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''Chronicon Paschale'' (the ''Paschal'' or ''Easter Chronicle''), also called ''Chronicum Alexandrinum'', ''Constantinopolitanum'' or ''Fasti Siculi'', is the conventional name of a 7th-century Greek Christian
chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and ...
of the world. Its name comes from its system of chronology based on the
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...
paschal cycle; its Greek author named it ''Epitome of the ages from Adam the first man to the 20th year of the reign of the most August
Heraclius Heraclius ( grc-gre, Ἡράκλειος, Hērákleios; c. 575 – 11 February 641), was Eastern Roman emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, led a revol ...
''.


Structure

The 'Chronicon Paschale' follows earlier chronicles. For the years 600 to 627 the author writes as a contemporary historian—that is, through the last years of emperor Maurice, the reign of
Phocas Phocas ( la, Focas; grc-gre, Φωκάς, Phōkás; 5475 October 610) was Eastern Roman emperor from 602 to 610. Initially, a middle-ranking officer in the Eastern Roman army, Phocas rose to prominence as a spokesman for dissatisfied soldie ...
, and the first seventeen years of the reign of Heraclius. Like many chroniclers, the author of this popular account relates anecdotes, physical descriptions of the chief personages (which at times are careful portraits), extraordinary events such as earthquakes and the appearance of comets, and links Church history with a supposed Biblical chronology.
Sempronius Asellio Sempronius Asellio (flourished BC c. 91BC) was an early Roman historian and one of the first writers of historiographic work in Latin. He was a military tribune of P. Scipio Aemilianus Africanus at the siege of Numantia in Hispania in 134BC. Later ...
points out the difference in the public appeal and style of composition which distinguished the chroniclers (''Annales'') from the historians (''Historia'') of the
Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantino ...
. The 'Chronicon Paschale' is a huge compilation, attempting a chronological list of events from the creation of
Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
. The principal manuscript, the 10th-century ''Codex Vaticanus graecus'' 1941, is damaged at the beginning and end and stops short at 627. The Chronicle proper is preceded by an introduction containing reflections on Christian chronology and on the calculation of the Paschal (Easter) cycle. The so-called 'Byzantine' or 'Roman' era (which continued in use in
Greek Orthodox Christianity The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also call ...
until the end of Turkish rule as the 'Julian calendar') was adopted in the 'Chronicon' as the foundation of chronology; accordingly the date of the creation is given as 21 March 5507 BC.


Authorship

The author identifies himself as a contemporary of the Emperor
Heraclius Heraclius ( grc-gre, Ἡράκλειος, Hērákleios; c. 575 – 11 February 641), was Eastern Roman emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, led a revol ...
(610–641), and was possibly a cleric attached to the suite of the
Ecumenical Patriarch The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of th ...
Sergius. The work was probably written during the last ten years of the reign of Heraclius. The chief authorities used were:
Sextus Julius Africanus Sextus Julius Africanus (c. 160 – c. 240; Greek: Σέξτος Ἰούλιος ὁ Ἀφρικανός or ὁ Λίβυς) was a Christian traveler and historian of the late second and early third centuries. He is important chiefly because o ...
; the '' Fasti consulares''; the ''Chronicle and Church History'' of
Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Chris ...
;
John Malalas John Malalas ( el, , ''Iōánnēs Malálas'';  – 578) was a Byzantine chronicler from Antioch (now Antakya, Turkey). Life Malalas was of Syrian descent, and he was a native speaker of Syriac who learned how to write in Greek later ...
; the '' Acta Martyrum''; the treatise of Epiphanius, bishop of Constantia (the old Salamis) in Cyprus (fl. 4th century), on ''Weights and Measures''.


Editions

* Matthaeus Raderus (Munich, 1615): ''Chronicon Alexandrinum idemque astronomicum et ecclesiasticum'' (
editio princeps In classical scholarship, the ''editio princeps'' (plural: ''editiones principes'') of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts, which could be circulated only after being copied by hand. For ...
, Greek text with Latin translation) * L. Dindorf (1832) in '' Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae'', with
du Cange Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange (; December 18, 1610 in Amiens – October 23, 1688 in Paris, aged 77), also known simply as Charles Dufresne, was a distinguished French philologist and historian of the Middle Ages and Byzantium. Life Educat ...
's preface and commentary * J. P. Migne, ''Patrologia graeca'', vol. 92.


Bibliography

* See also C. Wachsmuth, ''Einleitung in das Studien der alten Geschichte'' (1895) * H. Gelzer, ''Sextus Julius Africanus und die byzantinische Chronographie'', ii. I (1885) * J. van der Hagen, ''Observationes in Heraclii imperatoris methodum paschalem'' (1736, but still considered indispensable) * E. Schwarz in '' Pauly–Wissowa'', ''Realencyclopädie'', iii., Pt. 2 (1899) *
C. Krumbacher Karl Krumbacher (23 September 1856 – 12 December 1909) was a German scholar who was an expert on Byzantine Greek language, literature, history and culture. He was one of the principal founders of Byzantine Studies as an independent academic ...
, ''Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur'' (1897).


Partial English translation

*''Chronicon Paschale 284–628 AD'', translated by Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1989)


References


Sources

* *


External links


The 1615 editio princeps by Raderus at Google Books
*1832 Dindorf edition at Google Books
Vol.1Vol. 2
{{Authority control Byzantine chronicles 7th-century history books Byzantine literature