Euripides in the Poems of Gregory of Nazianzus

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In Julian’s time literature became a main field of cultural war between paganism and Christianity, and Gregory of Nazianzus undertook the task of composing Christian poetry worth of Greek «paideia». In spite of the heavy presence of apologetic tradition in his poetry, Gregory also integrated the tragic genre in his poetic work, through the neutralization of tragic language, the treatment of myth as literature, and the portrayal of the suffering Christian as a new tragic hero. Euripides was his favourite author because of his conversational style, his frequent use of didactic sentences, his popularity as a canonical author, and his taste for the pathetic. There are significant poetic precedents in Jewish and Christian tradition for Gregory’s enterprise. However, his learned and original reinterpretation of tragic language and themes makes his poetry a central stage of Euripides’ reception.