Cena Cypriani | |
---|---|
Coena Cypriani Feast of Cyprian | |
Author(s) | Unknown |
Language | Latin |
Date | c. 400 (?) |
Provenance | Northern Italy |
Manuscript(s) | 54 |
First printed edition | 1564 |
Genre | Biblical parody, Symposium |
Subject | A wedding feast |
The Cena or Coena Cypriani (i.e. "Feast of Cyprian") is an anonymous prose work written in Latin. [1] Tradition ascribes original authorship to the 3rd-century saint Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, but the text was probably written around 400. [2] [3] There is not a full consensus on this date: according to Arthur Lapôtre, it was written under the rule of the Emperor Julian the Apostate (361–363). [4] It is a late example of a symposium. [5]
The text tells the story of a banquet held at Cana, where a great king (i.e. God) invites many biblical figures to attend a wedding. [2] Interpretations of the intent of the work have often radically diverged: it has been viewed both as a didactic work, albeit an unusual one, and as an example of biblical parody. [6] In Bayless' words, it should be read as an "allegory parodying allegoresis and biblical exegesis". [7]
While on linguistic grounds nobody argues anymore that Saint Cyprian is the author, attempts have been made to attribute the work to other authors. One of the first to study the piece carefully was Adolf von Harnack, who argued for it having been written by the poet Cyprianus Gallus on the grounds of its using the Acta Pauli . This view is endorsed by H. Brewer, but opposed by Willy Hass, who argues that Cyprianus and the Cena author made use of different versions of the Bible. Despite this, Hass agrees that on textual evidence the Cena it came from Northern Italy. [4] A different attribution has been made by Lapôtre, who claimed the work to be a satire directed toward Julian the Apostate by the poet Bachiarius. [8]
The work was very popular in the Middle Ages to the point that it was read during the coronation of the Carolingian Emperor Charles the Bald in 875. [4] Many retellings of the story were written in the Middle Ages, the earliest and best-known of which are in the 9th century by Johannes Hymonides and Rabanus Maurus. [9]
54 manuscripts of the work survive, the oldest from the 9th century. [7] The work was first printed in 1564 in a collection of the works of Cyprian of Carthage. [10] The Cena has had a recent return to fame due to its role in the novel The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. [3]
The Book of Daniel is a 2nd century BC biblical apocalypse with a 6th century BC setting. Ostensibly "an account of the activities and visions of Daniel, a noble Jew exiled at Babylon", the text features a prophecy rooted in Jewish history, as well as a portrayal of the end times that is both cosmic in scope and political in its focus. The message of the text intended for the original audience, was that just as the God of Israel saves Daniel from his enemies, so he would save the Israelites in their present oppression.
Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classical world. It became the capital city of the civilization of Ancient Carthage and later Roman Carthage.
Tertullian was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature and was an early Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy, including contemporary Christian Gnosticism.
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7For there are three that beare record [in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.] 8[And there are three that beare witnesse in earth], the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood, and these three agree in one.
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