The Sacred Writings of Julius Africanus

Julius Africanus, Stewart Dyngwall Fordyce Salmond

• Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9783849621384
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

"The Sacred Writings Of..." provides you with the essential works among the Early Christian writings. The volumes cover the beginning of Christianity until before the promulgation of the Nicene Creed at the First Council of Nicaea.Julius Africanus is the father of Christian chronography. Little is known of his life and little remains of his works. He is important chiefly because of his influence on Eusebius, on all the later writers of Church history among the Fathers, and on the whole Greek school of chroniclers.This volume contains the following works: I.-The Epistle to Aristides.II.-Narrative of Events Happening in Persia on the Birth of ChristIII.-The Extant Fragments of the Five Books of the Chronography of Julius Africanus.On the Mythical Chronology of the Egyptians and Chaldeans.On the Deluge.Of Abraham.Of Abraham and Lot.Of the Patriarch Jacob.On the Seventy Weeks of Daniel.On the Fortunes of Hyrcanus and Antigonus, and on Herod, Augustus, Antony, and Cleopatra, in Abstract.On the Circumstances Connected with Our Saviour's Passion and His Life-Giving Resurrection.IV.-The Passion of St. Symphorosa and Her Seven Sons.

The Sacred Writings of Julius Africanus

Contents:

Julius Africanus – A Biography

The Sacred Writings of Julius Africanus

INTRODUCTORY NOTICE TO JULIUS AFRICANUS.

I.-The Epistle to Aristides.

II.-Narrative of Events Happening in Persia on the Birth of Christ

III.-The Extant Fragments of the Five Books of the Chronography of Julius Africanus.

On the Mythical Chronology of the Egyptians and Chaldeans.

On the Deluge.

Of Abraham.

Of Abraham and Lot.

Of the Patriarch Jacob.

On the Seventy Weeks of Daniel.

On the Fortunes of Hyrcanus and Antigonus, and on Herod, Augustus, Antony, and Cleopatra, in Abstract.

On the Circumstances Connected with Our Saviour's Passion and His Life-Giving Resurrection.

IV.-The Passion of St. Symphorosa and Her Seven Sons.

Elucidations.

Footnotes

The Sacred Writings of Julius Africanus

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Julius Africanus – A Biography

By Adrian Fortescue

(c. 160-c. 240; the full name is Sextus Iulius Africanus, Gk. Sextos Ioulios Aphrikanos).

Julius Africanus is the father of Christian chronography. Little is known of his life and little remains of his works. He is important chiefly because of his influence on Eusebius, on all the later writers of Church history among the Fathers, and on the whole Greek school of chroniclers. His name says that he was an African; Suidas calls him "a Libyan philosopher". Gelzer ("S. Julius Africanus", pp. 4, 5) thinks he was of Roman descent. He knew Greek (in which language he wrote), Latin, and Hebrew. He was at one time a soldier and had been a pagan; he wrote all his works as a Christian. Tillemont deduced that he was a priest from the fact that he addresses the priest Origen (in his letter to him) as "dear brother" ("Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire ecclésiastique", III, Paris, 1693, 254). Gelzer (op. cit., 9) points out that a friendly Christian layman could quite well use such a form. The statement that Julius Africanus was a bishop does not appear till the fourth century. It is probably an error. He went to Alexandria to study, attracted by the fame of its catechetical school, possibly about the year 215 (Eusebius, "H. E.", VI, 31). All the dates of his life are uncertain. One tradition places him under the Emperor Gordianus (238-244; Gelzer, p. 7), another mentions him under Alexander Severus (222-235; id., p. 6). He appears to have known Abgar VIII, the Christian King of Edessa (176-213); in his Chronography he calls him a "holy man" (Gelzer, p. 3). Eusebius, in his chronicle (ad a. Abr., 2239, ed. Schoene, II, Berlin, 1875, 178), says that under Alexander Severus the city of Emmaus in Palestine was restored and called Nikopolis under the direction of "Julius Africanus the writer of the Chronicle". It appears that he lived there for a time (Bardenhewer, "Patrologie", Freiburg, 1894, p. 173). He shows in his Chronicle that he knows the topography of Palestine (Gelzer, p. 10). He seems to have been in Greece; he went to Rome about the year 221 (id., 11). Bardenhewer (op. cit., p. 173) puts his death at about 237. Preuschen (in Harnack, "Gesch. der altchristlichen Litteratur", p. 507) says that he died "after 221" and adds "under Gordianus 238-244?". Harnack ("Realenc. für prot. Theol. u. Kirche", Leipzig, 1901, IX, 627) says, "after 240".

The works of S. Julius Africanus are: (1) The "Chronicle" (Gk. Chronographiai) in five books, covering the time from the Creation (B.C. 5499 in his calculation) to the third year of Eliogabalus (A.D. 221). Gelzer thinks he wrote this work between 212 and 221 (op. cit., 12). It is an attempt to combine the account in the Bible and the secular (Roman and Greek) history known to the author, with special regard to chronology. From the third book the order is strictly chronological. Julius uses as sources first the Bible, then Greek, Roman, and Jewish historians, especially Justus of Tiberias, who depends on Josephus. He is also influenced by the "Stromata" of Clement of Alexandria (Gelzer, 19-24). As the first Christian attempt at a universal history, and as the source of all later Christian chronography, this work is of great importance. Eusebius made it the foundation of his chronicle. It is the source of all later Byzantine writing of history, so that for centuries the Christian world accepted the dates and epochs calculated by Julius. Only fragments of this work are now extant.

(2) The "Embroideries" (Gk. kestoi; compare the title of Clem. Alex.: stromata), also called "Puzzles" (Gk. paradoxa), is a kind of encyclopedia of sciences — mathematics, botany, medicine, etc. — full of all manner of curious anecdotes and illustrations. It has been thought that the author of this work was a pagan, Sextus Africanus, different from the Christian Jul...

Table of contents

• Contents:
• Julius Africanus – A Biography
• The Sacred Writings of Julius Africanus
• The Extant Writings of Julius Africanus.