The Cento: A Byzantine Empress’ Reception of Homer

A former pagan, Aelia Eudocia Augusta profited from her Athenian education to present a converted Homer whose verses told not of the wrath of Achilles or of the many-minded Odysseus, but instead sang the tale of Christ. By “re-stitching” lines from the Iliad and Odyssey, Eudocia paid homage to both her Greek heritage and her adoption of Christianity in brilliantly worked centos, fittingly answering Tertullian’s question, “what hath Athens to do with Jerusalem?” In this one hour session, Lauren Heilman will discuss how Eudocia adapted pagan symbols into Christian, and why her centos represent an important stage in the medieval reception of Homer.