Hydatius, also spelled Idacius (c. 400 – c. 469) was a late Western Roman writer and clergyman. The
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
of
Aquae Flaviae
Aquae Flaviae (or ''Aquæ Flaviæ'') is the ancient Roman city and former bishopric (now a Latin Catholic titular see) of Chaves, a municipality in the Portuguese district of Vila Real.
History
The northwest peninsular region is an area of ho ...
in the
Roman province
The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...
of
Gallaecia
Gallaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province in the north-west of Hispania, approximately present-day Galicia, northern Portugal, Asturias and Leon and the later Kingdom of Gallaecia. The Roman cities included ...
(almost certainly the modern
Chaves, Portugal
Chaves () is a city and a municipality in the north of Portugal. It is 10 km south of the Spanish border and 22 km south of Verín (Spain). The population in 2011 was 41,243, in an area of 591.23 km2. The municipality is the second ...
, in the modern district of
Vila Real
Vila Real () is the capital and largest city of the Vila Real District, in the North region. It is also the seat of the Douro intermunicipal community and of the Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro historical province. The Vila Real municipality covers ...
), he was the author of a chronicle of his own times that provides us with our best evidence for the history of
Hispania
Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania ...
in the 5th century.
Biography
Hydatius was born around the year 400 in the environs of Civitas Lemica, a
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
town near modern
Xinzo de Limia
Xinzo de Limia is a town and municipality in the province of Ourense, Autonomous Community of Galicia, Spain. It lies on the important Autovia das Rias Baixas in the fertile valley of Antela, approximately 33 km from Verín and 43 ...
in the Spanish
Galician province of
Ourense
Ourense (; es, Orense ) is a city and capital of the province of Ourense, located in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, northwestern Spain. It is on the Camino Sanabrés path of the Way of St ...
. As a young boy, he travelled as a pilgrim to the
Holy Land
The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...
with his mother, where he met
Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, th ...
in his hermitage at
Bethlehem
Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...
.
[Brown, Peter. ''The Rise of Western Christendom''. (Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2003) p. 99] About the year 417 he joined the
clergy
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
, and in 427 was consecrated bishop probably of Chaves (the Roman ''Aquae Flaviae'') in
Gallaecia
Gallaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province in the north-west of Hispania, approximately present-day Galicia, northern Portugal, Asturias and Leon and the later Kingdom of Gallaecia. The Roman cities included ...
. As bishop he had to come to terms with the presence of non-Roman powers, especially a succession of kings of the
Suevi
The Suebi (or Suebians, also spelled Suevi, Suavi) were a large group of Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe river region in what is now Germany and the Czech Republic. In the early Roman era they included many peoples with their own names ...
, in a province where imperial control became increasingly nominal during the course of his lifetime. The Suevi had settled in Gallaecia in 411, and there was constant friction between them and the local
Hispano
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
-
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
provincials. In this context, Hydatius took part in a deputation of the year 431 requesting assistance in dealing with the Suevi from the general
Flavius Aëtius
Aetius (also spelled Aëtius; ; 390 – 454) was a Roman general and statesman of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was a military commander and the most influential man in the Empire for two decades (433454). He managed pol ...
, the most important representative of the imperial government in the West.
Along with this concern, Hydatius devoted himself to rooting out
heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
, not just in his own episcopal diocese, but in the rest of
Hispania
Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania ...
as well. He was in frequent contact with some important bishops of the day, including
Thoribius of Astorga and
Antoninus of Mérida Antoninus is a Latin masculine given name. It may refer to:
Roman people
* Antoninus (philosopher), Neoplatonist philosopher of the 4th century
*Antoninus (turncoat), Roman who joined the Sassanid Empire and assisted Shapur II in the siege of Amida ...
. Together with Thoribius, he petitioned
Pope Leo I
Pope Leo I ( 400 – 10 November 461), also known as Leo the Great, was bishop of Rome from 29 September 440 until his death. Pope Benedict XVI said that Leo's papacy "was undoubtedly one of the most important in the Church's history."
Leo was ...
for assistance and advice in dealing with heresy. Though Hydatius consistently characterizes Hispanian heretics as
Manichee
Manichaeism (;
in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian prophet Mani (AD ...
s, it is generally believed that he meant
Priscillianist
Priscillianism was a Christian sect developed in the Iberian Peninsula under the Roman Empire in the 4th century by Priscillian. It is derived from the Gnostic doctrines taught by Marcus, an Egyptian from Memphis. Priscillianism was later consi ...
s, followers of the ascetic bishop
Priscillian
Priscillian (in Latin: ''Priscillianus''; Gallaecia, - Augusta Treverorum, Gallia Belgica, ) was a wealthy nobleman of Roman Hispania who promoted a strict form of Christian asceticism. He became bishop of Ávila in 380. Certain practices of his f ...
, who had been condemned as a heretic by several church councils and executed as a magician by the
emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
Magnus Maximus
Magnus Maximus (; cy, Macsen Wledig ; died 8 August 388) was Roman emperor of the Western Roman Empire from 383 to 388. He usurped the throne from emperor Gratian in 383 through negotiation with emperor Theodosius I.
He was made emperor in B ...
around 385. We know very little else about Hydatius's life, though we know he was kidnapped and imprisoned for a time in 460 by local enemies, which suggests he played an important role in the internal politics of Roman Gallaecia.
Hydatius probably died in 468 or shortly after, since at that point his chronicle breaks off abruptly.
Chronicle
Hydatius's main claim to historical importance is the chronicle he wrote towards the end of his life. The chronicle was a very popular historical genre in
Late Antiquity
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
, though with precedents in older chronographic genres like the ''
Fasti consulares
In ancient Rome, the ''fasti'' (Latin plural) were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events. After Rome's decline, the word ''fasti'' continued to be used for simil ...
''. A consciously
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
genre, the main goal of the chronicle was to place human history in the context of a linear progression from
creation according Genesis to the
Second Coming of Christ
The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messi ...
. Under the entry for each year one or several events were listed, usually with great brevity. The greatest exponent of the form had been the fourth-century bishop
Eusebius of Caesarea
Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christia ...
.
Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, th ...
brought the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
chronicle of Eusebius of Caesarea up to date as far as the year 378, after translating it into
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
. Jerome's translation and continuation proved very popular, and others decided to continue Jerome in the same way.
Hydatius was one such continuator. His continuation begins with a preface explaining his debt to Jerome, and then picks up in the year 379. Hydatius had access to a number of chronographic and historical sources and used four parallel chronological systems. Because of this, and particularly towards the end of the chronicle, it can be difficult to translate his chronology into any modern calendar. At the beginning, Hydatius's continuation offers relatively little information for each year. He narrates the events from 427 onward as a contemporary witness and the text becomes increasingly full as the years progress until it resembles an organic literary work more than a typical chronicle.
Hydatius's main concern throughout is to show the dissolution of civil society in the western Roman empire and in Hispania in particular, and he paints a very dark picture of fifth-century life. His deep
pessimism
Pessimism is a negative mental attitude in which an undesirable outcome is anticipated from a given situation. Pessimists tend to focus on the negatives of life in general. A common question asked to test for pessimism is "Is the glass half empt ...
may stem from a belief in the imminent end of the world, since he had read the apocryphal letter of
Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...
to
Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the Ap ...
, which was interpreted to show that the world would end in May 482. Hydatius may thus have believed that he was chronicling the world's last days, and on occasion he deliberately distorted his account to show events in a gloomier light. This is especially true of the narrative climax of his account, the sack in 456 of the Suevi capital at
Braga
Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...
by the
Visigothic
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...
king
Theodoric II
Theodoric II, ''Teodorico'' in Spanish and Portuguese, ( 426 – early 466) was the eighth King of the Visigoths, from 453 to 466.
Biography
Theoderic II, son of Theodoric I, obtained the throne by killing his elder brother Thorismund. The Engli ...
, acting in the service of the Roman emperor
Avitus
Eparchius Avitus (c. 390 – 457) was Roman emperor of the West from July 455 to October 456. He was a senator of Gallic extraction and a high-ranking officer both in the civil and military administration, as well as Bishop of Piacenza.
He o ...
. Regardless of his sometimes very sophisticated literary devices, Hydatius's chronicle is an essential source of information for reconstructing the course of fifth-century events. Moreover, it is our only source for the history of Hispania in the period up to 468, at which point the narrative breaks off.
It is doubtful whether Hydatius is also the author of the ''Fasti consulares'' for the years 245–468, appended to the ''Chronicle'' in the only almost complete manuscript in our possession. The ''Chronicle'' is printed in
Migne
Jacques Paul Migne (; 25 October 1800 – 24 October 1875) was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias, and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a u ...
, ''
P.L.'' vol. 51, 873–890, and vol. 74, 701–750; the ''Fasti Consulares'' are found in P.L., vol. 51, 891–914.
References
Bibliography
* Burgess, R.W., ed. and trans.'' The Chronicle of Hydatius and the Consularia Constantinopolitana.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993. (This is now the standard reference work, with Latin and English translation on facing pages. The chapter numbering differs from Mommsen's.).
* Mommsen, Theodor, ed. ''Chronica minora saec. IV.V.VI.VII., volumen II. (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, vol. 11.)'' Berlin: Weidmann, 1894. (This was until recently the standard edition, and its chapter numbering is still frequently cited.)
Sources
* Arce, Javier. "El catastrofismo de Hydacio y los camellos de la Gallaecia." In: ''Los últimos romanos en Lusitania.'' (Cuaderno Emeritenses 10.) Edited by A. Velázquez, E. Cerrillo and P. Mateos. Mérida: Museo Nacional de Arte Romano, 1995, pp. 219–229. (An example of Hydatius's literary sophistication.)
* Börm, Henning. "Hydatius von Aquae Flaviae und die Einheit des Römischen Reiches im fünften Jahrhundert." In: ''Griechische Profanhistoriker des fünften nachchristlichen Jahrhunderts''. Edited by B. Bleckmann and T. Stickler. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2014, pp. 195–214. (Börm argues that Hydatius saw the Roman Empire as an undivided whole even after 395.)
*
Gillett, Andrew. ''Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West, 411-533.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003 (esp. ch. 2).
* Kulikowski, Michael. ''Late Roman Spain and Its Cities.'' Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.
* Muhlberger, Steven. ''The Fifth-Century Chroniclers: Prosper, Hydatius, and the Gallic Chronicler of 452.'' Leeds: Francis Cairns, 1990.
*
* A. Palo, La Cronaca dei Due Imperi (vol. II). Il Chronicon di Idazio Vescovo (A.D. 379-468 & Fasti Hydatiani). Introduzione, traduzione e note a cura di A. Palo, Edizioni Il Saggio - Centro Culturale Studi Storici, Eboli-Castellabate, 2022
External links
''Chronicon'' and ''Fasti'' of Hydatius
{{Authority control
400 births
469 deaths
5th-century bishops in Hispania
5th-century historians
5th-century Latin writers
Chroniclers
Latin historians