Psychomachia

The Psychomachia (Battle of Spirits or Soul War) is a Latin poem by Prudentius, writing during the late antiquity early in the fifth century CE.

[2] The work is often considered among the most influential medieval allegory, the first in a long tradition including the Romance of the Rose, Everyman, and Piers Plowman.

In the early twelfth century it was a common theme for sculptural programmes on façades of churches in western France, such as Aulnay, Charente-Maritime.

The duality depicts the different moral realms humans battle within themselves: all are participating in the war of the soul, because Vice and Virtue both live within them, while their decisions and actions determine the outcome of the conflict.

A manuscript discovered in 1931 records a speech by the second-century academic skeptic philosopher Favorinus that employs psychomachia, suggesting the technique predates Prudentius.