''Chronicon Paschale'' (the ''Paschal'' or ''Easter Chronicle''),
also called ''Chronicum Alexandrinum'', ''Constantinopolitanum'' or ''Fasti Siculi'', is the conventional name of a 7th-century Greek Christian
chronicle of the world. Its name comes from its system of chronology based on the
Christian paschal cycle
The Paschal cycle, in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is the cycle of the moveable feasts built around Pascha (Easter). The cycle consists of approximately ten weeks before and seven weeks after Pascha. The ten weeks before Pascha are known as ...
; its Greek author named it ''Epitome of the ages from Adam the first man to the 20th year of the reign of the most August
Heraclius''.
Structure
The 'Chronicon Paschale' follows earlier chronicles. For the years 600 to 627 the author writes as a contemporary historian—that is, through the last years of emperor
Maurice Maurice may refer to:
People
* Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr
* Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor
*Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and ...
, the reign of
Phocas
Phocas ( la, Focas; grc-gre, Φωκάς, Phōkás; 5475 October 610) was Eastern Roman emperor from 602 to 610. Initially, a middle-ranking officer in the Eastern Roman army, Phocas rose to prominence as a spokesman for dissatisfied soldiers ...
, and the first seventeen years of the reign of Heraclius.
Like many chroniclers, the author of this popular account relates anecdotes, physical descriptions of the chief personages (which at times are careful portraits), extraordinary events such as earthquakes and the appearance of comets, and links Church history with a supposed Biblical chronology.
Sempronius Asellio Sempronius Asellio (flourished BC c. 91BC) was an early Roman historian and one of the first writers of historiographic work in Latin. He was a military tribune of P. Scipio Aemilianus Africanus at the siege of Numantia in Hispania in 134BC. Later ...
points out the difference in the public appeal and style of composition which distinguished the chroniclers (''Annales'') from the historians (''Historia'') of the
Eastern Roman Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...
.
The 'Chronicon Paschale' is a huge compilation, attempting a chronological list of events from the creation of
Adam. The principal manuscript, the 10th-century ''Codex Vaticanus graecus'' 1941, is damaged at the beginning and end and stops short at 627. The Chronicle proper is preceded by an introduction containing reflections on Christian chronology and on the calculation of the Paschal (Easter) cycle. The so-called
'Byzantine' or 'Roman' era (which continued in use in
Greek Orthodox Christianity until the end of Turkish rule as the 'Julian calendar') was adopted in the 'Chronicon' as the foundation of chronology; accordingly the date of the creation is given as 21 March 5507 BC.
Authorship
The author identifies himself as a contemporary of the Emperor
Heraclius (610–641), and was possibly a cleric attached to the suite of the
Ecumenical Patriarch Sergius. The work was probably written during the last ten years of the reign of Heraclius.
The chief authorities used were:
Sextus Julius Africanus
Sextus Julius Africanus (c. 160 – c. 240; Greek: Σέξτος Ἰούλιος ὁ Ἀφρικανός or ὁ Λίβυς) was a Christian traveler and historian of the late second and early third centuries. He is important chiefly because o ...
; 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 ...
''; the ''Chronicle and Church History'' of
Eusebius
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 Chris ...
;
John Malalas; the ''
Acta Martyrum
Acts of the Martyrs (Latin ''Acta Martyrum'') are accounts of the suffering and death of a Christian martyr or group of martyrs. These accounts were collected and used in church liturgies from early times, as attested by Saint Augustine."Acts of t ...
''; the treatise of
Epiphanius, bishop of Constantia (the old Salamis) in Cyprus (fl. 4th century), on ''Weights and Measures''.
Editions
*
Matthaeus Raderus (Munich, 1615): ''Chronicon Alexandrinum idemque astronomicum et ecclesiasticum'' (
editio princeps, Greek text with Latin translation)
*
L. Dindorf (1832) in ''
Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae
The ''Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae'' (CSHB; en, Corpus of Byzantine history writers, italic=yes), also referred to as the Bonn Corpus, is a monumental fifty-volume series of primary sources for the study of Byzantine history (–1453 ...
'', with
du Cange's preface and commentary
*
J. P. 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 ...
, ''Patrologia graeca'', vol. 92.
Bibliography
* See also
C. Wachsmuth, ''Einleitung in das Studien der alten Geschichte'' (1895)
*
H. Gelzer, ''Sextus Julius Africanus und die byzantinische Chronographie'', ii. I (1885)
*
J. van der Hagen, ''Observationes in Heraclii imperatoris methodum paschalem'' (1736, but still considered indispensable)
*
E. Schwarz in ''
Pauly–Wissowa'', ''Realencyclopädie'', iii., Pt. 2 (1899)
*
C. Krumbacher, ''Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur'' (1897).
Partial English translation
*''Chronicon Paschale 284–628 AD'', translated by
Michael Whitby
L. Michael Whitby is a British ancient historian of Late Antiquity. He specialises in late Roman history, early Byzantine history and historiography. He is currently pro-vice-chancellor and head of the College of Arts and Law at the Universit ...
and Mary Whitby (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1989)
References
Sources
*
*
External links
The 1615 editio princeps by Raderus at Google Books
*1832 Dindorf edition at Google Books
Vol.1Vol. 2
{{Authority control
Byzantine chronicles
7th-century history books
Byzantine literature