This original website is no longer being maintained.
Scheduled for 2012
New Approaches to Sidonius Apollinaris (working
title). Proceedings of the exploratory workshop 'Sidonius
Apollinaris for the 21st Century', held in January 2011 at
Wassenaar, The Netherlands, to investigate the possibility and
requirements of an international, state-of-the-art and
comprehensive commentary on Sidonius' oeuvre. Contributors
include David Amherdt, Tiziana Brolli, Silvia Condorelli, Piet
Gerbrandy, Roy Gibson, Gavin Kelly, Helga Köhler, Ralph
Mathisen, Sigrid Mratschek, Rodie Risselada, David Rijser,
Stefania Santelia and Annick Stoehr-Monjou. Edited by Joop van
Waarden and Gavin Kelly.
Published in 2010
Johannes A. van Waarden,
Writing
to Survive. A Commentary on Sidonius Apollinaris,
Letters Book 7.
Volume 1: The Episcopal
Letters 1-11, LAHR 2, Leuven 2010.
Emperors
and Historiography, Collected Essays on the
Literature of the Roman Empire by Daniël den
Hengst, edited by Diederik
Burgersdijk and Joop van Waarden, Mnemosyne Supplements
319, Leiden 2010.
This website focuses on Gaius Sollius
Apollinaris Sidonius, a fifth century Gallo-Roman
aristocrat, high government official, poet, and bishop
of Clermont. It contains material for the study of
Sidonius (or Sidonius Apollinaris, as 15th century
humanist Angelo Poliziano was the first to write,
arbitrarily), especially book 7 of the
correspondence. It is gradually enlarged and
enhanced. The site features, among other things,
the downloadable Latin text of
the letters according to Luetjohann's authoritative
1887 edition and a bibliography. On 19 May 2009
the author of the
site obtained his doctorate cum laude at the University
of Amsterdam with a thesis
entitled 'Writing to Survive', a commentary on book 7,
letters 1-11, of Sidonius' Epistulae, now
published by Peeters Publishers Leuven.
Dutch abstract
De auteur is gepromoveerd op een commentaar
op het zevende boek van de brievencollectie van Sidonius
Apollinaris (plm. 430-485 AD). Sidonius was een Gallische
aristocraat, geboren in Lyon, door zijn huwelijk
grootgrondbezitter in Clermont (Auvergne). Rijkdom, politieke
activiteit en literair werk gingen bij hem hand in hand. Hij
dichtte de lofredes op drie keizers, waaronder zijn
schoonvader. Het bezorgde hem een standbeeld op het forum van
Trajanus in Rome, het ambt van praefectus urbi en de
hoogste adelstitel, patricius. Politiek uit de gratie
maakte hij de omslag naar de geestelijke stand. In 470 werd hij
bisschop van Clermont. De stad was inmiddels, met de Provence,
het enige deel van zuidelijk Gallië dat nog niet onder het
gezag van de Visigoten viel. Hij verdedigde de stad met alle
middelen, maar moest in 476 het hoofd in de schoot leggen. Na
een jaar ballingschap kon hij zijn werk als bisschop onder de
nieuwe heersers voortzetten. Hij heeft zich steeds vastgehouden
aan een hoge standaard van klassieke cultuur en taalbeheersing
tegen wat hij beleefde als barbarij. Zijn brieven, 146 in
getal, door hem zelf bewerkt en uitgegeven in negen boeken,
zijn een getuigenis van zijn barokke taalkunst, zijn politiek
en religieus engagement en zijn aristocratische levensstijl in
een netwerk van gelijkgezinden. De brieven van boek 7 gaan over
de dramatische jaren van het einde van de Romeinse
souvereiniteit in Clermont.
Clermont's first bishop
Austremonius on window in Clermont cathedral
Illic Sidonii trabeatus
sermo refulgens
sidere multiplici splendet gemmisque colorum
lucet, et in dictis depictus pavo
resultat.
There the lustre of Sidonius' speech in
full attire shines with manifold stars and glitters
with colourful gems - and the outcome is a peacock
painted in words.
Alan of Lille (ca. 1128-1203), Anticlaudianus
3.240 ff
Ego turbam quamlibet magnam litterariae
artis expertem maxumam solitudinem appello.
To me
an assembly, however large, which is devoid of literary
talent seems a complete wilderness.
Sidonius, Correspondence
7.14.10
Solum
erit posthac nobilitatis indicium litteras
nosse.
The
only token of nobility will henceforth be a knowledge
of letters.
Sidonius, Correspondence
8.2.2
Scias
volo Christi dextera opitulante numquam me toleraturum
animi servitutem.
I
would have you know that with the help of Christ's
right hand I will never tolerate servility of
spirit.
Sidonius, Correspondence
7.18.3
New
A review of Lisa K. Bailey,
Christianity's
Quiet Success. The Eusebius Gallicanus Sermon collection
and the Power of the Church in Late Antique Gaul, Notre
Dame, IN, 2010, by Joop van Waarden in V Chr 66 (2012)
106-108. <24 January 2012>
Franca Ela Consolino,
'Recusationes a confronto: Sidonio Apollinare epist. IX 13,2 e
Venanzio Fortunato carm. IX 7'. See Bibliography. <23 January
2012>
A review of Silvia
Condorelli, Il
poeta doctus nel V secolo D.C.Aspetti della
poetica di Sidonio Apollinare, Naples 2008, by Joop van
Waarden in Mnemosyne 65 (2012) 156-158. <10 January
2012>
Rainer Henke, 'Der Brief 3,12
des Sidonius Apollinaris an Secundus: Eine Novelle in einer
Epistel?', Hermes 139/4 (2011). See Bibliography. <10 January
2012>
Bente Lucht,
Gastfreundschaft und Landleben bei Sidonius
Apollinaris, Berlin 2011. See Bibliography. <22 December
2011>
Roy K. Gibson,
'<Clarus> Confirmed? Pliny, Epistles 1.1 and
Sidonius Apollinaris', CQ 61.2 (2011). See Bibliography. <6 December
2011>
A paper on aspects of
Sidonius' Nachleben, especially in France, by Prof.
Étienne Wolff (Université Paris Ouest), entitled 'Sidoine
Apollinaire, un décadent qui fut fort apprécié', read at the
conference 'Décadence:
'Decline and Fall' or 'Other Antiquity'?' at Berlin in
October 2011 (organized by Marco Formisani and Therese Fuhrer),
and due to be published. <28 November 2011>
Recent articles by Condorelli
and Hernández Lobato.
See Bibliography. <3 November
2011>
Johannes A. van Waarden,
'Episcopal Self-Presentation: Sidonius Apollinaris and the
Episcopal Election in Bourges AD 470', in: J. Leemans et al.
(eds.), Episcopal Elections in Late Antiquity, Berlin,
2011: 555-561. See Bibliography
page and download here.
<2 September 2011>
In May 2010, Luciana Furbetta obtained her
PhD with Sidonio Apollinare e l’imperatore Eparchio
Avito. Testo, traduzione e commento dei carmi 6, 7 e 8 (La
Sapienza, Rome). <5 July 2011>
A survey of existing
commentaries on Sidonius on the Planning page. <5 July
2011>
Hans Teitler, 'Tacitus in de
late oudheid. Kanttekeningen bij een brief van Sidonius
Apollinaris', Hermeneus
83 (2011) 142-147. Tacitus was still being read in Late
Antiquity, witness Sidon. Ep. 4.14. See Bibliography page. <3 July
2011>
To appear in October in
Vetera Christianorum: Joop van Waarden, 'Sidonio
Apollinare, poeta e vescovo'. <24 June 2011>
Stefania Santelia,
'L'aristocrazia galloromana celebra se stessa', an article on
Carmen 11, the wedding song for Ruricius and Iberia.
See Bibliography page. <19
June 2011>
A link to the e-manuscript
Fabr. 91 4°: Sidonius Apollinaris & alii ('cod.
Hauniensis alter') from the Copenhagen Royal Library on the Links page. <22 May 2011>
On Sidonius and the painful
loss of Roman culture, Wim Verbaal, 'Een blijk van innerlijke
waardigheid: Sidonius Apollinaris, Latijns dichter', Hermeneus
83 (2011) 110-114. <6 April 2011>
A reasoned collection of the
sources concerning the Apollinares family by Patrizia Mascoli
(University of Bari), Gli Apollinari. Per la storia di una
famiglia tardoantica. See Bibliography. <12 February
2011>
An exploratory workshop 'Sidonius
Apollinaris for the 21st Century', an initiave of Joop van
Waarden, the Dutch Centre for Patristic Studies and the
Department of Classics of the University of Amsterdam, held on
26-30 January 2011 at NIAS, Wassenaar. The workshop aims to
explore the possibility of a comprehensive commentary on
Sidonius' whole oeuvre within ten years. <13 January
2011>
Written by the author of the
present site, a biographical article 'Sidonius
Apollinaris' in the web-based Literary Encyclopedia. <20
August 2009>
Filling a void: a
new English-language journal devoted to Late Antiquity, the Journal
of Late Antiquity. <29 August 2008>
Downloads
A review of Lisa K.
Bailey, Christianity's
Quiet Success. The Eusebius Gallicanus Sermon collection
and the Power of the Church in Late Antique Gaul, Notre
Dame, IN, 2010, to be published in Vigiliae
Christianae.
