The project studies the role of epideictic rhetoric and poetry in natural history at the early modern universities and at the Royal Academy of Turku. The university context produced an enormous amount of Latin occasional poetry for dissertations and academic celebrations. In general, such liminary texts had an epideictic and laudatory function. The material has been very little studied, and the significance of epideictic rhetoric in the history of knowledge has not been properly assessed before. Rather than being empty ceremonial showcasing, academic threshold poems had multiple cultural, social and scholarly functions in addressing natural phenomena, and inspiring admiration and awe for the wonders of nature. The project highlights the significance of epideictic rhetoric and occasional poetry in the study of natural history.

2026

2031