The Nicene Age · AD 313–400 · External witness
Libanius of Antioch
AD 314 – c. 393 · Pagan rhetorician · Teacher of Chrysostom · Mourner of the temples · Antioch
External witness
Who Libanius of Antioch was
The last great voice of pagan Antioch — sophist of the city for forty years, correspondent of emperors, eulogist of Julian, and advocate (For the Temples) when the monks began to pull the shrines down. The church remembered him by two anecdotes it could not resist: that Chrysostom was his star pupil, and that, asked on his deathbed who should succeed him, he answered: 'John — had not the Christians stolen him.'
Also listed in non-christian witnesses.
Common questions
When did Libanius live?
Libanius of Antioch is dated AD 314 – c. 393 in the archive, which places Libanius 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 Libanius write?
Libanius of Antioch has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: Orations and Letters (with the Autobiography).
Which early sources mention Libanius?
Libanius of Antioch is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Emperor Julian, John Chrysostom and Sozomen. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Libanius from?
The archive associates Libanius of Antioch with Antioch.
Writings (1)
Orations and Letters (with the Autobiography)
The largest corpus of any Greek rhetor — sixty-four orations and over 1,500 letters, among them the lament For the Temples[Survives whole; the church of his pupil Chrysostom kept the pagan's books]
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Julian, Letters to Libanius (the emperor's correspondence with the sophist)
c. AD 361John Chrysostom, To a Young Widow 2 (his teacher's exclamation: 'what women these Christians have!')
c. AD 380Heavens! cried he, what women there are among the Christians.John Chrysostom · To a Young Widow 2
Chrysostom's To a Young Widow, written at Antioch c. AD 380. English translation by W. R. W. Stephens, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 1st series, vol. 9 (1889), public domain. Two cautions on this citation. Chrysostom does not name the teacher — he says only 'the sophist who taught me, and he exceeded all men in his reverence for the gods'; the identification with Libanius is the standard inference, not the text's own claim. And the shorter form 'what women these Christians have!' is Stephens's freer rendering of the same line in his Saint John Chrysostom: His Life and Times (1872), not his translation of the treatise; the treatise wording is given here.
Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History VIII.2
c. AD 445John studied rhetoric under Libanius the sophist; and it is said that Libanius, asked at his death whom he would have in his place, replied, 'John — had not the Christians taken him from us.'Sozomen · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 325 · The Council of Nicaea, AD 325
- AD 339 · The persecution of Shapur II, AD 339
- AD 343 · The Council of Serdica, AD 343
- AD 361 · Julian’s pagan restoration, AD 361
- AD 366 · Damasus and the catacomb epigrams, AD 366
- AD 367 · Athanasius lists the 27 NT books, AD 367
- AD 372 · The martyrdom of Sabbas the Goth, AD 372
- AD 378 · Queen Mavia’s revolt, AD 378
- AD 380 · The Edict of Thessalonica, AD 380
- AD 381 · The Council of Constantinople, AD 381
- AD 381 · The Council of Aquileia, AD 381
- AD 384 · The Altar of Victory petition, AD 384
- AD 390 · Thessalonica and the penance of Theodosius, AD 390
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Libanius.