The Nicene Age · AD 313–400

Phoebadius of Agen

d. c. AD 392 · Bishop of Agen · Nicene polemicist · Agen, Aquitaine

The Nicene Age

Who Phoebadius of Agen was

Bishop of Agen whose Contra Arianos of 358 was the Latin West's first book-length answer to the Sirmian creed — a Nicene counterstroke that leaned frankly on Tertullian. Jerome notices him in De viris illustribus as still living, in extreme old age, at the time of writing.

Also listed in bishops beyond the great sees.

Common questions

When did Phoebadius die?

Phoebadius of Agen is dated d. c. AD 392 in the archive, which places Phoebadius 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 Phoebadius write?

Phoebadius of Agen has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: Against the Arians.

Which early sources mention Phoebadius?

Phoebadius of Agen is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Jerome and Sulpicius Severus. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Phoebadius from?

The archive associates Phoebadius of Agen with Agen, Aquitaine. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.

Writings (1)

Against the Arians

Gaul's first answer to the Sirmium manifesto of 357, written before Hilary's greater work
[To forbid the word 'substance' is to smuggle in the thing it denies]

Earliest witness · Medieval Latin tradition (long printed among Ambrose's works) (9th c. onward)

Read the interlinear source text →

Primary-source mentions (2)

Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

On Illustrious Men 108

c. AD 393
Phoebadius, bishop of Agen, in Gaul, published a book Against the Arians. Other works of his are said to exist, which I have not yet read.
Jerome · 108 · source text

Chronicle II.44 (the Gallic resistance at Rimini)

c. AD 403
Sulpicius Severus · Chronicle II.44 · source text

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