Psychomachia
The Psychomachia ("the battle of the soul") by the Christian poet Prudentius (* 348; † after 405) represents an allegorical struggle between personified virtues and vices . It is the first continuously allegorical poem in Western literature and is considered one of the most important works of Christianity Latin epic. Linguistically, the work is closely based on classic pagan poetry, especially the Aeneid of Virgil . The medieval manuscripts of the poetry were often richly glossed and partly illuminated with pictures . Psychomachia exerted a considerable influence on the allegorical art of the Middle Ages in poetry, painting and sculpture . It was one of the most widely received poems of antiquity in the Middle Ages.
content
The title Psychomachia is derived from the two Greek words psyche ("soul") and mache ("fight"). The first component can be understood as both subjective and objective genitive , i.e. H. the soul is both the fighter and the goal of the fight, it fights for itself. The epic is divided into a praefatio (foreword) and the actual narrative with a size of 916 hexameters .
The first 725 verses of the main part represent a sequence of seven allegorical battles between virtues and opposing vices:
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Orthodoxy ("faith") against the care of the old gods Chastity against sodomite lust, |
The virtues and vices are each described as female figures with characteristic attributes and behavior. In addition to the main characters, there are a number of other personifications, some of them as vice catalogs. The closing verses 726–915 describe the subsequent construction of the temple in the soul, in which wisdom ( Sapientia ) resides as the queen of virtues.
Preface
The 68 iambic trimeters begin with the Old Testament account of the rescue of Loth by Abraham from the pagan cities of Sodom and Gomorrah . The 318 slaves of Abraham mentioned in the Bible text, in Greek transcription ΤΙΗ, represent the original form of the cross and the two first letters of the name of Jesus (Greek: ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ). The appearance of three angels, who proclaim the conception of Saras , prefigures the Trinitarian dogma of the essential unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the high priest Melchizedek the Savior. The biblical exegesis thus announces the central theme of the work and at the same time places it in its salvation-historical context: the struggle between pagan vices and Christian virtues on the scene of the human soul and the subsequent establishment of a temple of wisdom.
Soul fight
An invocation to Christ initiates the battle of the soul. Orthodoxy, trusting in its strength, faces open struggle unarmed. As it grows, it knocks the idolatry to the ground and closes its throat so that its constrained soul keeps the body alive while the legion of 1,000 martyrs celebrates a triumph . Lust threatens chastity with a sulfur torch, which pierces their throat with a sword. Chastity commemorates the killing of Holofernes by Judith , which prefigures the immaculate conception and incarnation of God. Lust falls into a sulfur pool, while chastity washes its tainted sword in the Jordan and consecrates it in a baptismal font. Meanwhile, patience looks on unmoved as all the weapons used by the irascibility splinter on her armor and she kills herself in frustration. Accompanied by Job , whose sufferings were rewarded with multiple rewards, patience is the only one to support all other virtues in battle.
Coincidentally, arrogance rides along on a high horse, with piled head of hair, and looks down on the poor entourage of humility, which heavenly hope has chosen as companion. The arrogance boasts that since the fall of sin her people have been militarily superior and mocks the unmanly newcomers: chastity, piety, justice, honor, moderation, abstinence, purity and simplicity. When attacked, she falls into a pit dug by the ruse and is crushed by her horse. The hope causes the humility to decapitate vice, and commemorates the slaying of Goliath by David . She goes to heaven, the other virtues look longingly after her.
The hungover debauchery, which has lost its reputation and is only alive to lust, arrives in a precious car from the west and casts a spell on virtues. Only abstinence remains sober, erects the standard of the cross and reminds the virtues of the food miracle in the Egyptian desert, which prefigures the Lord's Supper, of David and Samuel's fight against the heathen and the penance of Jonathan . She blocks the spokes with the cross, so that debauchery falls forward and brakes the car. Randomness gives celibacy a boulder with which it shatters the wheeled face of debauchery, whose stomach spits out the splinters of the body. Blasphemy, impudence, love, make-up, grace, discord and lust flee, the jewels of which are trampled by abstinence. Greed is said to have filled the valuables in sacks, accompanied by worry, food addiction, fear, fear, false testimony, pallor, corruption, cunning, lies, insomnia and shame, and finally also the civil discord and possession that rob their fallen relatives. Greed blinds and condemns humanity and even easily wounds the priests of God, who are however protected by reason. Greed sees the end of its power over Judas Iscariot and the Jews in Jericho , which should also deceive their successors. It disguises itself as thrift, which seduces its victims under the pretext of love for children, but it is cruelly strangled by the mercy which its wealth has given to the poor and the spoil is distributed to the poor who receive their daily bread from God.
Then fear, hardship, violence, crime and deception flee, peacefulness ends the war. Christ opens heaven above the chaotic battlefield, unity gives the order to the virtues to retreat, who march singing, like Israel, to which the Nile opened. But in front of the camp the peacefulness is disturbed, the unity is lightly hit on the bottom chain of its armor by the discord that has crept in after it threw away its coat and snake whip. She imagines herself as heresy, her God as changeable, the world as her home and Beliar as her teacher. Orthodoxy sticks a lance into her throat, discord is dismembered by innumerable hands, its individual parts are blown away in the wind, fed to animals or thrown into sewers.
Temple construction
A strong turning point in terms of content according to verse 725 leads from the soul struggle to the temple building. On a specially erected speaker's platform, Eintracht warns to avoid discord, to maintain peacefulness and to recognize the wolf in the sheepskin, like Photinus and Arius . Orthodoxy silences those who mourn, because unity has been wounded but it has been defended. In memory of the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem , which followed the expulsion of the kings, she commissioned the temple as the palace of Christ. Together with unity, it determines the perfect dimensions of the temple.
A hollow gemstone is laid as the foundation stone, which forms the entrance gate. The entrance hall is carved from a block, the twelve names of the apostolic senate are inscribed on the upper ends of the columns, which are supposed to protect the soul from sin. Twelve unique gemstones let in the light of the sky from the walls in bright colors. The inner area of the temple rests on seven crystal pillars, which Orthodoxy acquired after auctioning off its war equipment.
Wisdom is enthroned therein, which gives and rules the laws. As a scepter, she holds an evergreen branch, which is prefigured by the staff of the law of Aaron . The epic closes with a second invocation to Christ. It is prayed that people will recognize the hidden vices of their hearts, which are in constant struggle with light and dark, until Christ erects in the soul a temple of virtues in which wisdom reigns forever.
Text example
The boundaries between allegorical and real representation are fluid. The following passage describes the death of Luxuria , who fell from her car. The translation tries to recreate the Latin sentence structure without using a meter : Psychomachia 414-428.
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The Psychomachia is Christian in key sections, such as the closing verses show, nevertheless resulted in a dualism think of light and darkness, in the Persian Zarathustra - and Mithraism rooted and from Manichaeism was taken: Psychomachia 908-915.
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Dating
Jerome mentions neither the Psychomachia nor its poet in his De viris illustribus , which takes into account all Christian literature up to the year 392 . The only surviving information on the person and the work contains the preface to his complete works, written by the author himself. In it he mentions his other works in the context of brief summary information, but not the Psychomachia . He could therefore have written it later. In the manuscripts and editions it appears regularly as the fourth title, before the apologetic books Contra Symmachum , which turn against the prominent pagans as well as paganism in general. Presumably, Prudentius did not live to see the destruction of Rome in 410, since despite frequent mention of contemporary battles it does not find an echo anywhere in the oeuvre. There is speculation that individual battle descriptions of the Psychomachia could allude to an imminent threat to the eternal city and that the emergence should therefore be set around 408/9.
Originally from Spain , Prudentius held an unknown position at the court of Theodosius I before his poetic activity and visited Rome at least once, as has been inferred from building descriptions in Peristephanon , a collection of versed martyr reports , possibly in the years 395 or 401-403. Nothing else is known about the origin of psychomachia .
interpretation
The Psychomachia is linguistically sophisticated, its content is rich in symbolism and has therefore been interpreted differently. The language tends towards late antique mannerism . The individual sentences are sometimes of enormous length, so the first predicate of the foreword can only be found in verse 10, the first sentence extends to verse 14. Stylistic devices that are remarkably frequently used are the enjambement ("line jump", see first text example: " upside down under the axis "she falls") and especially in the final part the alliteration ( e.g. verse 770: p ax belli exacti p retium (e) st p retiumque p ericli "peacefulness, the reward for a war won, reward for danger"). The past participle is often used as a result .
Christological , ecclesiological and eschatological discourses based on patristic models , such as Lactantius, are incorporated into the speeches of the virtues and other sections of the text . The discussion about the essence of Christ as the Son of God or full-fledged God and the contradictions about the uniqueness of God that apparently resulted from this shaped the internal church debate with heresies . Prudentius represents the Nicene Orthodox Christianity. Similar passages can be found in two of the author's earlier works, Apotheosis and Harmatigenia .
Prudentius reports about himself that he had been converted to asceticism from an allegedly vicious previous life , which could suggest an autobiographical component of psychomachia . On the basis of the religious ideas in the Psychomachia, it has been concluded that Christianity is syncretistic ; H. views from contemporary non-Christian religions are adopted.
Allusions to contemporary history
The dogmatic, especially Christological statements, interspersed in many places, are undoubtedly testimony to the discussion of contemporary heresies, especially Arianism , whose founder Arius is mentioned in verse 794. The same applies to the battle scene between (heretical) discord and (orthodox) unity. The Priscillianism , which is widespread in Spain , the poet's homeland, is neither mentioned nor discussed in either the Psychomachia or the rest of the work. So far this fact could not be explained convincingly.
The opening verses of the main part, for example, represent the Trinity in contrast to Arianism, which saw the Son and the Father of God as separate:
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Allusions to recent history can occasionally be recognized or assumed. Certainly the war experience in the age of the barbarian invasions entered the sometimes cruel battle depictions. Some fights are characterized by religious symbolism, such as the standard of the cross, which Constantine had his soldiers carry for the first time during the battle of the Milvian Bridge . Similar to Augustine in the godly state , Prudentius transfers the secular invasion into a spiritual context, especially in the struggle of humility against arrogance, which represents Roman imperialism. The pagans charged the Christians with the fact that with the advent of Christianity the empire gradually collapsed militarily.
Individual sections, as well as the plot and form of the work, indicate an ongoing discussion or conversion effort with a view to the pagan elite. Through the symbiosis of pagan form and Christian content, Prudentius probably wanted to counter the pagan argument of the religious controversy, which continued even after Christianity was elevated to the state religion, that Christian literature was inferior to traditional Roman literature, which was particularly relevant during Julian's reign (361-363) . The worldview of pagan antiquity, perceived as immoral, is replaced by a Christian value system. There is controversial debate as to whether the epic is an imitation of classical poetry or a “Christian super poem” that aims to replace classical literature.
The allegory of the pagan cult lying on the ground but prevented from dying should refer to its current historical situation. In this way, Prudentius, unlike other Christian authors of his time, indicates the continued existence of paganism . In addition to the archaeological evidence that suggests a continuity of paganism, Prudentius testifies here that pagan religions continued to exist on a larger scale even after their official ban by Theodosius 390/1. Particularly in Tarraconian Spain, evidence of pagan cults is dense up to the end of antiquity.
It could not be convincingly clarified why the debauchery (Luxuria) comes from the west, since this vice in the Roman imagination was otherwise associated with the geographical east. It is possible that verse 310 occiduis mundi de finibus (“from the western border of the world”) reflects an eschatological concept (“from the end times of the world”).
Aesthetics of Violence
The death scenes of the vices are presented in detail and are partly reminiscent of the martyr literature and its processing in Prudentius' Peristephanon . In Psychomachia, they are designed as appropriate punishments according to the principle of retribution ( Talion ), according to which there is a relationship between the type of punishment and the offense not only of degree of appropriateness, but also of significant factual equality (“an eye for an eye ”) or analogy ( talio analogica , for example punishment on the executing body part), so that when the personification of the vice dies, special peculiarities of the punished vice become recognizable again. These references often require knowledge of the relevant biblical or literary metaphor . For example, the allegory of pride from a horse falls into a pitfall that the allegory of cunning had actually dug for the opposing virtue (“pride comes before the fall”). Greed is put to death by her opponent especially by constricting her throat, because, according to classical and biblical ideas, greed insatiable devours gold and riches. Similar ideas are reflected in the case of lust in the sulphurous pool or in vomiting one's own body parts through debauchery.
The Talion is a common penal principle in the Old Testament and was considered by the Christian interpretation to be the ultimate principle of divine retribution. However, it was hardly part of traditional Roman law, only a few talion punishments are known from the oldest Twelve Tables law (broken bone, death by fire in case of arson). The aesthetic of the Talion principle has no clear model in classical poetry.
The fragmentation of discord and its devouring by wild animals, analogous to the slow death of idolatry, indicates the historical situation of Christian heresies, which increasingly seemed to break up into splinter groups. Early Christian authors use the picture of heresy which tears apart the members of the church; with Prudentius it is itself torn as punishment. The motif of the dismemberment of the body can also be found in oriental mystery religions, such as the Isis cult, which still represented serious competition to Christianity in the 4th century. Augustine testifies that, according to pagan ideas, the dismemberment of the body parts prevented entry into the hereafter. This was linked to the pagan reproach that Christian ideas about the hereafter were not philosophically conceivable, which Augustine tried to refute. The time the epic was written around 400 was a high point in the religious wars that led to gruesome executions (such as Hypatia ).
Literary role models
Classical pagan poetry
The reference to the canonical epic of Virgil and at the same time the transformation of its pagan origin into the Christian message is already indicated programmatically by the first hexametric verse:
“Christe, graves semper hominum miserate labores”
"Christ, you have always had mercy on the difficult hardships of men"
whereby the language alludes to a prayer of Aeneas to Apollo: Verg. Aen. 6.56
“Phoebe, grauis Troiae semper miserate labores”
"Phoibos, you have always had mercy on Troy's hardship"
Apollo Phöbus, the sun god, was associated with Christ in the syncretistic late antiquity , so the young Constantine was a monotheistic follower of the sun god before he confessed to Christianity. The Arch of Constantine shows representations of the sun god.
In addition to linguistic and stylistic references to the epic of classical pagan antiquity, especially Virgil's Aeneid , to which the Psychomachia refers in numerous literal and motivic parallels, elements of the ancient didactic poem are also processed. The use of the personification as a consistent structural principle of an epic narrative has no model in the pagan tradition, which at least in classical times only knew the prosopopoiia as an occasional stylistic device (cf. the personification of the Discordia in Virgil), but in Prudentius comes here alongside a general one late antique development (cf. Martianus Capella ) the influence of the Judeo-Christian biblical exegesis, especially the Platonizing exegesis of Alexandrian stamping, is evident.
The contemporary author most widely received by Prudentius is Claudian . Due to the unclear time of origin of the epic, however, it is not possible to determine with certainty which of the two authors is the recipient.
Christian literature
The Psychomachia relates Old Testament action on early Christianity ( prefiguration ). Accompanied by the virtues, people from biblical history or events regularly appear as exemplary representatives of the respective virtue or are named as such in their speeches, as are various biblical example figures assigned to the vices. For example, Job's patience is accompanied, and greed proudly claims that Judas Iscariot even cast a spell over one of Christ's apostles. Orthodoxy appears with a crowd of martyrs, chastity mentions Judith's killing of Holofernes , who wanted to rape them. In addition, the Old Testament figures are related to Christian events, so prefigures Judith Maria (under the typology of virginity).
This form of allegory was practiced early on for the Bible . The apostle Paul interprets the sons of Sarah and Hagar as the Old Testament and the New Testament . Origen relates the Song of Songs of the Old Testament to the love between Christ and the soul of the believer. The figures chosen by Prudentius are mostly based on models from Christian exegetics . However, contrary to other interpretations, King David is mainly only shown in his military function against pagan kings.
The descriptions of the temple with numerous precious stones are reminiscent of church buildings and the precious stones in the heavenly city in the Apocalypse of John , while the image of the temple is specifically linked to the Pauline metaphor of the body or soul as a temple that the believer should build and keep pure for God .
The Christian literature of the Latin West before Prudentius knew to some extent allegorical concepts, for example Tertullian used an allegorical representation of battle in his work “About the Games”.
The story of the capital or deadly sins begins in the Egyptian desert. Evagrius Ponticus (345–399), a learned anarchist of the 4th century, developed an octagon catalog based on Neoplatonic and Gnostic elements. Evagrius understood the eight vices as 'evil thoughts' that demons used to distract hermits from their goal of achieving apatheia (freedom from affects). This pattern of vice was adopted by Johannes Cassian (360-435) and passed on to the Latin West. The seven vices in Prudentius do not yet correspond to the canon of the seven deadly Christian sins , which are opposed to the four cardinal virtues and three Christian virtues .
reception
For the end of antiquity, allusions to the psychomachia cannot be made out with certainty. Augustine occasionally makes comparisons that are reminiscent of psychomachia motifs ; a reception cannot be proven. The first overview of works on Prudentius comes from the 5th century by Gennadius von Marseille . In the 6th century Boëthius wrote the book The Consolation through Philosophy , in which, in addition to the muses of poetry, philosophy is presented as a story-telling allegory. There is no evidence, however, that Boëthius could have known the Psychomachia . Also in the 6th century, Vettius Agorius Basilius obtained a complete edition of the works of Prudentius. In late antiquity, the Psychomachia was cited by Sidonius Apollinaris and Avitus von Vienne , among others , and in the early Middle Ages by Rabanus Maurus , Isidore of Seville and Alcuin .
In the early Middle Ages , numerous Latin and Old High German and Old English glosses were written on the works of Prudentius and preferably on Psychomachia . The glossing was mostly limited to short word explanations, so it did not lead to the development of detailed text comments, such as the glossing of didactic works by Aelius Donatus or Martianus Capella. The Latin Prudentius glosses of the Middle Ages go back mainly to two glosses of the 9th century, an older one by Johannes Scotus Eriugena and a little later, partly more detailed, possibly by Remigius von Auxerre . Two other Latin Prudentius glosses are traditionally attributed to Iso von St. Gallen or his student Salomon († 919). They were first printed by Johann Weitz in his Hanau edition of the works of Prudentius (1619) and then with extensions by Faustino Arévalo in his Roman work edition (1788-89), from which they were then taken over into the edition of Migne .
The lasting reception in the Middle Ages is also reflected in the number of over 300 surviving manuscripts on Prudentius, with the oldest, non-illustrated manuscript from the 6th century completely containing the text of Psychomachia . Twenty surviving manuscripts from the period up to the end of the 13th century contain illustrations that can be divided into two groups due to the similarly depicted clothing of virtues and vices. From this it can be concluded that these manuscripts originally go back to two (now lost) archetypes . The manuscripts shown above are stylistically similar. They reflect the clothing fashion in 11th century England.
The seven main vices and the virtues opposing them are depicted in Christian painting and sculpture. Since illustrated manuscripts of Psychomachia have been available for the first time since the 11th century, their reception began at this time. The Romanesque architectural sculpture took a variety of topics from the text of Prudentius, for example in Notre Dame de Cunault (early 12th century) and Saint-Nicolas De Tavant (11th century), whose capital programs show battle scenes for which the psychomachia served as a model. The binding of the Melisende Psalter (around 1140) consists of ivory carvings that are decorated with turquoise and other precious stones. They show scenes from the life of King David and from the Psychomachia of Prudentius on the obverse.
From the late Middle Ages , allegorical depictions of virtues and vices remained popular, but Prudentius' influence is only minor. The masterful sculptures of the seven main virtues and vices on the facade of Notre Dame de Paris from the 13th century influenced the corresponding motifs of the cathedrals of Sens , Amiens , Chartres and possibly Magdeburg Cathedral .
The Psychomachia was received not only in the spiritual art, but also in the representation of worldly love theme, as in the Roman de la Rose of Guillaume de Lorris and de Jean Meung (14th century). Throughout allegorical forms of representation used, among other things, Dante ( Divine Comedy ). The punishment of vices in hell is reminiscent of psychomachia , especially with regard to the principle of talion .
In the Baroque era , allegories flourished in all areas of literature, in poems, speeches of all kinds, sermons, grave inscriptions, etc. Representations of virtues and vices remained prominent, and in some cases motifs from Psychomachia or its illuminated manuscripts were received, so it was easy for example inspired Hans Memling in his religious painting by Prudentius.
With the Reformation and the Enlightenment , interest in psychomachia declined . Classical philology has been studying the epic since the 19th century, especially Christian Gnilka's life's work in German-speaking countries .
Allegorical battle depictions of the seven deadly sins and virtues symbolize the silent film Metropolis by Fritz Lang , the vicious life of the upper class.
Editions and translations
plant
- Psychomachia . Jakob von Breda, Deventer Not before April 10, 1497 ( digitized version )
- Johan Bergman, Aurelii Prudentii Clementis carmina. , Vienna, Leipzig 1926 (= CSEL, Volume 61)
- Maurice P. Cunningham (Ed.): Aurelii Prudentii Clementis Carmina. Brepols, Turnhout 1966 ( CCSL , Volume 126)
- Henry J. Thomson (Ed.): Prudentius. With an English Translation . William Heinemann, London; Harvard University Press, Cambridge (MA); 1949–1953, 2 vols.
- Online edition ( Memento of November 1, 2001 in the Internet Archive ) by James O'Donnell ( Memento of November 7, 2001 in the Internet Archive )
- Maurice Lavarenne, Prudence. Tom III. Psychomachy. Contre Symmaque, Paris 1948
- Ursmar Engelmann: The Psychomachia of Prudentius. Herder, Freiburg / Br. including 1959 (review: Christian Gnilka, Gnomon 37 (1965), 312–313)
Glosses
- John M. Burnam: Glossemata de Prudentio, edited from the Paris and Vatican manuscripts. University Press, Cincinnati, Ohio 1905 (edition of the glosses of John Scotus Eriugena)
- John M. Burnam: Commentaire anonyme sur Prudence d'après le manuscrit 413 de Valenciennes. Picard, Paris 1910 (edition of the glosses attributed to Remigius von Auxerre)
Secondary literature
Prudentius research
- Johan Bergman: Aurelii Prudentii Clementis Psychomachia rerum et verborum copia. Upsala 1897 (comment)
- Clemens Brockhaus: Aurelius Prudentius Clemens in its importance for the church of his time . (Diss.) Leipzig 1872
- Vincent Buchheit : Faith versus idolatry . In: Rheinisches Museum für Philologie 133 (1990), pp. 389-96
- Christian Gnilka : Studies on the Psychomachia of Prudentius . Wiesbaden 1963 (Classical philological studies, 27; also Diss. Bonn)
- Christian Gnilka: Interpretation of early Christian nature . In: Prudentiana Volume 2: Exegetica, Munich 2001, pp. 32–90 (= H. Krefeld (Ed.), Impulse for Latin Reading . Frankfurt 1979, 138–180)
- Jill Harries: Prudentius and Theodosius . In: Latomus 43 (1984), pp. 69-84
- Kenneth R. Haworth: Deified Virtues, Demonic Vices and Descriptive Allegory in Prudentius' Psychomachia . Amsterdam 1980
- Marianne Kah: " Searching the world of the Romans with the soul ..." The religiosity of Prudentius in the area of tension between 'pietas christiana' and 'pietas Romana' . (Diss.) Bonn 1990
- Wolfgang Kirsch: The Latin verse of the 4th century . Berlin 1989 (Writings on the History and Culture of Antiquity, Volume 28)
- Walther Ludwig , The Christian poetry of Prudentius and the transformation of the classical genres . In: Christianisme et formes litteraires de l'antiquité tardive en occident (Entretiens sur l'antiquité classique 23) Geneva 1977, pp. 303-372
- Maria Lühken: Christianorum Maro et Flaccus. To the Virgil and Horace reception of Prudentius . (Diss.) Göttingen 2002 (Hypomnemata 141)
- Susan G. Nugent: Allegory and Poetics. The Structure and Imagery of Prudentius' "Psychomachia" . Frankfurt a. M. et al. 1985
- Isidoro Rodriguez-Herrera: Poeta Christianus. Prudentius' conception of the essence and the task of the Christian poet . (Diss.) Speyer 1936
- Dirk Rohmann : The slow death of the Veterum Cultura Deorum - pagan cults at Prudentius. In: Hermes 131 (2003), pp. 235-253
- Christian Schwen: Virgil at Prudentius . (Diss.) Leipzig 1937
- Danuta Shanzer: Allegory and Reality: Spes, Victoria and the Date of Prudentius' Psychomachia , in: Illinois Classical Studies 14 (1989), pp. 347-363
- Macklin Smith: Prudentius' Psychomachia: A Reexamination. Princeton University Press, Princeton (NJ) 1976
Illustrations and their reception
- Adolf Katzenellenbogen : Allegories of the Virtues and Vices in Medieval Art . New York 1939 (= Studies of the Warburg Institute, 10)
- Joanne S. Norman: Metamorphoses of an Allegory: The Iconography of the Psychomachia in Medieval Art . Lang, New York 1988 (= American University Studies, 9, 29), ISBN 0-8204-0445-4
- Jennifer O'Reilly: Studies in the Iconography of the Virtues and Vices in the Middle Ages . Garland, New York / London 1988, ISBN 0-8240-0092-7
- Richard Stettiner : The illustrated Prudentius manuscripts. [Diss. Strasbourg, 1889] JS Preuss, Berlin 1895 (panel volume: Berlin, Grote 1905 with 695 illustrations)
- Helen Woodruff: The Illustrated Manuscripts of Prudentius . Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.) 1930
Literary reception
- Michael White Cannon: Prudentius' Psychomachia: Allegorical roots and influences on English morality plays. Diss. University of Texas, El Paso 1989
- Louise Fothergill-Payne: La Psychomachia de Prudencio y el Teatro alegorico Pre-Calderonico. In: Neophilologus 59.1 (1975), pp. 48-61
- Louise Fothergill-Payne: La alegoría en los autos y farsas anteriores a Calderón . Tamesis Books, London 1977 (= Colección Támesis, A, 67), ISBN 0-7293-0032-3
- ML Fuehrer: The Cosmological Implications of the Psychomachia in Alan of Lille's Anticlaudianus . In: Studies in Philology 77.4 (1980), pp. 344-353
- Max Harris: Flesh and Spirits: The Battle between Virtues and Vices in Medieval Drama Reassessed. In: Medium Aevum 57.1 (1988), pp. 56-64
- John P. Hermann: The Theme of Spiritual Warfare in the Old English Judith. In: Philological Quarterly 55.1 (1976), pp. 1-9
- Martin Irvine: Cynewulf's Use of Psychomachia Allegory: The Latin Sources of Some "Interpolated" Passages. In: Morton W. Bloomfield (Ed.), Allegory, Myth and Symbol , Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.) 1981 (= Harvard English Studies, 9; ISBN 0-674-01641-6 / 0-674-01640- 8), pp. 39-62
- Hans Robert Jauss: Form and conception of allegory in the tradition of Psychomachia (from Prudentius to the first Romanz de la Rose) . In: Hans Robert Jauss / Dieter Schaller (eds.), Medium Aevum: Festschrift for Walter Bulst , C. Winter, Heidelberg 1960, pp. 179–206
- Emanuel J. Mickel: Parallels in Prudentius' Psychomachia and La Chanson de Roland . In: Studies in Philology 67,4 (1970), pp. 439-452
- Gernot Wieland: Aldhelms De octo vitibus and Prudentius' Psychomachia. In: Medium Aevum 55.1 (1986), pp. 85-92
Web links
- Medieval illustrations of battle scenes of Psychomachia (English)
- Text of the Psychomachia in the Latin original ( Memento from November 1, 2001 in the Internet Archive )
- Text of Psychomachia in The Latin Library
Remarks
- ↑ ( Gen 14.14 EU ).
- ↑ ( Gen 18.1-15 EU ).
- ↑ ( Gen 14,18 EU ) ( Heb 7,1-3 EU ).
- ↑ ( Jdt 13.1ff. EU ).
- ↑ ( 1 Sam 14.24-15 EU ).
- ↑ ( Jos 7,1ff. EU ).
- ↑ ( 2 Mos 15 : 1-21 EU ).
- ↑ On the gemstone motif Felix Albrecht: The Heavenly Jerusalem and the Psychomachy of Prudentius . In: Studia Ephemeridis Augustinianum 108. Rome 2008, pp. 541-552.
- ↑ ( 4 Mos 17,17ff. EU ).
- ↑ Prudentius, Praefatio 36–41. Research literature that considers an indirect allusion to the psychomachia in the Praefatio possible can be found in Danuta Shanzer: Allegory and Reality: Spes, Victoria and the Date of Prudentius' Psychomachia. in: Illinois Classical Studies. 14, 1989, pp. 347–363, here p. 346f., On p. 350 a reconstruction of the genesis of the present complete edition.
- ↑ Shanzer mentions on p. 348.
- ↑ The place of birth is not known. One deduces his descent from the preference given to local Spanish martyr legends in Peristephanon .
- ↑ City Roman descriptions can be found in the 12th poem of the collection. Literature: Hermann Tränkle : “The fountain in the atrium of St. Peter's Basilica and the time of Prudentius' stay in Rome”, in: Zeitschrift für antikes Christianentum 3, 1999, pp. 97–112 (represents 395). References to older dates there p. 106, note 43; also Jill Harries: "Prudentius and Theodosius", in: Latomus 43, 1984, pp. 71-73.
- ^ W. Kirsch: The Latin Versepic of the 4th Century, Berlin 1989 (Writings on the History and Culture of Antiquity, Volume 28), 25. Extensive references to patristic models in the French translation by M. Lavarenne: Prudence. Tom III. Psychomachy. Contre Symmaque. Paris 1948.
- ↑ Prudentius, Praefatio 10-12.
- ↑ Kenneth R. Haworth: Deified Virtues, Demonic Vices and Descriptive Allegory in Prudentius' Psychomachia . Amsterdam 1980, 112f.
- ^ Discussion of the research on this in Alfons Kurfess , sv Prudentius, RE 45 , 1039-1071, esp. 1056f. The topic has not been examined as a priority in recent times.
- ↑ See Shanzer (1989).
- ↑ Cf. especially the dispute over the Victoria Altar and the related texts by Symmachus and Ambrosius . Ed., Translated and commented by Richard Klein : The dispute over the Victoria Altar . Darmstadt 1972.
- ↑ Cf. in particular the writing by Julian, Contra Galilaeos and his replicas, especially by Cyril of Alexandria
- ↑ Walther Ludwig uses the term “Christian super poem”: The Christian poetry of Prudentius and the transformation of the classical genres , in: Christianisme et formes litteraires de l'antiquité tardive en occident. , Geneva 1977, pp. 303-372 (Entretiens sur l'antiquité classique 23). On the other hand, Psychomachia sees Ch. Schwen as a function of Virgil: Virgil in Prudentius. (Diss.) Leipzig 1937. Modern is a balancing position, according to M. Lühken: Christianorum Maro et Flaccus. To the Virgil and Horace reception of Prudentius . (Diss.) Göttingen 2002 (Hypomnemata 141).
- ↑ Dirk Rohmann: The slow death of the Veterum Cultura Deorum - Pagan cults at Prudentius. In: Hermes 131 (2003), pp. 235-253.
- ↑ See e.g. Thomson, Volume 1 (1949), p. 300 and Shanzer (1989), p. 357.
- ↑ For Peristephanon significantly A.-M. Palmer: Prudentius on the Martyrs . Oxford 1989.
- ↑ ( Prov 16:18 EU ).
- ↑ To this in detail Christian Gnilka: Studies on the Psychomachia of Prudentius . Wiesbaden 1963.
- ↑ Leg. (Is) XII tab. (Ularum) fr. (Agmenta) 8.9 SCHOELL (= Gaius 1.4 ad legem XII tabularum; Digestae 47.9.9); Leg. XII tab. fr. 8.2 SCHOELL: Si membrum rupsit, ni cum eo pacit, talio esto "If someone breaks a limb, retaliation should be carried out unless another agreement is reached." (= Gellius 20,1,14; Festus p. 363 M. et al.). On the Talion in Roman law: A. Völkl: The prosecution of bodily harm in early Roman law . Vienna 1984, pp. 59-79; also Arnold Herdlitczka , sv Talio, RE 4 A, 2 (1932), pp. 2069-2077. There is literary evidence of retaliation in the tyrant topology and in sexual crimes.
- ↑ Clement of Rome 46.7; Cyprian, epistulae 44.3; 46.1; Cyprian, De unitate 23.
- ↑ Augustine, Civitas Dei 22:28.
- ↑ List of Virgil citations in Ch. Schwen: Virgil in Prudentius . (Diss.) Leipzig 1937 and recently including the rest of Augustan literature M. Lühken: Christianorum Maro et Flaccus. To the Virgil and Horace reception of Prudentius . (Diss.) Göttingen 2002 (Hypomnemata 141). Interpretations of the reception of pagan texts in SG Nugent: Allegory and Poetics. The Structure and Imagery of Prudentius' "Psychomachia" . Frankfurt a. M. et al. 1985.
- ^ The subject is dealt with in M. Smith: Prudentius' Psychomachia. A reexamination . Princeton / New Jersey 1976, Chapter III: Salvation History and Soul, pp. 168ff.
- ↑ ( Gal 4,21-31 EU ) to ( Gen 21,1-21 EU ).
- ↑ ( Rev 21.15 EU ). Cf. on this Felix Albrecht: Das Himmlisches Jerusalem und die Psychomachie des Prudentius . In: Studia Ephemeridis Augustinianum 108. Rome 2008, pp. 541-552.
- ↑ Tertullian, De spectaculis 29.5.
- ↑ On the history of the truck catalogs MW Bloomfield, The Seven Deadly Sins . Michigan 1952.
- ^ Augustine, Civitas Dei , 18:51.
- ^ Gennadius, De viris illustribus (Migne, Patrologia Latina, Volume 58, Paris 1862, 1067).
- ↑ See Arthur Sampson Napier: Old English Glosses . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1900; Julius Zupitza: “Englisches aus Prudentiushandschriften”, in: Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum 20, 1876, pp. 36–45; Johannes Berg: The old high German Prudentius glosses of the Codd. Paris (Nouv. Acquis. 241) and Monac. 14395 and 475 . Heynemann, Halle an der Saale 1889; Hartmut Lauffer: The loan vocabulary of the Old High German and Old Saxon Prudentius glosses . Fink, Munich 1976 (= Munich German Studies, 8), ISBN 3-7705-0747-9 ; Thomas Stürenberg: The Old High German Prudentius glosses of the manuscript Düsseldorf F 1. Röhrscheid, Bonn 1974 (= Rheinisches Archiv, 91), ISBN 3-7928-0364-X .
- ^ Hubert Silvestre: Jean Scot Érigène commentateur de Prudence . In: Scriptorium 10, 1956, pp. 90-92; Hubert Silvestre: Aperçu sur les commentaires carolingiens de Prudence . n: Sacris Erudiri. 9, 1957, pp. 50-74; general: Max Manitius: “To the Prudentiusglosses”, in: Historische Vierteljahresschrift 28, 1934, pp. 142–153.
- ↑ PL 59,767-1078; PL 60.11-594.
- ^ Helen Woodruff: The Illustrated Manuscripts of Prudentius . Cambridge, Mass .: Harvard UP, 1930, pp. 34f. and passim; on the manuscripts shown here, p. 38f.
- ^ Commentary on pictures by a working group at the University of Vermont
- ↑ History and architecture of the chapel ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ See Jennifer O'Reilly, Studies in the Iconography of the Virtues and Vices in the Middle Ages (American University Studies, 9, 29). New York 1988.
- ↑ On this in detail Adolf Katzenellenbogen : Allegories of the Virtues and Vices in Medieval Art (Studies of the Warburg Institute 10), New York 1939, pp. 75–84.
- ↑ Hans Robert Jauss: Form and conception of allegory in the tradition of Psychomachia (from Prudentius to the first Romanz de la Rose) . In: Hans Robert Jauss / Dieter Schaller (eds.), Medium Aevum: Festschrift for Walter Bulst , C. Winter, Heidelberg 1960, pp. 179–206.
- ↑ The thesis, Christian Gnilka: Studies on the Psychomachia of Prudentius, is still authoritative . Wiesbaden 1963 (Classical-Philological Studies, 27; also Diss. Bonn). Collected essays on Prudentius in Prudentiana , Volume 1: Critica, Volume 2: Exegetica, Volume 3: Supplementum, Munich 2000-2003.
