The Nicene Age · AD 313–400
Arnobius of Sicca
d. c. AD 330 · Rhetor of Sicca · Apologist · Teacher of Lactantius · Sicca Veneria, Africa
The Nicene Age
Who Arnobius of Sicca was
Africa's most successful teacher of rhetoric, a late and startled convert who — Jerome tells it — was made to prove his sincerity to a doubting bishop by writing against the gods he had lately served. The result, the seven books Against the Nations, is the strangest of the apologies: a pagan professor's demolition of paganism, composed while the Great Persecution burned, by the man who trained Lactantius.
Common questions
When did Arnobius die?
Arnobius of Sicca is dated d. c. AD 330 in the archive, which places Arnobius in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
What did Arnobius write?
Arnobius of Sicca has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: Against the Pagans (Adversus Nationes).
Which early sources mention Arnobius?
Arnobius of Sicca is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Jerome of Stridon and Jerome. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Arnobius from?
The archive associates Arnobius of Sicca with Sicca Veneria, Africa. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Writings (1)
Against the Pagans (Adversus Nationes)
Seven books, the pledge of a rhetor's conversion — hanging by the single Paris manuscriptBut recently, O blindness, I worshipped images just brought from the furnaces, gods made on anvils and by hammers.Read the interlinear source text →
Primary-source mentions (2)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Chronicle of Jerome (the conversion won by dreams, and the Apology as pledge)
c. AD 380On Illustrious Men 79
c. AD 393Arnobius taught rhetoric with the greatest renown at Sicca in Africa under Diocletian, and wrote the volumes Against the Nations which are everywhere to be found.Jerome · 79 · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 260 · Gallienus’ edict of toleration, AD 260
- AD 268 · Antioch deposes Paul of Samosata, AD 268
- AD 272 · Aurelian awards the Antioch church, AD 272
- AD 301 · Hripsime and her company, AD 301
- AD 303 · The Great Persecution begins, AD 303
- AD 303 · The search of the church at Cirta, AD 303
- AD 306 · The Council of Elvira, AD 306
- AD 311 · Galerius’ edict of Serdica, AD 311
- AD 313 · The Edict of Milan, AD 313
- AD 314 · The Council of Arles, AD 314
- AD 320 · Silvanus tried before Zenophilus, AD 320
- AD 325 · The Council of Nicaea, AD 325
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Arnobius.
- 1Africaprovince only