Title: Through Augustine’s Eyes: Milan and the Encounter with Bishop Ambrose as Recalled in Augustine’s Confessions
Lecturer: Paola Francesca Moretti (Associate Professor of Latin language and literature, University of Milan)
Chairperson: Xiaobai Chu (Associate Professor, Department of Chinese Language & Literature, East China Normal University)
Date: 1:30 pm, December 4th, 2017 (Monday)
Venue: Room 5303, Building of School of Humanities, Minhang Campus, ECNU
Sponsor: Si-mian Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities, ECNU
Abstract of the Lecture:
Milan during the 4th century AD was one of the Western capital towns of the Roman Empire. Firstly, our focus will be on the city of Milan. An overall survey will be presented of its public buildings and spaces, both civil and religious, and of the ethnic, social, and religious diversity of its inhabitants. Secondly, we will dwell on how the Afer Augustine perceives and views Milan in the books of the Confessions where he deals with the years he spent in Milan. As a matter of fact, only private spaces - houses, gardens, etc. - and encounters with single individuals are described as significant when he narrates the story of his conversion, whereas the only hint at Milan’s public space and at the struggle of the basilicas is found in a flashback, within the passage he devotes to his baptism (which took place in 387). In sum, Milan as seen through Augustine’s eyes is not the ‘public’ space we know from archeological and literary sources: neither public buildings - civil or ecclesiastical - nor the themes animating Christian debate come to the surface in his Milan narrative of the Confessions. Rather, Milan is a place of encounters, where not only ideas are exchanged and discussed, but also a truth is shared, which is able to help make a change in one’s life.
Brief Introduction of the Lecturer:
Paola Francesca Moretti, Associate Professor (Professore associato) of Latin language and literature, at Unimi, ‘Dipartimento di Studi letterari, filologici e linguistici’. Research Activity: Late Latin literature and language, and the interrelationships between Christian and pagan culture.