Explaining Science in Hexameters. Latin Didactic Epic in the Age of the Scientific Revolution

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Although didactic epic counts among the most intensely studied genres of Neo-Latin poetry, the numerous didactic poems treating all kinds of scientific topics from the polar lights to balneology have received scant attention so far. Insofar as they are considered at all, they are mostly understood as exercises in literary imitatio and demonstrations of poetic virtuosity, while their professed goal of explaining science to their readers is often disregarded. The talk intends to show that the formal side of these texts should not be evaluated in isolation from their contents. Rather, they should be taken seriously as attempts to familiarise their readers with the mass of new notions, facts and insights that confronted them in the age of the Scientific Revolution.