into Latin by Cassiodorus' friend Mutianus (Cassiod. Inst. 2,5,142 Mynors). The incompletely preserved work (in 23 chapters) contains traditional teachings in a slightly modified form, especially from Aristoxenus and the Pythagoreans: voice, sound, interval, modes, composition (1-7), unison…

[German version] [I] Greek see  Orphic poetry Pollmann, Karla (St. Andrews) [German version] [II] Latin The basis of allegorical presentation is to communicate a conceptual meaning through a series of fictional, constructed connotations of images and narrative sequences. In poetry, we find for example allegories of navigation since Alcaeus fr. 326 Lobel/Page (cf. Hor. Carm. 1,14). In the comedy of Aristophanes, allegory veils obscene references. In Christian literature, allegory's function is not only that of…

[German version] The term typology only dates back to the 18th cent., referring specifically to the mainly Jewish-Christian interpretation method of a salvific history which was seen as both coherent and purposeful (to be distinguished from typology in the sense of assigning individuals to particular types or, respectively, as a method of relative dating used in the study of prehistory). Typology has its etymological roots in τύπος/ týpos ('image', type) respectively τυπικός/ typikós (Rom 5,14; 1 Cor 10,6; 11) and ἀντίτυπον/ antítypon ('counter-image', antitype; 1 Petr 3,21)…

(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] [1] F. Mythographus Christian, about AD 500, author of several prose works (also F. Afer, Fabius Planciades F., Fabius Claudius Gordianus). Several prose works are extant by the Christian F. who lived around AD 500 and whose identification with  Fulgentius [2] is a matter of discussion [3]: De aetatibus mundi et hominis is an episodic outline of world history in which a particular letter of the alphabet is meant to be avoided (lipogram) in each of the planned 23 lemmata (of which only 14 were written). Lemmata 10, 11 and 14 deal w…

[German version] I Greek (Παλλάδιος; Palládios). [German version] [I 1] Greek rhetor, 4th cent. Greek rhetor of the first half of the 4th cent. AD (Suda s.v. P. gives his prime as under Constantinus [1] I) from Methone (probably the Messenian one). According to the Suda, in addition to declamations he wrote in all three rhetorical genres ( genera dicendi ) and also an antiquarian work on the festivals of the Romans (FGrH F 837). Whether P. is identical with one of the numerous Palladii mentioned in the letters of Libanius and if …

[German version] A. Life In addition to self-testimonials cf. especially the biography by  Possidius. On 13.11.354 birth of A. in Thagaste (northern Africa), the son of a simple non-Christian Roman civil servant, Patricius, and a Christian, Monnica. In 370 commenced rhetoric training in Carthage. 372: reading of Cicero's Hortensius. From 373-382 follower of Manichaeism, in 374 return to Thagaste; teacher of grammar and rhetoric. 376: teaching in Carthage. 380/1: (lost) first work De pulchro et de apto. 383: teaching in Rome; interest in the New  Academy. From 383 onwar…

[German version] c. AD 330-390 in Africa (Gennadius Vir. ill. 18). His Latin Liber Regularum ('Book of Rules') from c. 383, which surviving almost complete, represents the first extant Christian hermeneutics. In biblical exegesis, according to T., attention must be paid to seven core issues: 1) the Lord and his body, i.e. the Church; 2) the body of the Lord, dichotomized into Good and Evil; 3) the Prophecies and the Law; 4) the particular subitem and the textual genre in general; 5) symbolic time information; 6) r…

[English version] Um 500 n.Chr. schrieb ein christl. Anonymus, wahrscheinlich in Afrika, das 406 Hexameter lange, epyllienartige C., das den Beweis der Auferstehung der Toten (102-136) und das göttl. Endgericht über gute (186-268) und schlechte (269-355) Menschen zum Thema hat. Stilistisch häufig sind Imitationen Vergils, aber auch von christl. Dichtern [1; 2. 118ff.] sowie reimartige Versschlüsse. Pollmann, Karla (St. Andrews) Bibliography 1 J.H. Waszink, Florilegium Patristicum Suppl. 1, 1937, 47-116 2 S. Isetta, C., in: Vetera Christianorum 20, 1983, 111-140.

(Γαυδέντιος). [English version] [1] G. Philosophos Musiker und Philosoph Autor einer Einführung in die Harmonik Ἁρμονικὴ εἰσαγωγή ( Harmonikḗ eisagōgḗ), die - wohl nach Klaudios Ptolemaios verfaßt - Cassiodorus' Freund Mutianus ins Lat. übersetzt hat (Cassiod. inst. 2,5,142 Mynors). Das unvollständig (in 23 Kap.) erh. Werk bietet traditionelles Lehrgut in z.T. leicht veränderter Form, bes. des Aristoxenos und der Pythagoreer: Stimme, Ton, Intervall, Tongeschlecht, System (1-7), Zusammenklänge, Konsonanzen, Zahlenv…

[1] D. von Karthago, Donatisten [English version] A. Definition Donatismus ist die polemisch abwertende Bezeichnung für eine ethisch radikale, an traditionelle Elemente der afrikanischen Kirche anknüpfende christl. Bewegung im röm. Nordafrika im 4.-7. Jh.n.Chr. Sie führte in den Auseinandersetzungen über die Konsequenzen aus der diokletianischen Christenverfolgung, d.h. um die Frage, wie mit Laien und Klerikern zu verfahren sei, die den staatlichen Behörden nachgegeben hatten und in irgendeiner Weise zu lapsi (“Abgefallenen”) geworden waren, z.B. Heilige Schrifte…

[English version] Verfaßte nach dem Konzil von Chalcedon (451 n. Chr.) [3.72-75] einen umfangreichen Komm. zum Hohen Lied in 12 B. In dreifacher Allegorese legt A., angeregt durch Origenes [2], das Hohe Lied als Gespräch zwischen Christus und der Kirche oder dem Wort Gottes und der Seele des Menschen oder, in eigenständiger Leistung [3. 58, 174], als Liebe der Seele Christi zum Logos aus. Der Komm. wurde im MA stark rezipiert, zuerst von Beda [2]. Pollmann, Karla (St. Andrews) Bibliography Ed.: 1 B. de Vrégille /L. Neyrand, CCL 19, 1986. Lit.: 2 M. Didone, L'Explanatio di Apponio ..., …