Enciclopedia Cattolica

OTTAZIANO, PORFIRIO

Volume IX · p. 294 · 1952

English translation · Testo originale italiano

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

OTTAZIANO, PORFIRIO. - When the Emperor Costantino celebrated his vicennalia in 325, he received as a gift from an exile, Publius Optatianus Porfirius, a member of high society, a collection of 20 panegyric poems. The gift had the desired effect, and P. was recalled from exile.

These poems were subsequently published by their author together with others and with the Emperor’s letter of thanks. They are carmina figurata, already known in Alexandrian art, which represented, through the arrangement of the individual letters, objects, squares, diagonals, etc. Christian elements are found in O. alongside others of ancient origin. Poems of this kind

enthused Ennodio in his youth and are also found in the work of Venanzio Fortunato, Bonifazio Alcuino, Rabano Mauro, etc.; they are likewise known in Persian art.

BIBL.: ed.: Optatianus Porfirius, Carmina, ed. E. Kluge, Lipsia 1926. On the author V. E. Kluge, in Münchener Museum für Philologie des Mittelalters, IV, Monaco 1924, p. 323 sg.; V. also R. Curtius, Europäische Literatur und lateinisches Mittelalter, Berna 1948, p. 285 sg. According to C. Weyman, Beiträge zur Geschichte der christlich-lateinischen Poesie, Monaco 1926, p. 27 sg., Giovenco would have known O. Erik Peterson
Cite this article

“OTTAZIANO, PORFIRIO.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IX (1952), p. 294. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/ottaziano-porfirio.