1. Introduction Aaron P. Johnson Current study of the cultures and literatures of late antiquity continues to find attractive the interpretive polarity of tradition and innovation. [1] The spectrum containing these two poles has fruitfully functioned to gauge the complex ways in which the history, literature, and thought of late antiquity can be identified as a coherent and distinctive age. This… Read more
2. Genre and Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History: Toward a Focused Debate [1] David J. DeVore Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History is universally acknowledged as a watershed in historiographical presentation, the most innovative history since the fifth century BC: it quotes previous texts promiscuously, avoids placing orations into characters’ mouths, incorporates literary history, and lacks causal relations between successive episodes. But it is a priori… Read more
3. Mothers and Martyrdom: Familial Piety and the Model of the Maccabees in Eusebius of Caesarea’s Ecclesiastical History [1] James Corke-Webster Stories concerning family relationships in life-or-death situations possess both a peculiar magnetism and a surprising longevity. This is nowhere more true than the martyrdom of the Maccabean mother and her seven sons, which became a favorite literary motif of… Read more
4. The History of the Caesarean Present: Eusebius and Narratives of Origen Elizabeth C. Penland When Eusebius presents the life of Origen in Book 6 of the Ecclesiastical History, he interrupts the narrative framework to present an extended biographical sub-narrative focused on Origen with interspersed details from other sources and from Origen’s writings. [1] Unlike the other books, where biographical details… Read more
5. A Eusebian Reading of the Testimonium Flavianum Ken Olson In his laudatory Life of Constantine, written shortly after the emperor’s death in 337, Eusebius of Caesarea gives an account of a battle Constantine fought against his colleague and rival, Licinius, the emperor of the eastern part of the empire. Eusebius presents a speech that he claims Licinius made to his troops just before he was… Read more
6. Propaganda Against Propaganda: Revisiting Eusebius’ Use of the Figure of Moses in the Life of Constantine Finn Damgaard Introduction In the last two decades there has been an increasing interest in the literary aspects of the Life of Constantine (VC) and a number of recent studies have touched on Eusebius’ use of the figure of Moses in this work. [1]… Read more
7. The Life of Constantine: The Image of an Image Peter Van Nuffelen In her 1991 classic, Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire, Averil Cameron commented that Eusebius’ Life of Constantine (also referred to as the VC) is “a work over-criticized on historical grounds and understudied as a literary text.” [1] This statement still holds true. To cite but one example,… Read more
8. Eusebius’ Commentary on the Psalms and Its Place in the Origins of Christian Biblical Scholarship Michael J. Hollerich Eusebius’ Commentary on the Psalms (hereafter CPs) is probably the longest book he ever wrote. It came late in his career, at a time when the Church was basking in the emperor’s favor and when the party of those with misgivings about the Council of Nicaea felt… Read more
9. Textuality and Territorialization: Eusebius’ Exegeses of Isaiah and Empire Jeremy M. Schott That we should study Eusebius’ works within the context of late-ancient Roman imperialism appears self-evident. Eusebius lived and wrote in one of Rome’s provincial capitals. He lived under and had direct contact with Roman imperial power—he witnessed the persecution of Christians in Caesarea under the governors Flavianus, Urbanus, and Firmilianus, but also met,… Read more
10. The Ends of Transfiguration: Eusebius’ Commentary on Luke (PG 24.549) Aaron P. Johnson In an illuminating treatment of the rise of Platonic commentaries, David Sedley has argued that at the origins of such a parasitic genre as the commentary lies the need to explain a text whose meaning is no longer clear, primarily because of temporal distance, to its readers. [1]… Read more
