LATE CICERONIAN SCHOLARSHIP AND VIRGILIAN EXEGESIS: SERVIUS AND PS.-ASCONIUS

2018 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 667-680
Author(s):  
Giuseppe La Bua
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Scholarly Activity ◽  
Literary Critic ◽  
Profound Impact ◽  
History Of

Late Antiquity witnessed intense scholarly activity on Virgil's poems. Aelius Donatus’ commentary, the twelve-bookInterpretationes Vergilianaecomposed by the fourth-century or fifth-century rhetorician Tiberius Claudius Donatus and other sets of scholia testify to the richness of late ‘Virgilian literature’. Servius’ full-scale commentary on Virgil's poetry (early fifth century) marked a watershed in the history of the reception of Virgil and in Latin criticism in general. Primarily ‘the instrument of a teacher’, Servius’ commentary was intended to teach students and readers to read and write good Latin through Virgil. Lauded by Macrobius for his ‘learning’ (doctrina) and ‘modesty’ (uerecundia), Servius attained supremacy as both a literary critic and an interpreter of Virgil, the master of Latin poetry. Hisauctoritashad a profound impact on later Virgilian erudition. As Cameron notes, Servius’ commentary ‘eclipsed all competition, even Donatus’. Significantly, it permeated non-Virgilian scholarship from the fifth century onwards. The earliest bodies of scholia on Lucan, the tenth-century or eleventh-centuryCommenta BernensiaandAdnotationes super Lucanumand thescholia uetustioraon Juvenal contain material that can be traced as far back as Servius’ scholarly masterpiece.

The Abbey of St. Gall

2020 ◽  
pp. 804-812
Author(s):  
Anna A. Grotans
Keyword(s):  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Lake Constance ◽  
Middle High German ◽  
Old High German ◽  
German Studies ◽  
Music School ◽  
History Of

This chapter surveys the history of the Abbey of St. Gall, on the shores of Lake Constance, from its founding in the seventh century by Gallus to its cultural highpoints from the Carolingian period through the eleventh century. The library’s great treasures, including manuscripts of the fourth or fifth century, the famous Irish books, important Middle High German texts, are mentioned, and the as is the dispersal of St. Gall books at various periods. The ninth- and tenth-century St. Gall school is discussed, as are the Old High German studies of the monks, the music school, and some of the abbeys important writers (Notker, Ekkehard, Walahfrid).

The Fort of Iatrus in Moesia Secunda: Observations on the Late Roman Defensive System on the Lower Danube (Fourth–Sixth Centuries ad)

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
GERDA VON BÜLOW
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Early Development ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Gradual Transition ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
History Of ◽  
Byzantine Period

The seven years of excavation on Dichin (Bulgaria) have made a significant contribution to our understanding of the fifth century AD, a period that is still regarded as a ‘dark age’. The fort of Iatrus was situated in the province of Moesia Secunda, where Dichin is also located. Founded at the beginning of the fourth century, the fort was several times destroyed and then rebuilt over the 300 years of its existence until it was finally abandoned c.AD 600. What is not clear is whether Iatrus' role as a part of the Roman frontier (limes) on the lower Danube belongs to the final period in the history of the Roman Empire or whether it belongs to the early development of the Byzantine State. This chapter examines whether the archaeological discoveries at Iatrus, combined with the fragmentary literary sources for the fort, suggest a gradual transition or a radical break between Late Antiquity and the early Byzantine period.

Ancient Hinduism as a Missionary Religion

Numen ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arvind Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Tenth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Historical Material ◽  
Textual Evidence ◽  
The Third ◽  
Fourth Part ◽  
History Of

AbstractThe paper is conceptually divided into four parts. In the first part the widely held view that ancient Hinduism was not a missionary religion is presented. (The term ancient is employed to characterize the period in the history of Hinduism extending from fifth century B.C.E. to the tenth century. The term 'missionary religion' is used to designate a religion which places its followers under an obligation to missionize.) In the second part the conception of conversion in the context of ancient Hinduism is clarified and it is explained how this conception differs from the notion of conversion as found in Christianity. In the third part the view that ancient Hinduism was not a missionary religion is challenged by presenting textual evidence that ancient Hinduism was in fact a missionary religion, inasmuch as it placed a well-defined segment of its members under an obligation to undertake missionary activity. Such historical material as serves to confirm the textual evidence is then presented in the fourth part.

The Date and Circumstances of Olympiodorus of Thebes

Traditio ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Gillett
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Imperial Court ◽  
Political Narrative ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Western Half

Olympiodorus of Thebes is an important figure for the history of late antiquity. The few details of his life preserved as anecdotes in hisHistorygive glimpses of a career which embraced the skills of poet, philosopher, and diplomat. A native of Egypt, he had influence at the imperial court of Constantinople, among the sophists of Athens, and even outside the borders of the empire. HisHistory(more correctly, his “materials for history”) is lost, surviving only as fragments in the narratives of Zosimus, Sozomen, and Philostorgius, and in the rich summary given by the ninth-century Byzantine patriarch Photius. These remains comprise the most substantial narrative sources for events in the western Roman Empire in the early fifth century. Besides its value as a source, theHistoryis important as a monument to the vitality of the belief in the unity of the Roman Empire under the Theodosian dynasty. Olympiodorus wrote in Greek, and knowledge of his work is attested only in Constantinople, yet his political narrative, from 407 to 425, concerns only events in the western half of the empire. To understand the significance of these facts, it is necessary to set the composition of Olympiodorus's work in its proper context. Clarifying the date of publication is the first step toward this goal. Internal and external evidence suggests that the work was written in 440 or soon after, more than a decade later than the date of composition usually accepted. Taken with thematic emphases evident in the structure of theHistory, this revised dating explains why an eastern writer should have written a detailed account of western events in the early part of the century. Olympiodorus's account is a characteristic product of the highly literate class of eastern imperial civil servants, and of their genuine preoccupation with the relationship between the eastern and western halves of the Roman Empire at a time when both were threatened by the rise of the new Carthaginian power of the Vandals.

Lusterware Made in the Abbadid Taifa of Seville (Eleventh Century) and Its Early Production in the Mediterranean Region

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 245-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Barceló ◽  
Anja Heidenreich
Keyword(s):  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Ceramic Production ◽  
Luxury Goods ◽  
History Of ◽  
Early Production ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Del Rio ◽  
Made In

This article presents a study of the expansion of Islamic lusterware across the Mediterranean before its production was fully consolidated in al-Andalus between the end of the twelfth and the thirteenth century. A number of examples are presented here that indicate a flourishing trade around the Mediterranean as early as the tenth century, including pottery as well as other luxury goods. A survey of lusterware found on the Iberian Peninsula has yielded relevant information on the complex technical history of local luster production. We present seven Andalusi luster fragments from the eleventh century that feature decoration on both sides, with one piece bearing epigraphic inscriptions naming two of the Abbadid rulers of Seville, al-Muʿtaḍid and al-Muʿtamid. Discovered in Spain (Seville and Palma del Rio) and Portugal (Silves and Coimbra), these fragments indicate the existence of a ceramic production center in Seville and another at the Abbadid palace during the second half of the eleventh century. These pieces indicate the direct and marked influence that the various centers of luxury luster production in the Islamic East and West exerted on one another, a phenomenon not uncommon in the history of Islamic pottery.


The Bishop's Two Bodies: Ambrose and the Basilicas of Milan

2010 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 531-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine M. Chin
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
The Body ◽  
Human Organism ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
History Of ◽  
Human Embodiment ◽  
Two Bodies

The late ancient body is a historiographical problem. In the combined lights of feminist, Foucaultian, and post-Foucaultian methodologies, much recent scholarship on bodies in late antiquity has focused on bodies as sites on which power relations are enacted and as discourses through which ideologies are materialized. Contemporary concern with definitions and representations of the posthuman, however—for example, in medical technologies that expand the capacities of particular human bodies, in speculative pursuit of the limits of avatars, or in the technological pursuit of artificial intelligence or artificial life—seem both to underline the fundamental lability of the body, and to require a broadening of scholarly focus beyond the traditional visible boundaries of the human organism. At the same time, scholarship on the posthuman emphasizes contemporaneity and futurity to an extent that may seem to preclude engagement with the premodern. I would like to suggest here that doubt about the boundaries of human embodiment is a useful lens through which to reconsider some very traditional questions in the history of Christianity, and that we may begin to think of bodies in Christian premodernity in terms of what we might call their pre-humanity, that is, as fundamentally open to extension, transformation, and multiple instantiation. The figure on whom I focus is Ambrose, the fourth-century bishop of Milan, who, I argue, defined his own body in such a way that he was able to instantiate physically in dozens of living human bodies, at least two dead human bodies, thousands of angelic bodies, and four church buildings. Ambrose's dynamic conception of his episcopal body was formed within a complex political and theological situation, so questions concerning the political ideology of bodies remain very much at issue. I add to these questions a concern for premodern uncertainty about how to recognize a body, both when it is visible and, perhaps more importantly, when it is not.

Aristotle and the Dramatisation of Legend

1954 ◽  
Vol 4 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 151-157
Author(s):  
H. C. Baldry
Keyword(s):  
Lyric Poetry ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Wide Field ◽  
Works Of Art ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Scanty Information ◽  
The One ◽  
Traditional Stories

This article is a survey of familiar ground—those passages of the Poetics of Aristotle which throw light on the treatment of legend by the tragic poets. Although sweeping generalizations are often made on the use of the traditional stories in drama, our evidence on the subject is slight and inconclusive. We have little knowledge of the form in which most of the legends were known to the Attic playwrights, for the few we find in the Iliad and Odyssey appear there in very different versions from those they take on in the plays, and the fragmentary remains of epic and lyric poetry between Homer and the fifth century B.C. present us with a wide field for speculation, but few certain facts; while vase paintings and other works of art supplement only here and there the scanty information gained from literature.The comments of ancient writers on this aspect of tragedy are surprisingly few, and carry us little farther. The Poetics stands out as the one source from which we can draw any substantial account of the matter. Even Aristotle, of course, is not directly concerned with the history of drama, and deals with it only incidentally in isolated passages; and in considering these it must constantly be borne in mind that he is discussing tragedy as he knew it in the late fourth century, for the benefit of fourth-century readers. But even so, his statements are the main foundation on which our view of the dramatists' use of legend must be built.

Religious Dissent in Late Antiquity, 350-450

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maijastina Kahlos
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Religious Dissent ◽  
Roman Society ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Roman

Religious Dissent in Late Antiquity reconsiders the religious history of the late Roman Empire, focusing on the shifting position of dissenting religious groups. The groups under consideration are non-Christians (‘pagans’) and deviant Christians (‘heretics’). The period from the mid-fourth century until the mid-fifth century CE witnessed a significant transformation of late Roman society and a gradual shift from the world of polytheistic religions into the Christian Empire. This book demonstrates that the narrative is much more nuanced than the simple Christian triumph over the classical world. It looks at everyday life, economic aspects, day-to-day practices, and conflicts of interest in the relations of religious groups. The book addresses two aspects: rhetoric and realities, and consequently delves into the interplay between the manifest ideologies and daily life found in late antique sources. We perceive constant flux between moderation and coercion that marked the relations of religious groups, both majorities and minorities, as well as the imperial government and religious communities. Religious Dissent in Late Antiquity is a detailed analysis of selected themes and a close reading of selected texts, tracing key elements and developments in the treatment of dissident religious groups. The book focuses on specific themes, such as the limits of imperial legislation and ecclesiastical control, the end of sacrifices, and the label of magic. It also examines the ways in which dissident religious groups were construed as religious outsiders in late Roman society.

Melania the Elder: A Biographical Note

Traditio ◽  
1947 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 59-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis X. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Biographical Note ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

Thanks to several biographical studies based on Cardinal Rampolla's monumental Santa Melania giuniore, senatrice Romana, the history of the early-fifth-century heiress and ascetic, Melania the Younger, is fairly well known. Her grandmother, Melania the Elder was an even more notable figure in the history of the Church during the second half of the fourth century. She is of particular importance in tracing the history of late-fourth-century asceticism and monasticism. Round her career, in a way, revolve many of the historical and chronological problems in connection with Jerome and Rufinus of Aquileia, Paulinus of Nola and Severus Sulpicius. Details of her travels are our surest approach to datings and to the authenticity of much of the material found in Palladius' Lausiac History. At the same time, she was an extremely interesting, well-travelled, and forceful figure coming at the apex of the western patristic period. Hence her career bears pointed scrutiny.

The Monasteries Founded by the Thirteen Syrian Fathers in Iberia

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-39
Author(s):  
Shota Matitashvili
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ascetic Communities ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
Written Sources

A new step in the history of Christian monasticism in eastern Georgia is associated with thirteen Syrian monks, led by John, who came to Iberia (K‘art‘li) in the mid-sixth century C.E. They were the bearers of a Syrian tradition that implied the combination of an heroic ascetic endeavor and an apostolic mission. They came as spiritual heirs of St. Nino, a Cappadocian virgin who converted Georgia to Christianity in the beginning of the fourth century. Their vitae were first composed by a certain hagiographer named John-Martyrius, but this work does not survive. In the tenth century, the head of the Georgian Church and the distinguished ecclesiastical writer Arsenius II (955–980) depicted their lives and deeds based on different oral and written sources. Later, other unknown authors also wrote additional hagiographical works about these Syrian ascetics. At the beginning of their ascetic and ecclesiastical careers, the thirteen Syrian monks settled on Zedazeni mountain with their spiritual supervisor, John. John later sent them to different corners of the Iberian kingdom in opposition to paganism and Zoroastrianism. They founded monasteries and became influential religious leaders during the second half of the sixth century. Through their vitae, composed by Arsenius and other unknown authors, it is possible to trace the process of transforming the small ascetic communities established by Syrian monks into great feudal organizations. These monasteries had an important impact on the Georgian social and cultural landscape during the Middle Ages.

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