Faltonia Betitia Proba

• Preferred Name: Faltonia Betitia Proba^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]}
  
• Gender: F
  
• Birth: 2 JAN 303 in Roma, Lazio, Italy at LATI: N1.903 LONG: E2.4963
  
• Burial: 353 in Basilica di Sant'Anastasia al Palatino, Rome, Italy at LATI: N1.9051 LONG: E2.4971
  
• FSID: LYJC-3VX
  
• Occupation: Poetesse convertie au Christianisme with note: updateEventReason
  
• Clan Name: with note: Description: member of the Petronii Probi ... gens Petronia
  
• Religion: converted from Pagan to ChristianityAFT 353
  
• Death: 353 in Rome, Rome, Lazio, Italy at LATI: N1.9051 LONG: E2.4971
  
• Residence: Horti Aciliorum at Rome, on the Pincian Hill.
  
• Notes:

  === Life Sketch ===
  Faltonia Betitia Proba (c. AD 306/315 – c. 353/366) was a Latin Roman Christian poet, perhaps the earliest female Christian poet whose work survives. A member of one of the most influential aristocratic families, she composed the Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi, a cento composed with verses by Virgil re-ordered to form an epic poem centred on the life of Jesus.
  Proba belonged to an influential family of the 4th century, the Petronii Probi. Her father was Petronius Probianus, Roman consul in 322, while her mother was probably called Demetria. She had a brother, Petronius Probinus, appointed consul in 341; also her grandfather, Pompeius Probus, had been a consul, in 310. Proba married Clodius Celsinus Adelphus, praefectus urbi of Rome in 351, thus creating a bond with the powerful gens Anicia. They had at least two sons, Quintus Clodius Hermogenianus Olybrius and Faltonius Probus Alypius, who became high imperial officers. She also had a granddaughter Anicia Faltonia Proba, daughter of Olybrius and Turrania Anicia Juliana.
  
  Her family was pagan, but Proba converted to Christianity when she was an adult, influencing her husband and her sons, who converted after her. Proba died before Celsinus. She was probably buried with her husband in the Basilica di Sant'Anastasia al Palatino in Rome, where, until the 16th century, there was their funerary inscription, later moved to Villa Borghese before disappearing. The bond between Proba and this church might be related to Saint Anastasia, who probably belonged to the gens Anicia: Proba and Celsinus could have received the honour of being buried ad sanctos (next to the tomb of a saint), because of the particular veneration of the Anicii for this saint.
  
  With her husband she owned the Horti Aciliorum at Rome, on the Pincian Hill.
  
  Two poems are attributed to "Proba", and only one is extant. Most modern scholars identify Faltonia Betitia Proba as the author of these works, with the other possible identification being her niece Anicia Faltonia Proba.
  
  Constantini bellum adversus Magnentium
  The first poem, now lost, is called Constantini bellum adversus Magnentium (The War of Constantine against Magnentius) by the Codex Mutinensis. It dealt with the war between Roman Emperor Constantius II and the usurper Magnentius. Proba was involved to this war through her husband Clodius Celsinus Adelphus, who had been praefectus urbi of Rome in 351, that the same year Italy passed from the sphere of influence of Magnentius to Constantius after the Battle of Mursa Major.
  The existence of this first poem is based on the first verses of the second poem. Here Proba rejects her first Pagan composition, and scholars think that the Pagan poem was destroyed according to her will.
  
  Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi
  Proba's most famous work is a Virgilian cento—a patchwork of verses extracted from several works of Virgil, with minimal modifications—entitled Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi (A Virgilian Cento Concerning the Glory of Christ). The 694 lines are divided into a proemium with invocation (lines 1–55), episodes from the Old Testament (lines 56-345), episodes from the New Testament (lines 346–688), and an epilogue (lines 689–694).
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faltonia_Betitia_Proba
  
  === berühmte Dichterin, schrieb n. 353 über ===
  berühmte Dichterin, schrieb n. 353 über den Krieg zwischen Constantius u. Magnetius u. das noch erhaltene Werk "Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi"
  
  === "Faltonia" Name confusion ===
  It is possible "Faltonia" is not in her family names, but it is also possible. Some records indicate that Faltonia is doubtful and might be due to confusion.
  
  https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Faltonia_Proba
  
  GLOVER, Life and Letters in the Fourth Century (Cambridge, 1901), 144; for the latest edition, with an exhaustive study, see SCHENKL in Poet. Christ. min, I, Corp. script. eccles. lat. (Vienna, 1888).

• m. in Rome, Italy
• m. in Rome, Roma, Lazio, Italy

1. Claudia Celsina Adelphia, b. ABT 327 in Lyon, Rhône, Rhône-Alpes, France     d. ABT 360 in Roma, Latium, Italia, Imperium Romanum

1. Title: Early Modern manuscripts research and publication Giovanni Boccaccio, De Mulieribus Claris (1374)
   Author: Giovanni Boccaccio, De Mulieribus Claris (1374)
   Publication: Name: https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-5340;
   
2. Title: Wikipedia article
   Publication: Name: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faltonia_Betitia_Proba;
   
3. Title: Ancestry Family Trees
   Author: Ancestry Family Tree
   
4. Title: Wikipedia article
   Publication: Name: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faltonia_Betitia_Proba;
   
5. Title: https://www.geni.com/people/Anicia-Demetrias-Rome-van/6000000008406749905?through=6000000003828107738
   Publication: Name: https://www.geni.com/people/Anicia-Demetrias-Rome-van/6000000008406749905?through=6000000003828107738;
   
6. Title: Faltonia Proba entry in Catholic Encyclopedia
   Author: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Faltonia_Proba Cites: GLOVER, Life and Letters in the Fourth Century (Cambridge, 1901), 144; SCHENKL in Poet. Christ. min, I, Corp. script. eccles. lat. (Vienna, 1888).
   Publication: Name: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Faltonia_Proba;
   
7. Title: Faltonia Proba entry in Catholic Encyclopedia
   Author: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Faltonia_Proba Cites: GLOVER, Life and Letters in the Fourth Century (Cambridge, 1901), 144; SCHENKL in Poet. Christ. min, I, Corp. script. eccles. lat. (Vienna, 1888).
   Publication: Name: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Faltonia_Proba;
   
8. Title: Fifth-century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity?" (1992) pgs 112-113
   Author: digital image pdf of the text
   Publication: Name: https://books.google.com/books?id=lHGOvpQfFqcC&q=probus#v=snippet&q=probus&f=false;
   
9. Title: https://www.geni.com/people/Anicia-Demetrias-Rome-van/6000000008406749905?through=6000000003828107738
   Publication: Name: https://www.geni.com/people/Anicia-Demetrias-Rome-van/6000000008406749905?through=6000000003828107738;
   
10. Title: Ancestry Family Trees
    Author: Ancestry Family Tree
    
11. Title: https://www.geni.com/people/Anicia-Demetrias-Rome-van/6000000008406749905?through=6000000003828107738
    Publication: Name: https://www.geni.com/people/Anicia-Demetrias-Rome-van/6000000008406749905?through=6000000003828107738;
    Note: Describes Anicia as mother of Faltonia Betita Proba the poet and Petronius Probinus.
    Page: Lists her as a daughter
    
12. Title: Early Modern manuscripts research and publication Giovanni Boccaccio, De Mulieribus Claris (1374)
    Author: Giovanni Boccaccio, De Mulieribus Claris (1374)
    Publication: Name: https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-5340;
    Note: Faltonia Betitia Proba (fl. late 4th century) was a Roman poet, writer of a Christian cento (Lat. for patchwork), which circulated in the Eastern and Western Empire toward the end of the 4th century. The work consists of 694 verses culled from Virgil’s Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid, narrating episodes from Genesis, Exodus, and the four Gospels. The narrative sections are interspersed with proems, interludes, and epilogues pervaded by a confessional and devotional theme. The declared intention of the poet is to relate the “mysteries of Virgil” (arcana . . . vatis, v.12) and to show that Virgil “sang about the pious feats of Christ” (Vergilium cecinisse . . . pia munera Christi v. 23). This makes Proba one of the first Roman poets to have actively appropriated Virgil as a Christian prophet. There are over a hundred manuscripts containing Proba’s cento, the oldest of which date back to the 8th century, and a large number of early modern editions. Thanks to Giovanni Boccaccio’s De mulieribus claris (1374), Proba became important in the querelle des femmes as an example of an educated woman.
    
13. Title: Faltonia Proba entry in Catholic Encyclopedia
    Author: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Faltonia_Proba Cites: GLOVER, Life and Letters in the Fourth Century (Cambridge, 1901), 144; SCHENKL in Poet. Christ. min, I, Corp. script. eccles. lat. (Vienna, 1888).
    Publication: Name: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Faltonia_Proba;
    Note: A record indicating her as granddaughter of Emperor Probus, Daughter of Petronius Probianus, and wife of Claudius Celcinus Adelphius, and mother of Clodius Hermogianus Olybrius and Faltonius Alypius.
    Page: It is a tertiary source that cites secondary sources which cite primary sources. A long chain, but authoritative enough to give a chain back to the best records we have.
    
14. Title: Early Modern manuscripts research and publication Giovanni Boccaccio, De Mulieribus Claris (1374)
    Author: Giovanni Boccaccio, De Mulieribus Claris (1374)
    Publication: Name: https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-5340;
    
15. Title: Wikipedia article
    Publication: Name: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faltonia_Betitia_Proba;
    
16. Title: Fifth-century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity?" (1992) pgs 112-113
    Author: digital image pdf of the text
    Publication: Name: https://books.google.com/books?id=lHGOvpQfFqcC&q=probus#v=snippet&q=probus&f=false;
    
17. Title: Ancestry Family Trees
    Author: Ancestry Family Tree
    
18. Title: Fifth-century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity?" (1992) pgs 112-113
    Author: digital image pdf of the text
    Publication: Name: https://books.google.com/books?id=lHGOvpQfFqcC&q=probus#v=snippet&q=probus&f=false;
    Note: This source is an academic work which also cites historical records. The contained family tree record indicates that her name was Proba by virtue of being the daughter of Probus. She would almost certainly have "Proba" as part of her name. Probiana is implied because her son's name is Petronius Probianus-- the masculine of Probiana. Which would be a possible family name. It is also a name given in one of the family tree databases. It is also possible that her name was Probiana and not Proba, but there seem to be several genealogical databases that cite a daughter of Probus being Proba and not Probiana.
    Page: Lists her husband and child in a family tree