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Dennis Trout Damasus of Rome, The Epigraphic Poetry: Introduction, Texts, Translations, and Commentary Oxford Early Christian Texts Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015 Pp. 229. $155.00.
The popes of late antique Rome are known for many things. They delivered stentorian proclamations of episcopal authority; they built and beautified many of the city's churches; they fought in disputed episcopal elections and hounded heretics; they even (allegedly) confronted Attila the Hun. Poetry writing, alas, does not typically make the list. Dennis Trout's welcomed new volume, Damasus of Rome, The Epigraphic Poetry, will help correct these assumptions. As Trout shows, at least one Roman bishop, Damasus (366-384 c.e.), dedicated substantial resources and personal time to the art of poetic composition. Among other contributions, the book presents the first complete set of English translations of all sixty-seven extant Latin poems, which the bishop composed during his tenure and in most cases commissioned the renowned calligrapher Philocalus to inscribe with his unique lettering on marble slabs. The majority of Damasus's verse inscriptions commemorate the city's martyrs, whose cult spaces outside Rome's walls were also a subject of interest for the bishop. Damasus is attributed with extensive renovations of these martyr shrines,...