Quintilian in Late Antiquity

This chapter provides a complete survey of the reception of Quintilian in late Antiquity. A brief note on the general literature and research tools available for the study of this vast topic, and on the key testimonies from the fourth until the seventh century, highlighting Quintilian’s fame as teacher of rhetoric and author of the Institutio and the Declamationes, is followed by a discussion of the influence of the Institutio on Christian education and on Christian thought, notably on Jerome, Lactantius, Hilary of Poitiers, Tyconius, Orosius, and Cassiodorus. Quintilian’s importance for the history of grammar is difficult to determine, but similarities between the grammatical chapters of the Institutio and the grammatical treatises of late Antiquity suggest that there may have been some direct influence. Donatus never cites Quintilian, while other grammarians such as Priscian, Diomedes, and Rufinus occasionally mention him or clearly make use of the Institutio. The influence of the Institutio on the so-called Minor Latin Rhetoricians is difficult to prove, but it is clear that the summaries, compilations, specialized monographs, and commentaries which form the substance of the rhetorical tradition in late Antiquity define themselves in one way or another by their relation to the Institutio. There was also some influence of the Institutio on the encyclopaedists Martianus Capella, Cassiodorus, and Isidorus. It was also in late Antiquity that the collections of Major Declamations and Minor Declamations were ascribed to Quintilian.

Music as a Universal Bond and Bridge Between the Physical and the Divine: Transcultural and Medieval Perspectives

This article accepts the challenge to reflect on the cultural history of music as a transcultural and universally human phenomenon, particularly in the medieval context. To what extent has music played the same or at least similar function in endless cultural contexts all over the world from the past to the present? We know for sure that music has always been present at all age groups, in all ethnic groups, among all genders, and throughout time. There have always been local, ethnic types of music (folklore), and universally accepted manifestations of music (esp. classical music). The emphasis here rests, after an extensive study of music in global cultural-historical terms, on comments about music in medieval philosophy, mysticism, and literature because here we discover fundamental notions about music being the medium to connect the individual with the cosmic harmony, hence with the divine. In literary texts, above all, music was identified as the critical expression of identity, love, and religion. Keywords: Transcultural music; classic music; music in cultural-historical terms; The Beatles; Martianus Capella; Boethius; Gottfried von Strassburg; Jörg Wickram; Hermann Hesse

A harmonia segundo Aristóxeno de Tarento: comentários filosófico-epistemológicos sobre teoria musical grega

Visando contribuir com os estudos de Harmonia, propõe-se um levantamento, com comentários, de expressões fundamentais da literatura musical grega, com base em Aristóxeno de Tarento (século IV a.C.). Sob essa proposta de análise semântica, também se procura perceber a organização de seu tratado de Harmonia, haja vista suas partes e uma metodologia. Por conseguinte, apontam-se alguns princípios filosóficos que norteiam a atividade musical, como a necessária disposição crítico-poiética do μουσῐκός (mousikós) e o conhecimento da episteme musical. Também incluem-se breves comentários sobre a tradição da literatura musical em latim, expressa desde Martianus Capella e Fabius Fulgentius, aproximadamente no século V d.C., até os teóricos mais tardios, com Sethus Calvisius e Blanchinus Veronensis, já no início dos séculos XVII e XVIII respectivamente, todos herdeiros de Aristóxeno e de seus epígonos, em menção a Aristides Quintiliano, Cleônides e Ptolomeu.

Wpływ starożytnej schematyzacji mnemotechnicznej na kartografię średniowieczną i wczesnonowożytną

The article analyzes the ancient geographical schemes seen on the 75 medieval and early modern maps. Here distinguishes three types of schemes: 1. geographi­cal and geometric, 2. chorographic, 3. topographic. The first type is based on the Globe of Crates of Malos and the acrostic of the name Adam. The second type includes Sicily, having a triangle scheme; Sardinia, having the shape of a human foot; Cyclades and Orkney, taking the form of a circle; Italia, having the shape of a triangle, a quadrangle, bull horns or the famous „Stivale”; Spain also schema­tized in the form of a triangle; Alps presented as ramparts of Italy and the mouth of the Nile, Rhine, Danube, Ganges and Indus in the form of the Greek letter delta. An example of the third type is the Caspian and Nubian Gates. The conclusion of the article is that, among the great number of ancient geographical schemes, me­dieval cartography preserved only those that survived in the encyclopedic works of such authors as Pliny, Solinus, Orosius, Macrobius, Martianus Capella, Isidore of Seville and Rabanus Maurus.

Encyclopedists, medieval

The modern encyclopedic genre was unknown in the classical world. In the grammar-based culture of late antiquity, learned compendia, by both pagan and Christian writers, were organized around a text treated as sacred or around the canon of seven liberal arts and sciences, which were seen as preparatory to divine contemplation. Such compendia, heavily influenced by Neoplatonism, helped to unite the classical and Christian traditions and transmit learning, including Aristotelian logic, to the Middle Ages. Writers in the encyclopedic tradition include figures such as Augustine and Boethius, both of whom were extremely influential throughout the medieval period. Other important writers included Macrobius, whose Saturnalia spans a very wide range of subjects; Martianus Capella, whose De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii (The Marriage of Philology and Mercury) covers the seven liberal arts and sciences; Cassiodorus, who presents the arts as leading towards the comtemplation of the heavenly and immaterial; and Isidore, whose Etymologies became one of the most widely referred-to texts of the Middle Ages. These writers also had a strong influence which can be seen later in the period, particularly in the Carolingian Renaissance and again in the twelfth century.

Übergänge – Ornamente und Diagramme zwischen Text, Buchstabe und Bild in Handschriften des Frühmittelalters

Starting from the concept and definition of littera in the Grammar treatises of the Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, the contribution analyzes common graphic elements which were used by the scribes to create initials, ornamental patterns and the layout of the manuscript page. These elements and their functions were partly described in encyclopaedic works, e. g. of Isidor of Sevilla and Martianus Capella in the chapters about Geometry. Not only were these features well known through the study of the Artes, they also represented useful tools for the invention and production of medieval diagrams.