File:Lactantius.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Lactantius
Sign in to saveAlso known as Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius, Lucius Caelius Firmianus Lactantius
Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius () was an early Christian author who became an advisor to Roman emperor Constantine I, guiding his Christian religious policy in its initial stages of emergence, and a tutor to his son Crispus. His most important work is the Institutiones Divinae ("The Divine Institutes"), an apologetic treatise intended to establish the reasonableness and truth of Christianity to pagan critics.
OverviewAI-generated
Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius was a male writer, apologist, and rhetorician from Ancient Rome. Born in Roman Africa around 250, he was a member of the Caecilia gens and wrote in Latin. He lived during the Low Roman Empire period and died in Trier in 320. His fields of work included apologetics, theology, and philosophy.
Lactantius is noted for his work *De mortibus persecutorum*. He was a student of Arnobius. His writings are held in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum. He is described in sources such as the *Nordisk familjebok*, *De viris illustribus*, *Pauly–Wissowa*, and the *Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary*.
Synthesized by Vinony from 30 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Last.fm, Europeana Sparql, Crossref, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- ca. 240
- Died
- ca. 320.
- Works
- 103
Top works
- L. Coelii Lactantii Firmiani Divinarvm institvtionvm libri septem proxime castigati, et avcti
- L. Coelii Lactantii Firmiani Divinarum institutionum lib. VII
- Le divine istituzioni
- L. Coelii Lanctantii [sic] Firmiani Diuinarum institutionum libri VII ...
- Habes i hoc volumine lector optime diuina Lactantii Firmiani opera nuper per Janũ Parrhasiũ accuratissime castigata: graeco ĩtegro adiũcto: quod in aliis cũ mancũ. tũ corruptũ inuenit̃
via Open Library + Wikidata
Listeners · Last.fm
- Listeners
- 1
- Total plays
- 1
<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Lactantius">Read more on Last.fm</a>
Recent publications · Crossref
5 total works indexed
- Divinarum institutionum libri septem, Fasc 1, Libri I et II
· 2005 · cited 5x
- Divinarum institutionum liber septimus. De vita beata
· 2011 · cited 2x
- Epitome divinarum institutionum
· 1994 · cited 2x
- Göttliche Unterweisungen in Kurzform
· 2001 · cited 1x
- Lactantius' Epitome of the Divine Institutes
· 1950
via Crossref · CC0
Quotes
- “Verum Scriptura omnis in duo Testamenta diuisa est. Illud quod aduentum passionemque Christi antecessit, id est lex et prophetae, Vetus dicitur; ea uero quae post resurrectionem eius scripta sunt, Nouum Testamentum nominantur. Iudaei Veteri utuntur, nos nouo.”
- “Nam qui hominem, quamuis ob merita damnatum, in conspectu suo iugulari pro uoluptate computat, conscientiam suam polluit, tam scilicet, quam si homicidii, quod fit occulte, spectator et particeps fiat.”
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Key facts
- Writer.image
- Lactantius.jpg
- Writer.caption
- Fourth-century mural possibly depicting Lactantius (or possibly Apuleius)
- Writer.death_date
- (aged )
- Writer.birth_place
- Possibly Cirta, Numidia
- Writer.citizenship
- Roman
- Writer.birth_name
- Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius
via Wikipedia infobox
Works in European collections
36 objects attributed to Lactantius, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana
De vita christiana
Opera. De divinis institutionibus adversus gentes. De ira Dei. De opificio Dei, seu De formatione hominis).
[De falsa religione [Manuscrito]
Opera omnia. Editio novissima ... emendata atque notis illustrata; cui manum primam adhibuit Johannes-Baptista Le Brun, extremam imposuit Nicolaus Lenglet Dufresnoy
Liber ad Donatum confessorenide mortibus persecutorum... denuo emendatus. Accessit disputatio, in qua de hujus libri auctore disputatur (etc.) studio Nicolai le Nourry.
De mortibus perfecutorum cum notes Stephani Baluzii, qui primus vulgavit; 2. ed. addita... Henr. Dodwelli dissertatio de ripa Striga; nec non Theod. Ruinarti praefatio ad acta martyrum
Divinarum institutionum libri VII Omnia studio Michaelis Thomasii emendata cum notis ejusdem.
Divinarum institutionum libri VII.
Divinarum institutionum libri VII. Omnia studio Michaelis Thomasii emendata cum notis.
Divine institutions against the kind and idolatrists; trad. by Rene Tame
Opera, que extant, cum selectis variorum commentariis opera Servatii Gallaei
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Encyclopedic overview
10 sectionsContents
- Biography
- Works
- Prophetic exegesis
- Apologetics
- Other works
- Later heritage
- See also
- References
- Sources
- External links
Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius () was an early Christian author who became an advisor to Roman emperor Constantine I, guiding his Christian religious policy in its initial stages of emergence, and a tutor to his son Crispus. His most important work is the Institutiones Divinae ("The Divine Institutes"), an apologetic treatise intended to establish the reasonableness and truth of Christianity to pagan critics.
He is best known for his apologetic works, widely read during the Renaissance by humanists, who called Lactantius the "Christian Cicero". Also often attributed to Lactantius is the poem The Phoenix, which is based on the myth of the phoenix from Egypt and Arabia. Though the poem is not clearly Christian in its motifs, modern scholars have found some literary evidence in the text to suggest the author had a Christian interpretation of the eastern myth as a symbol of resurrection.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Lactantius” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.