Eusebius

Eusēbius (c. AD 260–c.340), Greek Christian writer, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine. His most important work, for which there was no precedent, is the Ecclesiastical History, which has earned him the title of father of Church history. It is divided into ten books, and is the main source for the history of the early Church in the East from its foundation to 324 (in the final version). It survives in the original Greek and also in Latin, Syriac, and Armenian versions. Among his other works is ‘The Martyrs of Palestine’, an eyewitness account of the persecutions (from 303 to 310) of the emperor Diocletian. The Praeparatio evangelica (‘preparation for the gospel’), in which he shows that the Greek tradition is inferior to the Hebrew and that the best of Greek philosophy merely coincided with or was derived from biblical teaching, is incidentally valuable in that it includes many quotations from classical authors now lost. Of importance for the study of ancient history are the two books of the Chronikon (‘chronicle’), of which the first is an outline history of several ancient nations, and the second consists of synchronical tables with catalogues of rulers and striking occurrences from the birth of Abraham (reckoned as 2016 BC) to AD 328. It is a valuable adjunct to, and sometimes the only source for, our knowledge of dates and events in Greek and Roman history. The original Greek text survives only in a few fragments, but we have a Latin adaptation by Jerome and an Armenian translation.

Christian bishop and historian (264–340), born in Palestine, who wrote in Greek; known formally as Eusebius Pamphili, Bishop of Caesarea. Among several surviving works, his Chronicle [Gk. Chronicon], co-ordinating Christian and pagan events, was especially influential on the world-view of early Celtic Christian writers.

Bibliography

• Alden A. Mosshammer, The Chronicle of Eusebius and Greek Chronographic Tradition (Lewisburg, Penn., 1979)