On the ages of the world

Title(s):
  • On the ages of the world
  • De aetatibus mundi et hominis libri XXIII
    (De aetatibus mundi et hominis libri XXIII, On the ages of the world and of man, 23 books)
Author:
Period covered:
Creation-363
Language:
Latin
State of Preservation:
Partial
Genre:
  • Chronicle (narrative chronicle)
Remarks:
According to the headings of the Codices Sorbonicus and Taurinensis, the number of books of the De aetatibus should be 23 (see Helm - Préaux 1970: 128). The number is confirmed by the preface of Fulgentius too (Helm - Préaux 1970: 132). However, we have only fourteen books: either we miss a part of the work, or the author decided to conclude it earlier than he he had originally planned (like the Exposition of the Content of Virgil).
The work of Fulgentius is an example of a lipogram: each book avoids the use of the corresponding letter of the alphabet (e.g. the absence of 'a' in the first book).
Edition - Translation:
Fragments:
Users:
Bibliography:
  • B. Baldwin (1988) 'Fulgentius and his sources'. Traditio 44: 37-57.
  • G. Hays (2000) 'A second look at Fulgentius's Alexander'. Vigiliae Christianae 54: 204-207.
  • G. Hays (2003) 'The date and identity of the mythographer Fulgentius'. Journal of Medieval Latin 13: 163-252.
  • P. Langlois (1964) 'Les oeuvres de Fulgence le mythographe et le probleme des deux Fulgences'. Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum 7: 94-105.
  • M. Manca (1998) 'Un prologo di troppo nel De aetatibus mundi et hominis di Fulgenzio'. Quaderni del Dipartimento di Filologia, Linguistica e Tradizione Classica: Università degli Studi di Torino 11: 243-246.
  • M. Manca (2010) 'La Bibbia del De aetatibus mundi et hominis: Allusioni, oralità, contraintes'. In: Lingua et ingenium: Studi su Fulgenzio di Ruspe e il suo contesto, ed. A. Piras. Cagliari: 165-188.
  • Ch. Stöcker (1979) 'Alexander der Grosse bei Fulgentius und die Historia Alexandri Macedonis des Antidamas'. Vigiliae Christianae 33: 55-75.