Latinity Among the Visigoths (and why it matters)
ANU's Dr Chris Bishop will take us to the fascinating late 6 C CE when the Visigoth Chieftain Reccared wrote a letter to Pope Gregory the Great ... 'The letter, written in Latin by a Gothic-speaking warlord, offers a unique insight into a generation who abandoned their native tongue, embraced Christianity, and established the Visigoth Kingdom of Spain. It may be that the mistakes evident in this letter tell us something about the culture and ontology of that generation, but, more surprisingly, it may be also that a number of fundamental errors in medieval scholarship crept in with those early converts to the Latin traditions.
'The linguistic proclivities of Reccared and his clan, of course, would not have been so significant in European history, had not his court also included Isidore of Seville. Reckoned the greatest thinker of his day, Isidore's Etymologiae summarised and collated a wealth of knowledge from classical sources, bringing together an extremely diverse range of subject matter, from grammar and rhetoric to the earth and the cosmos, the elements, history, architecture, humans, animals, medicine, law, religion. His "Etymologiae" became so popular in the centuries after Isidore that it was read in place of many of the original classical texts that it summarised, which then ceased to be copied and were subsequently lost.'
'The linguistic proclivities of Reccared and his clan, of course, would not have been so significant in European history, had not his court also included Isidore of Seville. Reckoned the greatest thinker of his day, Isidore's Etymologiae summarised and collated a wealth of knowledge from classical sources, bringing together an extremely diverse range of subject matter, from grammar and rhetoric to the earth and the cosmos, the elements, history, architecture, humans, animals, medicine, law, religion. His "Etymologiae" became so popular in the centuries after Isidore that it was read in place of many of the original classical texts that it summarised, which then ceased to be copied and were subsequently lost.'
As usual, discussion will continue after the talk in the ANU Classics Museum over light refreshments.
Location
Milgate Room 165, A.D. Hope Bldg #14, ANU
Speakers
- Dr Chris Bishop
Contact
- Dr Greta Hawes