From Nowhere: Utopian and Dystopian Visions of our - Chris J. Young

17. Saint Augustine, Bishop of
Hippo (354-430). Diui Augustini
librorum pars septima. Basel: J.
Amerbach, 1505.
Saint Augustine was the greatest theologian
of the early Christian Church and a Roman
intellectual who gave up a professorship
in Milan becoming Bishop of Hippo, near
Carthage in North Africa during the fourth
century. it was in Hippo that Augustine
wrote The City of God, a profoundly
influential book throughout the medieval
period, which presents the stark contrast
between the corrupt life of mankind
and the virtuous state of the afterlife.
in the latter state, Augustine describes
the restoration of innocence, harmony
and peace of Eden. The City of God thus
proposes an idealized Christian community
of pure religion and practical values, to
which believers aspire. The image displayed
shows the city of God juxtaposed to the city
of Satan. The medieval Latin inscription
translates as: ‘A city dedicated to God:
Abel founded it with righteous blood /
Babylon attacks Zion, that the holy city may
rebound / Cain founded that wretched city
to be a seat for Satan.’ As depicted in the
image, Satan’s city of Babylon attacks the
peaceful city of Zion founded on the death
of Abel who was murdered by his brother
Cain. Above is Augustine himself, observing
the events unfolding below, and recording
them in a book that would become The City
of God.
17. Diui Augustini librorum pars septima
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