Late Antiquity In
Judaism, bible hermeneutics notably uses
midrash, a Jewish method of interpreting the
Hebrew Bible and the rules which structure the
Jewish laws. The early allegorizing trait in the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible figures prominently in the massive oeuvre of a prominent
Hellenized Jew of
Alexandria,
Philo Judaeus, whose allegorical reading of the
Septuagint synthesized the traditional Jewish narratives with
Platonism. Philo's allegorizing, in which he continued an earlier tradition, had little effect on later Jewish thought, in part because the Jewish culture of Alexandria dispersed by the 4th century. In the 3rd century, the theologian
Origen, a graduate of the
Catechetical School of Alexandria, formulated the principle of the three senses of Scripture (literal, moral, and spiritual) from the Jewish method of interpretation used by
Saint Paul in
Epistle to the Galatians chapter 4. In the 4th century, the theologian
Augustine of Hippo developed this doctrine which became the four senses of Scripture.
Prudentius wrote the first surviving Christian purely allegorical freestanding work,
Psychomachia ("Soul-War"), in about 400. In this same period of the early 5th century, three other authors of importance to the history of allegory emerged:
Claudian,
Macrobius, and
Martianus Capella. Little is known of these authors, even if they were "truly" Christian or not. Still, we know they handed down the inclination to express learned material in allegorical form, mainly through personification, which later became a standard part of medieval schooling methods. and
Plato. Macrobius wrote
Commentary of the Dream of Scipio, providing the Middle Ages with the tradition of a favorite topic, the allegorical treatment of dreams. Martianus Capella wrote
De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii ("Marriage of Philology and Mercury"), the title referring to the allegorical union of intelligent learning with the love of letters. It contained short treatises on the "
seven liberal arts" (grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, music) and thus became a standard textbook, greatly influencing educators and students throughout the Middle Ages.
Boethius, perhaps the most influential author of
Late Antiquity, first introduced readers of his work
Consolation of Philosophy to the personified Lady Philosophy, the source of innumerable later personified figures (such as Lady Luck,
Lady Fortune, etc.) After Boethius, there exists no known work of allegorical literature until the 12th century. Although allegorical thinking, elements, and artwork abound during this period, it was not until the rise of the medieval university in the High Middle Ages that sustained allegorical literature appeared again.
Middle Ages Works during the
Middle Ages included
Hugh of St Victor (
Didascalicon, 1125),
Bernard Silvestris (
Cosmographia, 1147), and
Alanus ab Insulis (
Plaint of Nature, 1170, and
Anticlaudianus) who pioneered the use of allegory (mainly personification) for abstract speculation on metaphysics and scientific questions. The High and Late Middle Ages saw many allegorical works and techniques. There were four great works from this period: •
Le Roman de la Rose. A major allegorical work, it had many lasting influences on western European literature, creating entire new genres and developing vernacular languages. •
The Divine Comedy. Ranked amongst the greatest medieval works, both allegorically and as a work of literature; was and remains popular. •
Piers Plowman. An encyclopedic array of allegorical devices. Dream-vision; pilgrimage; personification; satire; typological story structure (the dreamer's progress mirrors the progress of biblical history from the
Fall of Adam to the
Apocalypse). •
Pearl. In a plot based on an anagogical, allegory; a dreamer is introduced to heavenly Jerusalem. Focus on the meaning of death. A religious response to
Consolation of Philosophy. == Four types ==