Epigraphic Poetry Expert to Lecture on the Use of Relics and the Cult of Saints

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What began as a big project — “an endless project” — researching epigraphic poetry inscribed on churches and tombs led Dennis Trout, professor of ancient Mediterranean studies at the University of Missouri, to a little annex attached to the original church of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.   

In a lecture hosted by the Honors College and Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program, Trout will open the door to the small memorial shrine and share what we can learn from it about contemporary values and attitudes around the use of relics and the role the cult of the saints played in people’s lives between 500 CE and 1500 CE.  

His lecture will take place at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11, in the Gearhart Hall Auditorium (GEAR 26).  

Trout received his Ph.D. in ancient history from Duke University and was an associate professor of classics at Tufts University before arriving at the University of Missouri in 2000. His research focuses on the Late Antiquity period and engages material and visual evidence, as well as literary sources.

He has been the president of the North American Patristics Society and is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Loeb Classical Library Foundation and the National Humanities Center. He is the author of Paulinus of Nola: Life, Letters, and Poems (University of California Press, 1999) and Damasus of Rome: The Epigraphic Poetry (Oxford University Press, 2015). He is currently working on a book titled Monumental Verse: The Metrical Inscriptions of Late Ancient Rome.   

“The interesting thing about inscribed poetry, unlike poetry you read out of a book, is that you’re reading it on walls or in tombs,” Trout shared. “It’s very much part of an architectural complex as well as a literary world.”  

Trout is enamored with late antiquity because it is a “moment of tremendous change” and engages with a rich classical legacy of buildings, texts and ideas.  

“If you’re interested in culture, then it is a laboratory for thinking about what we do as humans, with buildings, words and ideas as they come under pressure,” Trout said. “That’s extremely relevant for our particular moment.”  

Trout’s lecture uniquely weaves together multiple disciplines, which he believes is key to understanding the past.  

“Whether you think of yourself as an historian, anthropologist, literary critic, art historian or architectural historian, none of those categories is on its own sufficient to understand the past,” Trout said. “The human experience is so rich and varied that it is unlikely that any single discipline or approach is going to equip you for everything you need to see and say about the past and present.”  

Trout, who received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at state universities and teaches at a state university, underlines the importance of public education and providing opportunities for students to explore their academic interests in innovative ways.  

“I believe that it’s particularly important that state universities — flagship universities — like the University of Arkansas and the University of Missouri, have honors colleges and offer opportunities to students in ways that are special," he said.  

About the Honors College: The University of Arkansas Honors College was established in 2002 and brings together high-achieving undergraduate students and the university’s top professors to share transformative learning experiences. Each year the Honors College awards up to 90 freshman fellowships that provide $80,000 over four years, and more than $1 million in undergraduate research and study abroad grants. The Honors College is nationally recognized for the high caliber of students it admits and graduates. Honors students enjoy small, in-depth classes, and programs are offered in all disciplines, tailored to students’ academic interests, with interdisciplinary collaborations encouraged. All Honors College graduates have engaged in mentored research.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas’ economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.