The Origin of Sin: An English Translation of the "Hamartigenia"
Aurelius Prudentius Clemens
Abstract
Aurelius Prudentius Clemens (348–c.406) is one of the great Christian Latin writers of late antiquity. He wrote poetry that was deeply influenced by classical writers and in the process he revived the ethical, historical, and political functions of poetry. This aspect of his work was especially valued in the Middle Ages by Christian writers who found themselves similarly drawn to the Classical tradition. Prudentius' Hamartigenia, consisting of a 63-line preface followed by 966 lines of dactylic hexameter verse, considers the origin of sin in the universe and its consequences, culminating with ... More
Aurelius Prudentius Clemens (348–c.406) is one of the great Christian Latin writers of late antiquity. He wrote poetry that was deeply influenced by classical writers and in the process he revived the ethical, historical, and political functions of poetry. This aspect of his work was especially valued in the Middle Ages by Christian writers who found themselves similarly drawn to the Classical tradition. Prudentius' Hamartigenia, consisting of a 63-line preface followed by 966 lines of dactylic hexameter verse, considers the origin of sin in the universe and its consequences, culminating with a vision of judgment day: the damned are condemned to torture, worms, and flames, while the saved return to a heaven filled with delights, one of which is the pleasure of watching the torments of the damned. This book, the first new English translation in more than forty years, shows that Hamartigenia is critical for understanding late antique ideas about sin, justice, gender, violence, and the afterlife. Its radical exploration of and experimentation with language have inspired generations of thinkers and poets since—most notably John Milton, whose Paradise Lost owes much of its conception of language and its strikingly visual imagery to Prudentius' poem.
Keywords:
Aurelius Prudentius Clemens,
Christian Latin writer,
late antiquity,
classical poetry,
Hamartigenia,
origin of sin,
judgment day,
justice,
gender,
afterlife
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2011 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780801442223 |
| Published to Cornell Scholarship Online: August 2016 |
DOI:10.7591/cornell/9780801442223.001.0001 |
