Eusebius of Caesarea (c.260/265 - 339 CE) also known as Eusebius Pamphilus
is regarded as one of the most learned Christians of late antiquity (4th-6th centuries CE).
He wrote numerous works of great value to historians including a History of the Church (aka Ecclesiastical History)
which earned him a reputation as the "Father" of Church History. Despite this reputation, his works are not
necessarily historically accurate and some scholars have accused him of dishonesty. Nevertheless, his writings are of great value due to both the volume of output and
Eusebius' habit of quoting earlier works - many of which have been lost. Eusebius was born in Syria or Palestine,
probably in Palestine close to Caesarea where he lived from a young age. Sometime before ~300 CE, he completed the first editions of two influential works -
a History of the Church and Chronicon
- a universal calendar of events from "Creation" until Eusebius' own time. In ~313 CE, Eusebius became Bishop of Caesarea. He also became an adviser to
Emperor Constantine (r. 306-337 CE) and
wrote a biography of the Emperor titled "In Praise of Constantine". A dedicated bibliophile, Eusebius managed or
had access to the large library in Caesarea yet despite achieving fluency in Syriac and Greek, he apparently never mastered Latin.
Eusebius wrote Chronicon in two parts.
Although the original Greek text has been lost, later Chroniclers preserved significant parts of the manuscript.
Jerome translated all of the second part (Book 2) into Latin.
Works