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Fortunatianus of Aquileia, a native African according to Jerome’s biographical note (Jer. Vir. ill. 97), most probably was born shortly before 300 CE. At an uncertain date he became bishop of Aquileia; as such he attended the Council of Serdica in 342 or 343 CE (Hil. Poit. CAP B.2.4). Fortunatianus was in contact with some of the most prominent men of his day, especially with Athanasius of Alexandria, whom he accompanied when meeting Emperor Constans (Athan. Apol. Const. 3), and with Pope Liberius, in whose return from exile in 358 CE he played some part (Hil. Poit. CAP B.7.10). Fortunatian…

Chromatius was born around 335 or 340 CE (d. 407 CE), probably at Aquileia, a north Italian city on the Adriatic coast. The town was of strategic importance during the later Roman Empire and an important seat of the western church. Legend has it that the apostle Mark came to the city, although the earliest Christian evidence dates from the 3rd century CE. In the course of the 4th century CE, the city became the chief ecclesiastical center for this region, later known as Venetia and Istria…

Turranius Rufinus Concordiae (not Tyrannius, which is an ironical deformation of Jer. Ruf. 1.1) was born in Iulia Concordia about 345 CE (Jer. Ep.. 5.2; Vir. ill. 53; Ruf. 2.2). He belonged to a noble family (Pall. Hist. Laus. 46). Although Rufinus himself does not provide information about his studies, his own works reflect a fine classical education. He likely received instruction in Rome together with Jerome. Around the year 371 CE, Rufinus was already baptized after having been educated by the then presbyter Chromatius of A…

While lists of the twelve apostles (Mark 3:16–19; Matt 10:2–4; Luke 6:14–16; Acts 1:13; Apostle/Disciple) always mention Bartholomew, there is no mention of him in the canonical texts, thus allowing a number of appropriations of his character. Bartholomew is one of the apostles who has known various receptions, depending on the communities and interests that took possession of him.An Unknown Apostle“Saint Bartholomew was a Galilean, as well as all the other apostles among whom he was placed by Jesus Christ (Christ, Jesus, 01: Survey), and that is all…

Early Christian archaeology in Italy has traditionally been dominated by consideration of church buildings, particularly grand basilicas, or of suburban funeral complexes, such as catacombs at Rome and Naples. When these monuments first attracted scholarly attention in the early modern period, they were often studied to confirm particular dogmatic or confessional positions (Denzey Lewis, 2020; Frend, 1996). At Rome, for example, much early Christian archaeology traditionally took place un…

The Martyrologium Hieronymianum ( Hieronymian Martyrology or Martyrology of Jerome) eventually formed the basis for the Roman martyrology, a text which continues to be used in revised form in modern Roman Catholic liturgy. The Martyrologium Hieronymianum remains the most extensive, ancient extant martyrology, composed in stages from the 5th to the 8th centuries CE. Though Jerome (d. 430 CE) is pseudonymously associated with this text, evidence does not support his authorship.Unlike earlier sanctorals or ferials (“calendars of feast days”) which were hyper-local in…

Gregory Thaumaturgus (213–265/275? CE), originally called Theodore, was born to a distinguished pagan (Pagan/Paganism) family of Neocaesarea, where he studied rhetoric and Roman law. Family circumstances brought him to Caesarea in Palestine (233/234 CE), where he met Origen of Alexandria, who convinced him to study philosophy and theology and to abandon the plan to complete his law studies in Beirut. After five years, during which time he converted to Christianity, Gregory returned to hi…

Candidus was a Christian teacher, active at the beginning of the 3rd century CE. Very little is known about him. The first explicit reference to Candidus is made by Jerome, who in his critique of Rufinus of Aquileia’s apology for Origen (Jer. Ruf. 2.18–19) indicates that there was a theological dispute, evidently at Athens, between Origen and Candidus, whom Jerome regarded as Valentinian. The written dialogue of the dispute, to which Jerome referred in his text, is no longer extant. Rufinus is also aware of the dispute, although he does not mention Candidus by name (Ruf. Adul. Orig. 7). Bo…

Pammachius was born around 340 CE and belonged to the important and rich Roman family of the Furii. He studied with the grammar teacher Donatus and received a solid rhetorical training. Around 370/372 CE, he was a schoolmate and youthful friend of Jerome (Jer. Ep. 48.1). At the time he met Jerome, he was already a Christian, familiar with Scripture and with Christian authors ( Ep. 48.3; 57.13). He married the Christian Paulina, the daughter of Toxotius and Paula, who, after the death of her husband, started to live a semi-monastic life. Paula was also, for …

Upon immediate inspection, the text of Hadrian’s Rescript (122–123 CE) to Gaius Minucius Fundanus, proconsul of Asia, seems plain enough. The most obvious interpretation is to regard it as a reaffirmation of his predecessor’s (Trajan) policy as found in the brief rescript to the governor Pliny (c. 111 CE). Justin Martyr is the first to cite Hadrian’s Rescript in his apology (Just. 1 Apol. 68.6–10) as one of several appendices in support of his overall argument that just emperors do not persecute Christians (Persecution of Christians) based on rumors. By …

Anemius (fl. 370s; d. 390–391 CE) was bishop of Sirmium in Pannonia from about 376 CE (according to others, 378 or 380 CE) until his death around 390 CE. Nothing is known about him prior to his ordination, which Ambrose of Milan personally and skillfully maneuvered, in order to counteract Empress Iustina’s plans to favor the anti-Nicene party and impose another Homoean bishop after the newly deceased Germinius (see Paulinus Vita Ambr. 11). Since then, working side by side with Ambrose, Anemius was deeply committed to imposing the Nicene Creed (Creeds) in Illyric…

Jerome (c. 340–419 CE) was born at Stridon, a Dalmatian fortress somewhere on the border between Dalmatia and Pannonia, destroyed by the Goths circa 379 CE. He was raised in a Christian household consisting of his father (Eusebius), mother (unnamed), grandmother (unnamed), and maternal aunt (Castorina). His father’s Greek name may be evidence of immigration from the Greek-speaking eastern Mediterranean, possibly as part of the wave of immigrants into Dalmatia during the 2nd century CE. J…

The reception of Origen of Alexandria’s work sparked two major controversies in late antiquity, the first of which occurred in the late 4th and early 5th centuries CE and the second of which took place in the middle of the 6th century CE. The latter controversy ended with the anathemata associated with the 5th Ecumenical Council (553 CE; Constantinople, 03: Second Council of [Fifth Ecumenical Council; 553 CE]).These disputes centered around the concepts attributed to Origen which have come to be known as “Origenism.” These concern ἀποκατάστασις/ apokatastasis (the eschatological r…

The term mensa (pl. mensae) refers in its most basic meaning to a table. In some of the earliest Latin texts about the early Christian church, the term mensa is used to designate tables mentioned in the New Testament (Aug. Ep. 10), or, more generally, tables for food (Jer. Ep. 22). When referring to the eucharistic table, some early authors tend to use altaria (neutrum plurale) or, in later texts only altare (singular), which is an adapted form of the classical altaria. The term ara (pl. ar-ae) is avoided due to its connections with pagan tradition, most notably commemorated by Minucius Felix ( O…

What we know of Gaudentius is mainly obtained from two of his homilies. He had been educated in the faith by his predecessor Philastrius (Gaud.  Tract. preface 4; Tract. 16.8), but we do not know if he was already a member of the local church before being elected bishop. Gaudentius obtained the episcopate in a somewhat unusual way. In the discourse that Gaudentius made on the occasion of his consecration, he reports that the people of Brescia had sworn not to elect anyone other than him, and binding to this oath Ambr…

The dialogue De recta in Deum fide or On the Orthodox Faith in God is also known as Dialogue of Adamantius from the name of its protagonist, Adamantius, who bears the Christian byname of Origen of Alexandria. This is a mysterious and severely understudied document, which features Adamantius as a champion of the orthodox faith engaged in a discussion with “heretics” such as Marcionites, “Valentinians,” and Bardaisanites. As demonstrated by I. Ramelli (2012; 2013; forthcoming a), contrary to what has been clai…

Our evidence does not tell us precisely when, or where, the first Christians arrived in Italy. They were, according to scholarly consensus, most probably Jewish travelers and merchants, moving along well-established trade routes between Rome and the East, arriving in Italy around a decade after the crucifixion.With the important exception of Rome, contemporary textual sources are almost entirely silent on the question of Italian Christianity in the first three centuries CE. It is not until the religion’s official toleration in the early …

Dalmatia was a province of the Roman and early Byzantine empires, located on the eastern Adriatic coast and its deeper hinterland. It roughly comprised central and southern parts of modern-day Croatia, the whole of Herzegovina, and Bosnia except for the most northern parts. The territory of modern Albania, western Serbia, and Montenegro initially belonged to Dalmatia, until the Diocletian’s reforms in 297 CE. After that, only the western parts of Montenegro remained within this province. …

1 Apoc. Jas.(First) Apocalypse of James1 Clem.1 Clement1 En.1 Enoch (Ethiopic Apocalypse)1 Macc1 Maccabees1–2 Esd1–2 Esdras1-2 Kgdms1-2 Kingdoms (LXX)2 Apoc. Jas.(Second) Apocalypse of James2 Bar.2 Baruch (Syriac Apocalypse)2 Clem.2 Clement2 En.2 Enoch (Slavonic Apocalypse)2 Macc2 Maccabees3 Bar.3 Baruch (Greek Apocalypse)3 Cor.3 Corinthians3 En.3 Enoch (Hebrew Apocalypse)3 John3 John3 Macc3 Maccabees3–4 Kgdms 3–4 Kingdoms (LXX)4 Ezra4 Ezra (also Apocalypse of Ezra)4 Macc4 MaccabeesAcCrActa CrispinaeAcGaActa GalloniiAct. Just.Acta JustiniActs Andr.Acts of And…

Patron, teacher, gn ō stikos, ascetic, aristocrat, pilgrim, scholar, mother, wife, loyal friend, estate manager, humble servant – Melania the Elder (c. 341–c. 410 CE) embodied all of these overlapping and at times contradictory roles during her extraordinary life. She was born in Spain in 340 or 341 CE into the gens Antonia, a wealthy, politically connected, aristocratic family. Her grandfather, Antonius Marcellinus, was consul in 341 CE, and her husband, whom most scholars identify as Valerius Maximus, was urban prefect in Rome in 361–362 CE…