author
Prudentius
b. 348
A late Roman poet from Hispania, he turned classical learning and public experience into vivid Christian verse. His works helped shape medieval imagination, especially through the influential allegory Psychomachia.
1 Audiobook
The Hymns of Prudentius
by Prudentius
About the author
Born in 348 in the Roman province of Tarraconensis, in what is now northern Spain, Prudentius was a Christian Latin poet writing at the turn of the 5th century. Ancient details about his life are limited, but sources agree that he was well educated, worked in law, held provincial office, and later devoted himself more fully to religious poetry.
His writing stands out for the way it joins classical Roman style with Christian belief. Among his best-known works is Psychomachia, an allegorical poem about virtues and vices in conflict that became enormously influential in the Middle Ages. He also wrote hymns, poems on martyrs, and works defending Christian doctrine.
Prudentius is often remembered as one of the most important Christian poets of late antiquity. Even centuries later, readers and scholars return to him for the energy of his verse and for the bridge he built between the literary world of Rome and the culture of early Christian Europe.