Anni Maria Laato: Noah and the Flood in the Cento of Proba

The story of Noah and the great flood is one of the four Old Testament themes Faltonia Betitia Proba chose to retell in her biblical epic poem Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi (CSEL 16). As well as her other Old Testament scenes, creation, fall, and the story of Cain and Abel, even the story of Noah contains typological hints to the New Testament. The themes include 1) eschatology and the future devastation of the world, 2) Jesus stilling the storm in the sea of Galilee, and 3) Jesus as a founder of a “Godly race”, that is, ecclesiology.In my paper, I aim to study Proba’s text from two points of view. First, I intend to clarify her theological views regarding these three topics by comparing it to her contemporary theology and iconography. Second, I aim going to study her use of Vergil in her poem, and how she chose to present these topics to her audience, educated, aristocratic Romans, who knew well both Vergil and contemporary cosmology.I have in an earlier study Adam and Eve rewritten in Vergil’s words: Cento of Proba (in Adam and Eve Story in Jewish, Christian and Islamic Perspectives, Eisenbrauns 2017) dealt with Proba’s rewriting of the story of creation of man.