Sextus Julius Africanus ( c. 160 – c. 240; Ancient Greek : Σέξτος Ἰούλιος ὁ Ἀφρικανός or ὁ Λίβυς ) was a Christian traveler and historian of the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries. He is important chiefly because of his influence on fellow historian Eusebius , on all the later writers of Church history among the Church Fathers , and on the whole Greek school of chroniclers.
25-444: The Suda claims Africanus was a " Libyan philosopher," and Gelzer considers him of Roman and Ethiopian descent. Julius called himself a native of Jerusalem – which some scholars consider his birthplace – and lived at the neighbouring Emmaus . His chronicle indicates his familiarity with the topography of historic Judea. Little of Africanus's life is known, and all dates are uncertain. One tradition places him under
50-579: A birth in December, Africanus did not specify Jesus's birth date. This method of reckoning led to several Creation eras being used in the Greek Eastern Mediterranean , which all placed Creation within one decade of 5500 BC. The history, which had an apologetic aim, is no longer extant, but copious extracts from it are to be found in the Chronicon of Eusebius , who used it extensively in compiling
75-483: A lexicon by " Eudemus ," perhaps derived from the work On Rhetorical Language by Eudemus of Argos. The lexicon copiously draws from scholia to the classics ( Homer , Aristophanes , Thucydides , Sophocles , etc.), and for later writers, Polybius , Josephus , the Chronicon Paschale , George Syncellus , George Hamartolus , and so on. The Suda quotes or paraphrases these sources at length. Since many of
100-408: A specific person. The work deals with biblical as well as pagan subjects, from which it is inferred that the writer was a Christian . In any case, it lacks definite guidelines besides some minor interest in religious matters. The standard printed edition was compiled by Danish classical scholar Ada Adler in the first half of the twentieth century. A modern collaborative English translation,
125-491: Is "Suida", which is also attested in Eustathius ' commentary on Homer 's epic poems; several conjectures has been made, both defending it and trying to correct it in "Suda". Other suggestions include Jan Sajdak's theory that σοῦδα / σουίδα may derive from sanskrit suvidyā (which he translated into Latin: perfecta cumulataque scientia , "collected and systemized knowledge"); Giuseppe Scarpat's link to an unidentified Judas,
150-491: Is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world , formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souidas (Σουίδας). It is an encyclopedic lexicon , written in Greek , with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often derived from medieval Christian compilers. The exact spelling of the title is disputed. The transmitted title ( paradosis )
175-401: Is cattle, but cattle with a golden fleece] The Suda is somewhere between a grammatical dictionary and an encyclopedia in the modern sense. It explains the source, derivation, and meaning of words according to the philology of its period, using such earlier authorities as Harpocration and Helladios . It is a rich source of ancient and Byzantine history and life, although not every article
200-493: Is of equal quality, and it is an "uncritical" compilation. Much of the work is probably interpolated, and passages that refer to Michael Psellos (c. 1017–1078) are deemed interpolations which were added in later copies. This lexicon contains numerous biographical notices on political, ecclesiastical, and literary figures of the Byzantine Empire to the tenth century, those biographical entries being condensations from
225-657: The Kestoi was found in the Oxyrhynchus papyri . According to the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge , the Kestoi "appears to have been intended as a sort of encyclopedia of the material sciences with the cognate mathematical and technical branches, but to have contained a large proportion of merely curious, trifling, or miraculous matters, on which account the authorship of Julius has been questioned. Among
250-614: The Suda On Line, was completed on 21 July 2014. The Suda has a near-contemporaneous Islamic parallel, the Kitab al-Fehrest of Ibn al-Nadim . Compare also the Latin Speculum Maius , authored in the 13th century by Vincent of Beauvais . Polemon of Athens Polemon of Athens ( Ancient Greek : Πολέμων ὁ Ἀθηναῖος , fl. 2nd century BC) was an ancient Greek Stoic philosopher and geographer . Of Athenian citizenship, he
275-777: The epigrams he found into a work On the inscriptions to be found in cities ( Greek : Περὶ τω̂ν κατὰ πόλεις ἐπιγραμμάτων ). In addition, other works of his are mentioned, upon the votive offerings and monuments in the Acropolis of Athens , at Lacedaemon , at Delphi , and elsewhere, which no doubt contained copies of numerous epigrams. His works may have been a chief source of the Garland of Meleager . Athenaeus , Sextus Julius Africanus and other writers make very numerous quotations from his works. They were chiefly descriptions of different parts of Greece; some are on paintings preserved in various places, and several are controversial, among which
SECTION 10
#1732854694420300-522: The Emperor Gordianus III (238–244), others mention him under Severus Alexander (222–235). He appears to have known Abgar VIII (176–213). Africanus may have served under Septimius Severus against the Osroenians in 195. He went on an embassy to the emperor Severus Alexander to ask for the restoration of Emmaus , which had fallen into ruins. His mission succeeded, and Emmaus
325-548: The authority of the part of the Book of Daniel that tells the story of Susanna , and Origen's lengthy answer, are both extant. The ascription to Africanus of an encyclopaedic work entitled Kestoi (Κέστοι "Embroidered"), treating of agriculture, natural history, military science, etc., has been disputed on account of its secular and often credulous character. August Neander suggested that it had been written by Africanus before he had devoted himself to religious subjects. A fragment of
350-586: The early episcopal lists. There are also fragments in George Syncellus , Cedrenus and the Chronicon Paschale . Eusebius gives some extracts from his letter to one Aristides, reconciling the apparent discrepancy between Matthew and Luke in the genealogy of Christ by a reference to the Jewish law of Levirate marriage , which compelled a man to marry the widow of his deceased brother, if the latter died without issue. His terse and pertinent letter to Origen impugning
375-424: The entry under " Adam " which is appended with a brief chronology of the world. At any rate, the work must have appeared by the 12th century, since it is frequently quoted from and alluded to by Eustathius who lived from about 1115 AD to about 1195 or 1196. It has also been stated that the work was a collective work , thus not having had a single author, and that the name which it is known under does not refer to
400-462: The history of Greek, distinct diphthongs or vowels) according to a system (formerly common in many languages) called antistoichia ( ἀντιστοιχία ); namely the letters follow phonetically in order of sound according the pronunciation of the tenth century, which was similar to that of Modern Greek. The order is: α, β, γ, δ, αι, ε, ζ, ει, η, ι, θ, κ, λ, μ, ν, ξ, ο, ω, π, ρ, σ, τ, οι, υ, φ, χ, ψ In addition, double letters are treated as single for
425-547: The originals are lost, the Suda serves as an invaluable repository of literary history, and this preservation of the "literary history" is more vital than the lexicographical compilation itself, by some estimation. The lexicon is arranged alphabetically with some slight deviations from common vowel order and place in the Greek alphabet (including at each case the homophonous digraphs , e.g. αι, ει, οι , that had been previously, earlier in
450-497: The parts published are sections on agriculture, liturgiology, tactics, and medicine (including veterinary practise)." This work does not survive except in fragments, chiefly those preserved by Eusebius and Georgius Syncellus. In turn Africanus preserves fragments of the work of Polemon of Athens ' Greek History. Attribution: Suda The Suda or Souda ( / ˈ s uː d ə / ; Medieval Greek : Σοῦδα , romanized : Soûda ; Latin : Suidae Lexicon )
475-549: The priest Origen as "dear brother" that Julius must have been a priest himself but Gelzer points out that such an argument is inconclusive. Africanus wrote Chronographiai , a history of the world in five volumes. The work covers the period from Creation to the year 221 AD. He calculated the period between Creation and Jesus as 5,500 years, placing the Incarnation on the spring equinox in AM 5501 (25 March, 1 BC). While this implies
500-443: The purposes of collation (as gemination had ceased to be distinctive). The system is not difficult to learn and remember, but some editors—for example, Immanuel Bekker – rearranged the Suda alphabetically. Little is known about the compiler of the Suda . He probably lived in the second half of the 10th century, because the death of emperor John I Tzimiskes and his succession by Basil II and Constantine VIII are mentioned in
525-454: The supposed author of the Lexicon; and Hans Gerstinger's explanation which points at Russian sudá "here", as the answer to the question "τί ποῦ κεῖται;" "what is it and where is it?". The most recent explanation as of 2024 has been advanced by Claudia Nuovo , who defended Σοῦδα on palaeographical, philological and historical grounds . pecus est Suidas, sed pecus aurei velleris [Suidas
SECTION 20
#1732854694420550-525: The works of Hesychius of Miletus , as the author himself avers. Other sources were the encyclopedia of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (reigned 912–959) for the figures in ancient history, excerpts of John of Antioch (seventh century) for Roman history , the chronicle of Hamartolus ( Georgios Monachos , 9th century) for the Byzantine age , the biographies of Diogenes Laërtius , and the works of Athenaeus and Philostratus . Other principal sources include
575-489: Was henceforward known as Nicopolis . Africanus traveled to Greece and Rome and went to Alexandria to study, attracted by the fame of its catechetical school, possibly about the year 215. 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. Whether Africanus was a layman or a cleric remains controversial. Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont argued from Africanus's addressing
600-459: Was most widely known as Polemon of Athens , but he was born either in Ilium , Samos , or Sicyon , and was also known as Polemon of Ilium and Polemon Periegetes . He traveled throughout Greece and wrote about the places he visited. He also compiled a collection of the epigrams he saw on the monuments and votive offerings. None of these works survive, but many later writers quote from them. Polemon
625-499: Was the son of Euegetes, and he was a contemporary of Aristophanes of Byzantium and Ptolemy Epiphanes . He was a follower of the Stoic philosopher Panaetius . He made extensive journeys throughout Greece to collect materials for his geographical works, in the course of which he paid particular attention to the inscriptions on votive offerings and on columns, whence he obtained the surname of Stelokopas . In his travels, Polemon collected
#419580