Prudentius: The Last Classical Poet

Prudentius: The Last Classical Poet

Classics

Prudentius, according to the Oxford Classical Dictionary, is the greatest of the Christian Latin poets, on the other hand Malamud in 1989 calls him the last classical poet along with his contemporary Claudian. Born around 350 and living past 405, Prudentius, in summary seeks to synthesize themes and content from both pagan and Christian literature during a time of great change and transition in an attempt to legitimize the authority of the officially Christianized government and promote Christian morality. There is a huge amount of previously unstudied Late Antique primary source material, and this combined Brown’s rediscovery of the period in the English speaker’s mind, if for no other reason than it being a useful designation, has pushed it to the front. Prudentius, in particular, has remained unseen by English speakers, leading me to the project today. I will proceed to argue that Prudentius, a poet on the end of Classical work and facing changing cultural and religious winds of Christianity, attempts to impose Christian morality onto pagan or traditional literary themes and topics.

Mark Krause

Senior Showcase Oral presentation

Ripon College

April 23, 2019

The author reserves all rights.

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Major: Classics (self-designed)
Minor: Religion

Self Designed Research Seminar