Fulgentius Placiades

Fabius Planciades Fulgentius () was a Latin writer of late antiquity. Four extant works are commonly attributed to him, as well as a possible fifth which some scholars include in compilations with much reservation. His mythography was greatly admired and highly influential throughout much of the medieval period, but it is viewed with little favour today.

Life

Very little is known about the life of Fulgentius other than the few references he makes to himself in his own works. His style of Latin, his knowledge of Greek, and his view on classical authors and cults suggests that he was probably educated in North Africa. Other references to African culture in his work support placing him in this region before the Muslim invasions of the 7th century. Moreover, his apparent knowledge of the Libyco-Berber language and script indicates that he was probably an ethnic African: he refers to the language in his ''On the Ages of the World and of Man'' as being part of his 'own' heritage.Vandals, Romans and Berbers
p. 104 Traditionally, Fulgentius is thought to have had a professional career as a ''grammaticus'' or ''rhetor'' (teacher of rhetoric). However, this belief is based on small incidental clues Fulgentius leaves behind in work and has been contested by some scholars. It remains possible that he was an amateur writer: in his prologue to Book 1 of the ''Mythologies'', Fulgentius mentions a wife, though it is unclear whether this is a genuine autobiographical detail or part of his fictional persona in the story.

Identity with Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe

There is a continuing debate as to whether or not Fabius Planciades Fulgentius, and a contemporary, Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe (a Christian bishop) were the same person. The identification of the two Fulgentii was first made by medieval scholars and scribes as far back as the Carolingian period.

There is some overlap in the influences of the two authors (as could be expected from writers working in the same time period and location), such as a common interest in thinkers like Augustine of Hippo. However, the primary focus and concern of each writer seems to set them apart. For example, most of the works attributed to Fulgentius the bishop deal with his opposition to heretical factions such as Arianism, a topic for which Fabius Fulgentius seems to have no concern. Topics on which the bishop seemed to have been strongly opinionated (Arianism, free-will, etc.) are never discussed in the mythographer's work, even when a discussion of such things would seem to fit his discussion. From a linguistic standpoint, the mythographer's unique style and inclusion of otherwise unused words and idioms is not replicated in the work of the bishop, which suggests further a negative identification.

It has been suggested that Fabius Fulgentius, who is traditionally thought to have been writing in the late 5th and early 6th centuries may have borrowed a line from Corippus's Iohannis in his ''Mythologies'', which indicates that he was writing after 550. This discovery has called into serious doubt the possibility of identifying the bishop as the mythographer, as Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe is known to have died in 533.

Although the identification debate has not yet been settled, the answer to the question of whether to ascribe the authorship of the works to a single person appears to depend on subjective interpretation of the available evidence: Critical analysis which compares the writing styles used in the written works and marginal biographical details. Conflating the authors of the works is a tradition that began centuries ago, but that idea most likely originated as the result of a Carolingian-era scribal error.

Writings

The four extant works attributed to Fulgentius include (listed in what is believed to be chronological order):
#''Mythologiae (Mythologies)''
#''Expositio continentiae Virgilianae secundum philosophos moralis (The Exposition of the Content of Virgil According to Moral Philosophy)''
#''Expositio sermonum antiquorum (The Explanation of Obsolete Words)''
#''De aetatibus mundi et hominis (On the Ages of the World and of Man)''

A fifth work, which in the past has been attributed to Fulgentius is the ''Super Thebaiden'' (On the Thebaid). The manuscript ascribes the work to "S. Fulgencius Episcopus", whom Rudolf Helm (the first modern publisher of Fulgentius' work) considered to be the mythographer. This work was not included in the Carolingian manuscripts (possibly because it did not exist at this time), but was included in Helm's 1897 edition of the works of Fulgentius with strong reservations. While there is no consensus on the authenticity of the treatise, there is strong evidence to support the fact that the work was written in the twelfth century by a writer imitating the allegorical style of Fulgentius. This is not to say that the work was a forgery, but more likely that it was mistakenly attributed to Fulgentius as a result of scribal error.

In addition to these, Fulgentius mentions other works that have not survived to the present. In the first prologue to the ''Mythologies'' he mentions earlier satirical poems, and in the ''Content of Virgil'' he makes reference to his work on physiology.

''Mythologies''

Generally known as his chief work, the ''Mythologies'' (Latin: ''Mitologiarum