Late Antique Historiography

Ecclesiastical history

Title(s):
  • Ecclesiastical history
  • Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ ἱστορία
    (Ekklēsiastikē historia, Ecclesiastical history)
Author:
Period covered:
312-440
Language:
Greek
State of Preservation:
Fragmentary
Genre:
  • Ecclesiastical history
Remarks:
The Ecclesiastical history of Philostorgius is probably the first non-Nicene church history written (but see Sabinus) and certainly the first of which we can grasp the content. It has been suggested that the Nicene historians Socrates, Sozomen and Theodoret used him, but there is little proof for that.
Edition - Translation:
  • J. Bidez, F. Winkelmann (1981) Philostorgius: Kirchengeschichte (Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten Jahrhunderte, 21). Third edition. Berlin.
  • P. Amidon (2007) Philostorgius: Church history (Writings from the Greco-Roman world, 23). Atlanta.
  • B. Bleckmann, E. des Places, D. Meyer, J.-M. Prieur (2013) Philostorge: Histoire ecclésiastique (Sources chrétiennes, 564). Paris.
  • B. Bleckmann, M. Stein (2015) Philostorgios: Kirchengeschichte (Kleine und fragmentarische Historiker der Spätantike, E7). Paderborn.
Fragments:
Users:
Sources:
Bibliography:
  • (1979) Clavis patrum Graecorum (CPG) 6032
  • E.I. Argov (2001) 'Giving the heretic a voice: Philostorgius of Borissus and Greek ecclesiastical historiography'. Athenaeum 89: 497-524.
  • H. Leppin (2001) 'Heretical historiography: Philostorgius'. Studia Patristica 34: 111-124.
  • D. Meyer (2011) (ed.) Philostorge et l'historiographie de l'Antiquité tardive. Stuttgart.
  • G. Moravcsik (1958) Byzantinoturcica: Die byzantinischen Quellen der Geschichte der Türkvölker. Berlin: 473-474.