Flavius Lucius Dexter (b. 368 AD - d. 444 AD) was a figure of the late fourth century, reported as a historian, and a friend of St Jerome. He was the son of

St Pacian Saint Pacian (''Pacianus'') ( ca, Sant Pacià) (c. 310–391 AD) was a bishop of Barcelona during the fourth century. He was bishop from about 365 AD to 391 AD, succeeding Praetextatus (''Pretextat''), who had attended a church council at Sardi ...

, an imperial office-holder, and dedicatee of a work of Jerome, the ''

De Viris Illustribus ''De Viris Illustribus'', meaning "concerning illustrious men", represents a genre of literature which evolved during the Italian Renaissance in imitation of the exemplary literature of Ancient Rome. It inspired the widespread commissioning of g ...

''. He was the supposed author of a chronicle, called the ''Omnimoda Historia'' or the ''Chronicle of Pseudo-Dexter''. It was in fact a forgery, one of a number of Román de la Higuera's (1538–1611), including the continuation attributed to

Marcus Maximus Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl ...

, as scholars now agree. The suspect authorship has been widely known since the work of the Spanish bibliographer

Nicolás Antonio Nicolás Antonio (31 July 1617 – 13 April 1684) was a Spanish bibliographer born in Seville. Biography After taking his degree in Salamanca (1636–1639), he returned to his native city, wrote his treatise ''De Exilio'' (which was not printe ...

, the ''Censura de historias fabulosas'', published in 1742. Doubts were already cast on these false chronicles before 1600, but controversy continued late into the eighteenth century. The Cistercian

François de Bivar François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, King o ...

(Bivarius) published a commentary and strong defence (Lyon, 1627). Later references to the Chronicle as genuine abound, e.g. its inclusion in part in the ''Patrologia Latina''. There is a second work attributed to him, ''In prophetam Danielis de quatuor animalibus'' ("Against the prophet Daniel on the four animals").

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucius, Flavius (Dexter) 444 deaths 4th-century Romans 5th-century Romans Literary forgeries Romans from Hispania