Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Prudentius, 348- author.

Title The origin of sin : an English translation of the Hamartigenia / Prudentius ; translated and with an interpretive essay by Martha A. Malamud
Published Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2011

Copies

Description 1 online resource
Series Cornell studies in classical philology ; v. 61
Cornell studies in classical philology ; v. 61.
Contents Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Translations and Editions -- The Origin of Sin: An English Translation -- Preface -- The Origin of Sin -- An Interpretive Essay -- Introduction -- 1. Writing in Chains -- 2. Figuring It Out -- 3. Seeking Hidden Truth -- 4. Falling into Language -- 5. Under Assault -- 6. Generation of Vipers -- 7. Signs of Woe -- 8. In Aenigmate -- Notes -- References -- Index
Summary Aurelius Prudentius Clemens (348-ca. 406) is one of the great Christian Latin writers of late antiquity. Born in northeastern Spain during an era of momentous change for both the Empire and the Christian religion, he was well educated, well connected, and a successful member of the late Roman elite, a man fully engaged with the politics and culture of his times. Prudentius 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's 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. As Martha A. Malamud shows in the interpretive essay that accompanies her lapidary translation, the first new English translation in more than forty years, 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's poem
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references
Notes In English
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL
Description based on print version record
digitized 2011 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL
SUBJECT Prudentius Clemens, Aurelius 348-405 Hamartigenia gnd
Hamartigenia. (DE-588c)4440435-9 swd
Subject Christian poetry, Latin -- Translations into English
POETRY -- Ancient & Classical.
POETRY -- Ancient, Classical & Medieval.
Christian poetry, Latin
Latin poetry
Latinsk fornkristen litteratur.
Latinsk poesi.
Genre/Form Translations
Form Electronic book
Author Malamud, Martha A., 1957- translator.
LC no. 2019724198
ISBN 9780801463068
0801463068
9780801463051
080146305X
0801442222
0801488729
9780801442223
9780801488726
Other Titles Hamartigenia. English