Iulius Africanus Chronographiae: The Extant Fragments

448 Pages·2007·56.288 MB·English

by  Iulius Africanus, Martin Wallraff (editor)

W
DE
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Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller
der ersten Jahrhunderte
(GCS)
Neue Folge · Band 15
lulius Africanus
Chronographiae
The Extant Fragments
Edited by
Martin Wallraff
with Umberto Roberto
and, for the Oriental Sources, Karl Pinggera
Translated by William Adler
Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York
Herausgegeben im Auftrag der
Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
von Christoph Markschies
Gutachter dieses Bandes:
Jürgen Hammerstaedt und Christoph Riedweg
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PREFACE
Modern research on Christian chronography was inaugurated 400 years ago by
Joseph Justus Scaliger with his magisterial Thesaurus temporum (1606). The
work drew scholars' attention to the author of the first Christian chronicle, Julius
Africanus (3rd cent.), a writer who effectively transformed the heritage of
Hellenistic universal historiography by adapting it to a Christian framework.
Although Africanus' work is lost in its entirety, the preserved fragments—
including those of the Cesti, his second main work—reveal a multifaceted and
broad-based intellectual, writing in an era rich in culture and change.
Given the importance of Africanus, it was obvious that his works be inserted
into the editorial program of the GCS series which was initially planned as "Die
Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte." Although
the idea of limiting the series to the first three centuries was later abandoned,
Africanus was still retained. The editions were entrusted to Karl Konrad Müller
for the Cesti and to Heinrich Geizer for the Chronographiae. Unfortunately, for a
variety of reasons, neither project was ever completed, although Geizers work
was already at an advanced stage when he died 100 years ago (t!906).
After more than a century, the chronicle is about the only significant work
of the original project1 for which still no modern edition exists. Thus, it is with
particular gratitude that the main editor of this volume has taken the oppor-
tunity of publishing the present edition in the distinguished GCS series. This
invitation was first extended by Prof. Albrecht Dihle, in 1999, on behalf of the
commission working under the aegis of the Berlin-Brandenburg academy, an
invitation that was later repeated by Prof. Christoph Markschies. However, this
publication is more than just a sign of intellectual continuity during a century,
marked otherwise by turmoil and ruptures. It also heralds an important inno-
vation. This is in fact the first edition in the series in which the original text is
accompanied by a translation into a modern language and in which the intro-
duction and translation are in English.
Such an undertaking was made possible thanks to a felicitous transatlantic
collaboration between William Adler (North Carolina State University) and a
European equipe. The former, referred to on the front cover as the translator of
the fragments, was also able to offer a great deal of invaluable advice concerning
many other aspects of the edition. The texts were discussed between him and
the European equipe in numerous details during three intensive meetings in
three successive phases of the project in Bonn, Jena and Basel. On the European
side, the project was generously funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
as part of the Gerhard-Hess-Programm. In addition to the editors already
1 See Stefan Rebenich, Theodor Mommsen und Adolf Harnack. Wissenschaft und Politik im
Berlin des ausgehenden 19. Jahrhunderts, Berlin 1997,175f.
VI Preface
mentioned on the front cover, the team consisted of Gregor Staab, Sebastian
Kaas and Christof Kraus, all of whom gave important assistance in different
phases of the project. Indeed, many of the problems in the text could only be
resolved collectively and only after many hours of discussion. As a consequence,
the single contributions are no longer distinguishable. The introduction has
been written by the main editor together with Umberto Roberto (except for 4.4.,
written by William Adler, and 4.6., written by Karl Pinggera). In the notes to the
English translation, the contributions of all four scholars are conflated.
Some of the results of the project were discussed at a conference in Eisenach
in May 2005. The conference proceedings were published in the series "Texte
und Untersuchungen", parts of which can be consulted as a useful supplement to
the introduction of this edition.2
Over the years many colleagues from all over the world have helped in the
production of this work with innumerable suggestions and advice. Only some of
them can be mentioned here. During his work on the edition of the Symeon
Logothete chronicle, Prof. Staffan Wahlgren (University of Lund, Sweden)
shared some of his results with us. In particular, he put a microfilm of cod. Vat.
gr. 163 at our disposal. Unfortunately, his edition appeared3 when our edition
was already near completion. Therefore, it was only possible to refer to his
chapter numbers in the index locorum (p. 325). With the help of this list,
however, it should be easy for readers to locate our texts in Wahlgrens edition
and vice versa. Apart from a few very minor details, the new text neither alters
the quantity of relevant material, nor changes the shape of the texts themselves.
Special thanks are also due to the manuscript department of the University
library in Jena and its director Dr. Joachim Ott, who, for more than five years
allowed us to use the manuscript of Heinrich Geizer for his planned edition in
our office. Close collaboration with the library also led to the creation of a
common project and a small publication on Christian world chronicles.4
The preparation of a bilingual edition of this sort is a complex undertaking,
not only philologically, but also for the many technical difficulties encountered
along the way. It would not, for example, have been possible to provide a came-
ra-ready copy for publication without the use of a specific kind of software. This
edition has been executed using "Classical Text Editor", whose author, Dr. Stefan
Hagel (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna), was on hand to give practical ad-
vice and in some cases even modify the program for our own specific purposes.
Dr. Philip Ditchfield (Rome) assumed the tedious task of correcting and im-
proving the English text. Over the years, many student assistants spent many
hours with various technical tasks. They can be referred to only collectively here.
2 Julius Africanus und die christliche Weltchronistik, ed. Martin Wallraff (TU 157), Berlin 2006.
3 Symeonis Magistri et Logothetae Chronicon, ed. Staffan Wahlgren (CSHB 44,1), Berlin 2006.
4 Welt-Zeit. Christliche Weltchronistik aus zwei Jahrtausenden in Beständen der Thüringer Uni-
versitäts- und Landesbibliothek Jena, ed. Martin Wallraff, Berlin 2005.
The Extant Fragments VII
Last but not least, the two referees for the GCS series ought to be mentioned
with gratitude: Prof. Christoph Riedweg (Rome) and Prof. Jürgen Hammerstaedt
(Cologne). The former saved us from a few fatal errors in the final phase, the
latter also gave precious advice in intensive discussions on the text at the Uni-
versity of Jena in the summer of 2003.
lulius Africanus could never have foreseen, nor could the editors themselves
ever have anticipated, that after nearly 1800 years, exactly 100 fragments of the
Chronographiae have survived. Surely the chronicler, who was fascinated almost
to the point of obsession by the symbolism of numbers, would have liked the
thought.
Basel, December 2006 Martin Wallraff

CONTENTS
Preface V
Introduction XIII
1. lulius Africanus: The Man and his Work XIII
2. The Chronogmphiae: Date and Place of Writing, Literary
Character XVII
3. The Chronological System XXIII
4. The Text and its Transmission XXIX
4.1. Eusebius XXXI
4.2. Chronicles from the Alexandrian Tradition XXXIV
4.2.1. Panodorus and Annianus XXXV
4.2.2. The Excerpta Barbari XXXVI
4.3. Chronicles from the Antiochene Tradition XXXVIII
4.3.1. John Malalas XXXVIII
4.3.2. John of Antioch XXXIX
4.3.3. Anonymous Material in the Excerpta Salmasiana
(Ps. John of Antioch) XL
4.4. Georgius Syncellus XLII
4.5. The Logothete Chronicle and Related Texts XLIV
4.5.1. Symeon Logothete XLIV
4.5.2. Ps. Symeon and Cedrenus XLVI
4.6. Oriental Authors XLVII
4.7. Minor Authors and Texts XLIX
4.7.1. Ps. Eustathius of Antioch XLIX
4.7.2. The Chronicon Paschale XLIX
4.7.3. The Anonymus Matritensis L
5. Earlier Editions L
6. Principles of the Edition LV
7. Bibliography LIX
Conspectus Siglorum LXIX
Abbreviationes LXXIX
1. Opera in apparatu adhibita LXXIX
2. Editores et Emendatores LXXXVII
3. Cetera LXXXVIII
lulius Africanus, Chronographiae 1
Testimonia on the Life of lulius Africanus 2
Tl Africanus under Pertinax and Septimius Severus (AD 193) . . .. 2
T2 Africanus' Mission on behalf of Nicopolis 4
T3 Africanus under Gordian III (AD 238-244) 8
X Contents
Τ4 Africanus under Decius (AD 249-251) 10
T5 Africanus as a Contemporary of Origen 10
Testimonia on General Aspects of the Chronographiae 12
T6 Chronological Overview 12
T7 Jerome 14
T8 Church Historians in Constantinople 16
T9 Isidore of Seville 16
T10 John Malalas 18
Til Photius 18
T12 Suda 20
T13 Michael Syrus 20
Material from Books 1/2: From Adam to Moses 22
F14 The Creation 22
F15 The Fabricated Chronology of the Egyptians and the Chaldeans 24
F16 The Generations from Adam to Abraham 26
T17 Adams Tomb 42
F18 Seth, the Inventor of the Hebrew Alphabet 42
F19 Enosh, called by the name of God 44
F20 Gods Immanence 44
F21 Quotation from the Book of Enoch 44
F22 The Years of Methuselah and the Names of the Sons of Cain . .. 46
F23 The Circumstances of the Flood 48
F24 The Pagan Gods 52
F25 From the Division of the Earth to Abrahams Migration 58
F26 Abraham in Egypt, Lot's Land and the Dead Sea 58
T27 The Toponym Gerar 60
T28 The Chronology of Jacob s Life 62
F29 Jacobs Tent 64
F30 The Terebinth Tree in Shechem 66
F31 Job, the Descendant of Esau 68
T32 The Chronology of Josephs Life 68
F33 The Date of Josephs Death 70
Material from Book 3: From Moses to the First Olympiad 72
F34 Synchronism of the Exodus and Ogygus 72
F35 The Chronology from Adam to Samuel 82
T36 Synchronism of Ehud and the Flood of Deucalion 84
T37 The Family of Abimelech 84
T38 Abdon the Judge 84
T39 The Chronology after Joshua 86
T40 The Chronology of the Judges and the One-year Rule of Shamgar 88
T41 The Chronology from the Exodus to the Building of the Temple 90