Sextus Iulius Africanus

(Sextus) Iulius Africanus (* around 160/170; † after 240) was a Christian scholar and the founder of the Christian world chronicle .

Life

There is hardly any reliable knowledge about the life of Iulius Africanus. It is believed that he may have come from Jerusalem . He was evidently very learned, spoke at least Latin and Greek, maybe a little Hebrew. Africanus had good contacts and frequented higher circles; he maintained good relations with King Abgar VIII of Edessa , at whose court he stayed several times. There he made the acquaintance of Bardesanes . Before 221 Iulius Africanus heard the lectures of Heraclas in Alexandria and was good friends with his teacher Origen .

In 222 Iulius Africanus wrote a letter to the Roman emperor Severus Alexander for the city of Nicopolis , which was probably his residence at the time. He also dedicated his encyclopedic work, embroidery, to this emperor . That he was close to the Roman ruler is also proven by the fact that he set up the library of the Pantheon on his behalf . Contrary to the assertions of later historiography, Africanus never held a church office; Statements in this regard are apparently based on misinterpretations or misunderstandings.

Works

The earliest and most important work by Iulius Africanus were the chronologies (Greek: Χρονογραφίαι). It is the first known Christian world chronicle , although more recently the thesis has been put forward that the older Leipzig world chronicle was probably written by a Christian author; Likewise, a certain Judas comes into question as the author of an older Christian chronicle. The famous chronicle of Iulius Africanus extended from the creation of the world to AD 221 and comprised five books: Books 1 and 2 probably dealt with the time up to Moses , book 3 ended with the 1st Olympiad, book 4 with the End of the Achaemenid Empire , while the last book covered the period from Alexander to Elagabal .

Both Christian and pagan (pagan) works served as sources. However, only fragmentary fragments have survived in the texts of other authors, especially in Eusebius of Caesarea , Georgios Synkellos and in the Excerpta Latina Barbari . In the World Chronicle, Iulius Africanus brought events in Judeo-Christian history into direct connection with those in Greco-Roman history, making him the founder of Christian chronography. The work was often used in later times and represents an important contribution to the calculation of time, since the Olympics and lists of rulers were processed in the chronicle.

Iulius Africanus pursued a chiliastic purpose and put the total duration of the world at 6000 years. After this period of time comes to an end, the 6 World Weeks should be completed by the dawn of the Millennial Kingdom. According to the calendar of Iulius Africanus, the birth of Christ fell in the year 5500.

He also wrote a few smaller works, which, like his main work, are lost and only appear in extremely brief form in the writings of others. Known of this are the Epistula ad Aristidem , where he addresses the problem of the difference between the family trees of Jesus in Matthew and Luke, and the letter to Origen, where he denies the authenticity of the story of Susanna.

Iulius Africanus also wrote a work called embroidery (Κεστοί), which he dedicated to the emperor Alexander Severus. In this encyclopedic-style collection of 24 volumes on various topics such as agriculture , magic , warfare or medicine and natural sciences , pagan views and blatant superstitions meet .

Because of the chemical recipes for various fireworks (such as the pyr automaton ) in this work, Iulius Africanus is also of importance for the history of chemistry, although some of them are certainly additions from later Byzantine times.

expenditure

• Sextus Iulius Africanus: Chronographiae. The Extant Fragments . Edited by Martin Wallraff , translated by William Adler. de Gruyter, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-11-019493-7 . ( scientific review at H-Soz-u-Kult )
• Sextus Iulius Africanus: Cesti. The Extant Fragments . Edited by Martin Wallraff, Carlo Scardino, Laura Mecella and Christophe Guignard, translated by William Adler. de Gruyter, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-11-028676-2 .

literature

• Heinrich Gelzer : Sextus Iulius Africanus and the Byzantine chronography. Volume 1, Hinrichs, Leipzig 1880 (reprinted by Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 1978, ISBN 3-8067-0748-0 ; basic work).
• Thomas Krönung: The rediscovery of Heinrich Gelzer's manuscript for the critical edition of Julius Africanus' chronographs . In: Martin Wallraff (ed.): World time. Christian world chronicle from two millennia in the holdings of the Thuringian University and State Library Jena. de Gruyter, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-11-018480-X (exhibition catalog).
• Wilhelm Kroll , Joseph Sickenberger : Iulius 47 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume X, 1, Stuttgart 1918, Col. 116-125.
• Josef Rist: Sextus [2] S. Iulius Africanus. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 11, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-476-01481-9 , column 494 f.
• Umberto Roberto: Le Chronographiae di Sesto Giulio Africano. Storiografia, politica e cristianesimo nell 'età dei Severi. Rubbettino Editore, Soveria Mannelli 2011, ISBN 978-88-498-3080-4 .
• Martin Wallraff (ed.): Julius Africanus and the Christian world chronicle. de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2006, ISBN 3-11-019105-9 ( specialist review by H-Soz-u-Kult).

Web links

• Literature by and about Sextus Iulius Africanus in the catalog of the German National Library

Remarks

1. ↑ Sextus is not well secured, so that modern research tends to do without it. See introduction in: Sextus Iulius Africanus: Chronographiae. The Extant Fragments. Berlin 2007, p. XIII.
2. ↑ The location of the "Library of the Pantheon" is unknown. Possibly it was not housed in the Pantheon itself, but in a public building near the Pantheon; for problems with older literature see Jürgen Hammerstaedt : Julius Africanus and his activity in the 18th Kestos (P.Oxy. 412 col. II). In: Martin Wallraff , Laura Mecella (ed.): The Kestoi of Julius Africanus and their tradition (= texts and studies on the history of early Christian literature . Volume 165). De Gruyter, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-021958-6 , pp. 53–70, here: pp. 66–68.
3. ↑ Alexander Weiß: The Leipzig World Chronicle - the oldest Christian world chronicle? . In: Archiv für Papyrusforschung 56, 2010, pp. 26–37.
4. ↑ Introduction in: Sextus Iulius Africanus: Chronographiae. The Extant Fragments. Berlin 2007, p. XIXf.
5. ↑ Introduction in: Sextus Iulius Africanus: Chronographiae. The Extant Fragments. Berlin 2007, pp. XVIIff.
6. ↑ On the tradition, cf. Sextus Iulius Africanus: Chronographiae. The Extant Fragments. Berlin 2007, pp. XXIXff.
7. ↑ On the chronological system: Sextus Iulius Africanus: Chronographiae. The Extant Fragments. Berlin 2007, pp. XXIIIff.
8. ^ JR Partington: A history of greek fire and gunpowder. W. Heffer, Cambridge 1960 (ND 1999), p. 6ff.