Cyprianus Gallus
Encyclopedia
Cyprianus Gallus was a fifth-century poet who wrote a Late Latin
epic
versification of the historical books of the Vetus Latina
, though only the Heptateuch
(Heptateuchos) has survived to the present day. He, along with his namesake Cyprian of Carthage and Tertullian
, has been credited the authorship of the two poems Carmen de Sodoma and Carmen de Iona, but neither fits his style and language.
Late Latin
Late Latin is the scholarly name for the written Latin of Late Antiquity. The English dictionary definition of Late Latin dates this period from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD extending in Spain to the 7th. This somewhat ambiguously defined period fits between Classical Latin and Medieval Latin...
epic
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
versification of the historical books of the Vetus Latina
Vetus Latina
Vetus Latina is a collective name given to the Biblical texts in Latin that were translated before St Jerome's Vulgate Bible became the standard Bible for Latin-speaking Western Christians. The phrase Vetus Latina is Latin for Old Latin, and the Vetus Latina is sometimes known as the Old Latin Bible...
, though only the Heptateuch
Heptateuch
The Heptateuch is a name sometimes given to the first seven books of the Hebrew Bible. The first five of these are commonly known as "the five books of Moses", the Torah or the Pentateuch; the first six as the Hexateuch. With the addition of the Book of Ruth, it becomes the Octateuch...
(Heptateuchos) has survived to the present day. He, along with his namesake Cyprian of Carthage and Tertullian
Tertullian
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian , was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He is the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and...
, has been credited the authorship of the two poems Carmen de Sodoma and Carmen de Iona, but neither fits his style and language.
Sources
- Kriel, D. M. (1991). "Sodoma in fifth century Biblical Epic," Acta classica, 34, 7–20.
- Longpré, André (1972). "Traitement de l'Elision chez le Poete Cyprianus Gallus," Phoenix, 26(1), 63–77.