The Nicene Age · AD 313–400 · External witness
Themistius
c. AD 317 – c. 388 · Pagan philosopher-senator · Orator of toleration · Constantinople
External witness
Who Themistius was
The pagan philosopher whom five Christian emperors kept in honour — senator, city prefect, tutor to Arcadius — and the age's most eloquent civil servant of coexistence: his oration to Valens argued that God is glorified by the very diversity of worship, and, Socrates records, softened the emperor's persecution of the Nicenes. Philosophy's ambassador at the Christian court, proof that the fourth century could imagine pluralism even while legislating against it.
Also listed in non-christian witnesses.
Common questions
When did Themistius live?
Themistius is dated c. AD 317 – c. 388 in the archive, which places Themistius 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 Themistius write?
Themistius has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: Orations.
Which early sources mention Themistius?
Themistius is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Emperor Julian and Socrates Scholasticus. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Themistius from?
The archive associates Themistius with Constantinople.
Writings (1)
Orations
Thirty-four speeches of the pagan senator survive — Oration 5, to Jovian, pleads that God wills many paths[Survives whole in the Greek rhetorical tradition]
Primary-source mentions (2)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Julian, Letter to Themistius the philosopher
c. AD 361Socrates, Ecclesiastical History IV.32
c. AD 439Themistius the philosopher, in his oration, told Valens that the diversity of judgments ought not to surprise him — the pagans held three hundred opinions; and God, he said, is the more glorified by the variety of the ways in which men honour him. By this the emperor's severity was abated.Socrates Scholasticus · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 320 · Silvanus tried before Zenophilus, AD 320
- 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
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Themistius.