The paper will explore a turning point in the usage of the Latin term dignitas, “dignity”: when attributed to human beings, the term normally denotes, in both pagan and Christian literature, the status or rank awarded to individuals or specific groups of people, often in connection with a public office. Conversely, in the second half of the 4th century we begin to find occurrences of universal and undeserved dignitas, referring to humanity as a whole.

The most significant of these occurrences is found in the Latin translation of Origen of Alexandria’s treatise On First Principles, made by Rufinus of Aquileia in 398. In Princ. 3.6.1, Origen (in Rufinus’ translation) speaks of a “dignity of the image” bestowed by God on all human souls at creation. The paper will assess the significance of the expression “dignity of the image” in the context of Origen’s exegesis of the first creation of humankind in the image and likeness of God as told in Genesis 1:26-27, discussing the possibility that Origen’s original Greek text, which is not extant, contained a similar phrasing.

Furthermore, other occurrences of dignitas attributed to humankind in Latin Christian literature prior to Rufinus’ translation of De Principiis will be examined, with the aim to shed further light on the reasons why in his translation of Princ. 3.6.1 Rufinus employs the term dignitas in such an untraditional way. The paper will argue that when faced with the difficult question of how to translate a Greek term denoting “dignity” (possibly ἀξίωμα)  in the original text of Origen, Princ. 3.6.1, Rufinus might have felt that the use of dignitas in relation to all human souls, although it did not correspond to the most widespread understanding of the term, was not entirely without precedent in the context of the reception in the 4th century of Alexandrine views on the creation of humanity in the image of God.

Sara Contini, Institut für Kirchengeschichte, Christl. Archäologie und kirchl. Kunst, Universität Wien sowie University of Bristol, UK