8. Typology and Agency in Prudentius’s Treatment of the Judith Story

In the late fourth century, the Christian poet Prudentius wrote the Psychomachia (The Battle within the Soul), which depicts a series of single combats between personified virtues and vices. Immensely popular in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the Psychomachia’s allegorical battles were depicted in a variety of relief sculptures and paintings throughout churches in Europe. In his poem, Prudentius frequently uses a character or story from the Old Testament that prefigures a character or event..