Alexandrova Tatiana

Visio Dorothei (pap. Bodmer, 29)

Abstract

This paper presents a translation of the early Christian poem Visio Dorothei preserved in a papyrus copy from the Bodmer Collection (Pap. Bodmer, 29). This poem is written in hexametres and dates back to the middle of the 4th century. Its author is supposedly St. Dorotheus of Tyre, who suff ered torment in the time of Julian the Apostate. The poem narrates from the fi rst person about the vision of the Palace of God, which is arranged in the same way as the Imperial Palace. The protagonist serves as a guard, leaves his post, for which he is punished, and receives the post of the gatekeeper again, together with an order to transmit his vision in songs. The symbolism of the Vision is close to that of the Gnostics. The poem contains numerous lacunae. This work is one of the earliest Christian poetic texts written in hexametres.

Keywords

Vision of Dorotheus, vision, hexametre, Dorotheus of Tyre, Imperial Palace, Early Christian poetry, late ancient literature

References

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Information about the author

Alexandrova Tatiana

Academic Degree: Candidate of Sciences* in Philology;
Place of work: St. Tikhon’s University for the Humanities; 6/1 Likhov Pereulok, Moscow 127051, Russian Federation;
ORCID: 0000-0002-6963-2263;
Email: tatianaalexandrova@yandex.ru.

*According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011, the degree of Candidate of Sciences (Cand.Sc.) belongs to ISCED level 8 — "doctoral or equivalent", together with PhD, DPhil, D.Lit, D.Sc, LL.D, Doctorate or similar.