Late Antique Historiography

History of Constantine the Great

Title(s):
  • History of Constantine the Great
  • Ἡ κατὰ τὸν μέγαν Κωνσταντῖνον ἱστορία
    (Hē kata ton megan Kōnstantinon historia, The history of Constantine the Great)
Author:
Period covered:
293-324 (first tetrarchy-foundation of Constantinople)
Language:
Greek
State of Preservation:
Fragmentary
Genre:
  • Secular history (classicizing history)
  • Secular history (general)
Remarks:
Praxagoras wrote his work when he was 21/22 years old, probably in order to obtain the favour of the emperor. The last sentence of Photius' Epitome sets a terminus post quem: the foundation of Constantinople (324). Since Photius does not mention Constantine's death, it is likely that this event was not mentioned either by Praxagoras, who hence wrote before 337. The work was written in Ionic dialect (᾽Ιωνικῆι διαλέκτωι). The second book of the history is mentioned by a scholion on Photius, Bibliotheca 63 (Janiszewski 2006: 353): the testimony is not reported by the other editors.
Edition - Translation:
Fragments:
  • Scholion on Photius, Bibliotheca 63 [cited in Bleckmann 1999: 210]
Users:
Sources:
Bibliography:
  • B. Bleckmann (1999) 'Zwischen Panegyrik und Geschichtsschreibung: Praxagoras und seine Vorgänger'. In: Geschichtsschreibung und politischer Wandel im 3. Jh. n. Chr., Kolloquium zu Ehren von Karl-Ernst Petzold (Juni 1998) anlässlich seines 80. Geburstags, ed. M. Zimmermann. Stuttgart: 203-228.
  • W. Ensslin (1954) 'Praxagoras (3)'. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft 22.2: 1743.
  • P. Janiszewski (2006) The missing link: Greek pagan historiography in the second half of the third century and in the fourth century A.D. Warsaw.
  • P.-L. Malosse (2000) 'Libanios, ses "témoins oculaires", Eusèbe et Praxagoras: Le travail préparatoire du sophiste et la question des sources dans l'Éloge de Constance et de Constant'. Revue des études grecques 113: 172-187.
  • J. Schamp (1987) Photios historien des lettres: La 'Bibliothèque' et ses notices biographiques. Paris.
  • R.B.E. Smith (2007) 'A lost historian of Alexander "Ddscended from Alexander", and read by Julian? Praxagoras of Athens reviewed in the light of Attic epigraphy'. Historia 56.3: 356-380.
  • W.T. Treadgold (1980) The nature of the Bibliotheca of Photius (Dumbarton Oaks studies, 18). Washington DC.
  • U. Wilamowitz-Moellendorf, von (1925) 'Leserfrüchte'. Hermes 60: 280-316.