This collection of essays deals with the rise and development of early Christian poetry, discussing its techniques and its theoretical foundation. The individual papers concern specimina of Hebrew, Syriac, Greek and Latin poetry and study the various and partly conflicting traditions from which it originated. The biblical examples, e.g. of the Psalms, held great authority, but on the other hand it was impossible to break away from the models of classical Greco-Roman poetry, although these were deemed dangerous because of the pagan content and excessive cult of literary art. The book shows how...

During the past forty years J.C.M. van Winden OFM, Emeritus Professor of Early Christian Literature at Leiden University and editor of Vigiliae Christianae, has built up an impressive body of published research on early Christian thought and related areas of Greek and Jewish philosophy. In this volume in honour of his 75th birthday his more important contributions, originally published in a wide range of journals and other publications, have been collected together. These are grouped together in five categories: The arche in early christian thought, Essays on the Church Fathers,...

One of the most conspicuous innovations of early Christianity within Greco-Roman culture is its reliance upon a collection of authoritative texts. The ultimate author of Scripture was thought to be God Himself, whose will could and should be sought and found in these holy writings. For this reason it is not surprising that very soon these texts not only became the object of careful attention and scholarly study, but also put their stamp on the various forms and manifestations of early Christian life, such as martyrdom, asceticism, liturgy, art, and literature. This multifarious influence of...

This commentary is the fifth volume in a series of commentaries on the fourth-century historian Ammianus Marcellinus, which continues the commentaries by P. de Jonge on Books XIV-IXX. In XXIV the Persian expedition of Julian is described, from its successful start until the failure to take the capital Ctesiphon. The commentary deals both with the philological, literary and linguistic problems in the Latin text and with the historical and geographical details that are necessary for an understanding of the course of events. Special attention is given to the author's highly personal involvement...

Book 25 of Ammianus Marcellinus' Res Gestae is the final part of the trilogy (books 23-25) on the emperor Julian's Persian expedition. Covering a period of eight months, from June 17, 363 to February 17, 364, it contains a series of momentous events: the death of Julian on June 26, the surprising appointment of the unexperienced Jovian as his successor, the dramatic and difficult return of the Roman army, the painful surrender of Roman territory around the upper course of the Tigris to the Persian king Sapor, and finally Jovian's sudden death. The contrast between Julian, who for all...

Book 26 of Ammianus' Res Gestae is the first of the hexad which deals with the rule of the emperors Valentinian and Valens (364-378). In the first five chapters Ammianus describes the election of Valentinian, who appointed his brother Valens as his co-ruler, and subsequently divided the empire into an eastern and a western part. The next chapters deal with the revolt of Procopius. They offer the most detailed account of a coup d' etat in Roman historiography. The memory of Julian, whose death was the central theme of the preceding book, is still very much alive. None of the three...