We are excited to introduce a new project on ecocritical approaches to late antiquity, currently underway at the University of Milan and the University of l’Aquila: HUMAN.

“Christianity is the most anthropocentric religion the world has seen”. It is a famous statement of Lynn White according to which Christianity is often accused of being responsible for promoting an anthropocentric vision.

Through the project ‘HUMAN’ = ‘HUMAns in Nature. New Insights into Late Ancient Latin Texts in light of an Ecocritical Approach’, we aim to shed new light on the ecological perspectives of the Late Latin – mainly Christians – texts (4th-6th century AD), trying to fully understand the relationship between the late antique literary culture and the ecocritical reflection. The project is the result of the cooperation of two research units: the University of Milan, made up by  Prof. Paola Francesca Moretti (Principal Investigator = PI) and Prof. Massimo Gioseffi, and the University of L’Aquila, composed of Prof. Stefania Filosini (vice-PI), and Dr. Alessia Prontera and Ilaria Ponti (both contract researchers).

Late Latin texts allow us to apply an ecocritical approach in a promising way. The aim of the study is to clarify the relationship between human and not-human, across a wide range of literary genres, above all (but not only) in poems dedicated to the creation of the world. The Milan team deals mainly with prose texts: exegetical works (the nine homilies of the Hexameron of Ambrose), school works (the Vergilian scholia of Servius and Donatus), epistolary works (the letters of Symmachus, Ennodius, and Cassiodorus). The team form L’Aquila studies poetry, starting with the metrical paraphrases of the Genesis in the Alethia of Marius Victor, the De laudibus dei of Dracontius, and the De spiritalis historiae gestis of Avitus.

To the literary reflexion the aspect of the technological innovation is joined. This involves the devisement of a database “Digitally Annotated Ecological Texts” (DiAET), with the collaboration of the Dr. Federico Boschetti (Cnr-Istituto di Linguistica Computazionale “Antonio Zampolli” – CNR-ILC). In view of the testing, the digital tagging of the first book of the Alethia is in preparation. This will be followed by other texts under investigation. The digital tool is open both to the academic community, and to teachers and students of high schools.
After the first kick-off webinar, held on 7th May 2024, a second webinar will be held, featuring as a special guest Marco Vespa (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), and Alessia Prontera and Ilaria Ponti, who will present the results of the work carried out in the past few months.

Some of us will take part in the international conference to be held in Strasbourg (Université de Strasbourg, 18-19 novembre 2024: L’Alethia de Claudius Marius Victorius: texte critique, intertextualité biblique et problématiques littéraires et doctrinales).

Two international conferences will be held within the framework of the project:
– L’Aquila State University, 12th-13th December 2024: ‘Creazione uomo e natura nei testi cristiani della tarda latinità’;
– Milan State University, 26th-27th May 2025: ‘HUMAns in Nature. New Insights into Late Ancient Latin Texts in light of an Ecocritical Approach’.

Stay tuned for further updates!