Hymnisches in den Laudes Dei des Dracontius
‘Hymnic elements’ in the Laudes Dei of Dracontius. Notes on a lux-hymn (laud. dei 1, 118–137) and on a praise of God (laud. dei 2, 15–31)

Summary/Abstract: In his paper the author tries to shed light on two hymnic and/or panegyrical passages of book 1 and 2 of the Laudes Dei, written by the North African poet Dracontius by the end of the 5th century A. D.: the so called hymn on lux (Drac. laud. dei 1, 118–137) and a hymn on God (Drac. laud. dei 2, 15–31). Under the term of ‘hymnic elements’ (Hymnisches), to be understood as a collective for hymnic and panegyrical forms as well as their ‘pagan’ and ‘christian’ motifs and themes in the Late Antiquity, the author tries to detect specific performative modes of Dracontius’ poetical practices in the Laudes Dei. He argues, in order to value the Laudes Dei as a christian work of poetry, that it seems not so much of interest for the poet Dracontius to provide a strict exegetical or dogmatic programme via his poetry, but rather to perform the praise of God via a setting of various poetical elements, namely hymnic and panegyrical ones. As the author ’ s analysis of the two hymns tries to show, the poets approach to the Bible and the deeds of God as a christian layman is a literary one. In order to praise the christian God, Dracontius uses several hymnic and panegyrical elements and transforms them so that categorizations and dichotomizations like ‘pagan’ and ‘christian’ become suspect for the description of his poetry.

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