Sextus Julius Africanus

c. 160 – c. 240 · Christian chronographer & encyclopaedist · Aelia Capitolina → Emmaus → Rome

The Ante-Nicene Church

Who Sextus Julius Africanus was

A soldier, courtier, and scholar who wrote the first Christian universal chronicle — the Chronographiai, five books synchronizing sacred and secular history from creation and dating the world’s span toward a six-thousand-year scheme, the seedbed of all later Christian chronology including Eusebius’s. His Kestoi (“Embroideries”) was a sprawling encyclopaedia of natural lore. Two letters survive: one to Origen disputing the authenticity of the Susanna story in Daniel on linguistic grounds — a strikingly modern piece of criticism — and one to Aristides harmonizing the genealogies of Christ. He led an embassy to the emperor Elagabalus to restore his city Emmaus (Nicopolis). The father of Christian scientific history.

Common questions

When did Sextus Julius Africanus live?

Sextus Julius Africanus is dated c. 160 – c. 240 in the archive, which places Sextus Julius Africanus in the Ante-Nicene Church (AD 180–313). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.

What did Sextus Julius Africanus write?

Sextus Julius Africanus has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: Letter to Origen (on Susanna).

Which early sources mention Sextus Julius Africanus?

Sextus Julius Africanus is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Eusebius of Caesarea and Jerome of Stridon. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Sextus Julius Africanus from?

The archive associates Sextus Julius Africanus with Aelia Capitolina, Emmaus, Rome. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.

Writings (1)

Letter to Origen (on Susanna)

c. 240

How comes it that this passage, which contains the story of Susanna, is not in the Daniel received among the Jews?… for the style of it is different from the rest of Daniel.

Earliest witness · Eusebius, HE I.7 & VI.31 (carriers) and the catena tradition (medieval copies)

Read the interlinear source text →

Primary-source mentions (3)

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

Ecclesiastical History VI.31

c. AD 325

Africanus, the author of the books entitled Kestoi, was well known at that time… A letter of his to Origen is extant, expressing doubts of the history of Susanna in Daniel.

Eusebius of Caesarea · VI.31 · source text

Chronicle of Jerome, preface (his chronography a declared base)

c. AD 380

Jerome of Stridon · Chronicle, preface · source text

On Illustrious Men 63

c. AD 392

Julius Africanus, whose five volumes On Chronology are yet extant.

Jerome of Stridon · On Illustrious Men 63 · source text

Connected in the archive

People

Events in this lifetime

Place

Others of Aelia Capitolina → Emmaus → Rome in the The Ante-Nicene Church

Places served

The 2 places the sources put Sextus Julius Africanus, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.

See these places on the atlas →