Gregory of Nazianzus (ca. AD 330-390) was one of the most learned men of his time and is one of the most important theologians of the early Christian Church. His orations, letters and poetry were widely studied and greatly copied in the Middle Ages. However, there is a lack of modern scholarship on Gregory's poetry, which is why there is such need for this thesis, a study of carm. II 1. 22, with introduction and commentary. The introduction focuses primarily on aspects of carm. II. 1. 22 while outlining the events of Gregory's life and situating the poem within them. The commentary is largely linguistic with autobiographical and historical features discussed and brief mention of theological matters.

Gregory of Nazianzus (ca. AD 330-390) was one of the most learned men of his time and is one of the most important theologians of the early Christian Church. His orations, letters and poetry were widely studied and greatly copied in the Middle Ages. However, there is a lack of modern scholarship on Gregory's poetry, which is why there is such need for this thesis, a study of carm. II 1. 22, with introduction and commentary. The introduction focuses primarily on aspects of carm. II. 1. 22 while outlining the events of Gregory's life and situating the poem within them. The commentary is largely linguistic with autobiographical and historical features discussed and brief mention of theological matters.

The object of this study is two-fold: 1) to show that the Liber Cathemerinon of Prudentius Aurelius Clemens is not just a series of unrelated hymns, but a poetic breviarium, or handbook, of fundamental Nicene Christian belief. Behind the literal narrative lies a salvation history, running through the chief elements of the Old and New Testaments. 2) To examine how Prudentius not only presents the salvation-history narrative, but also translates it into the Augustan poetic idiom through intertextual dialogue with Augustan pagan authors, primarily Vergil, Horace, and Ovid. By reinterpreting and refuting pagan religious sentiment through developed intertextual dialogue, Prudentius produces a hybrid world-view that is both Roman and Christian. / A thesis examining the cross-cultural context of Prudentius' Liber Cathemerinon.

Dans ce travail, nous proposons une étude de la poétique des Dionysiaques de Nonnos de Panopolis qui tient compte des critères esthétiques en vigueur dans l’Antiquité tardive. Pour cela, nous prenons pour point de départ les images du monstre et de la mosaïque, parce qu’elles cristallisent le goût de l’époque pour la fragmentation et l’accumulation. Ces deux caractéristiques se retrouvent à la fois dans le jeweled style (M. Roberts) et la spatial form (J. Frank), deux concepts développés à partir d’une comparaison avec les arts visuels et destinés à expliquer des esthétiques non classiques comme celle de Nonnos. Nous menons d’abord une étude de la temporalité du récit pour montrer que la picturalité est au centre de son art : non seulement le poète disloque la séquence temporelle, mais surtout il donne la primauté au mode descriptif. Tout son récit est fragmenté en une série de miniatures, comme celles que l’on trouve sur les mosaïques. L’épopée nonnienne exige donc le même type de lecture, à savoir la lecture thématique. Nous explorons ensuite ce deuxième aspect en étudiant les références internes qui dessinent une véritable architecture paradigmatique à l’intérieur de l’œuvre : les épisodes en écho se réécrivent les uns les autres selon une poétique de la métamorphose. Enfin, nous nous intéressons au caractère composite et cumulatif des Dionysiaques en le mettant en parallèle avec la pratique du remploi en architecture et en art : Nonnos conçoit son récit comme un empilement de blocs parmi lesquels il peut intégrer des fragments des œuvres de ses prédécesseurs, valorisant ainsi une hétérogénéité irréductible. / This thesis aims at studying the poetics of Nonnus’ Dionysiaca according to the principles of late antique aesthetic. As a starting point, we consider the images of the monster and the mosaics because they illustrate the then current tendencies towards fragmentation and accumulation. These two characteristics are part of both jeweled style (M. Roberts) and spatial form (J. Frank), which were based on a comparison with visual arts and designed to explain non classical aesthetics such as Nonnus’. First of all, we study the temporal organization of the narrative and show that picturality lies at the core of his art : Nonnus not only dislocates the narrative sequence, but he also gives the primacy to the descriptive mode. The whole narrative is fragmented into a series of miniatures just like a mosaic. Therefore Nonnus’ epic calls for the same kind of reading, i.e. the thematic reading. We then turn to an analysis of the internal references which are the key to a paradigmatic architecture inside the poem : echoing episodes are rewritten according to the poetics of metamorphosis. Lastly, we are concerned with the composite and cumulative aspect of the Dionysiaca, which can be paralleled with the use of spolia in architecture and art : Nonnus conceives of his narrative as a stacking of blocks among which he can insert fragments of former works — a way to advertise an irreducible heterogeneity.