On Sodom

De Sodoma · Anonymous (transmitted with the Heptateuchos of Cyprianus Gallus) · 5th century · bible

Latin · domain: latin-poetry-late-antique · researched 2026-11-14

Why this is in the register

This short hexameter poem on the destruction of Sodom survives only among the 'incertorum' pieces printed with Cyprianus Gallus, and it has no English translation. HOLLIS returns a single hit for 'De Sodoma poem Latin' - a German commentary on Dracontius - and nothing in English (https://hollis.harvard.edu/discovery/search?query=any,contains,De%20Sodoma%20poem%20Latin&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=01HVD_INST:HVD2&offset=0 The text is printed in CSEL 23, whose title page describes the volume as 'Cypriani Galli poetae Heptateuchos: accedunt incertorum De Sodoma et Iona et Ad senatorem' (https://archive.org/details/cyprianigallipoe23cypr). It is not among the passages in White's anthology, whose contents list no Sodom poem (https://hollis.harvard.edu/permalink/f/1s5nto6/alma990085386220203941).

A compact rhetorical set-piece on divine judgement, interesting precisely because it turns a narrative of wholesale destruction into Virgilian verse without a martyrological frame. Its absence from English means the small anonymous biblical epics that surround the named poets are invisible in the register of Latin Christian poetry.

Existing translations recorded

None recorded in English. Non-English versions, where they exist, are named in the evidence above.

Electronic text

Scanned witnesses

Scan search: not checked. Not searched in the scan pass: this dossier was outside the 121-work scan target set.

Harvard Hollis

Hollis query: "On Sodom" — 6 record(s); match basis author_title.

Sources checked

• https://archive.org/details/cyprianigallipoe23cypr
• HOLLIS search — De Sodoma poem Latin
• HOLLIS record — alma990085386220203941

Cite: Tergwame, “On Sodom” (latin gap dossier), 2026. https://naxiai.com/christian/gaps/latin-anon-de-sodoma