Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity Online

Gaius was a Christian writer who lived in Rome at the end of the 2nd century CE. The only details about his life come from Eusebius of Caesarea, who betrays his own great esteem for Gaius. At first he characterizes him as ἐκκλησιαστικὸς ἀνήρ (Eus. Hist. eccl. 2.25.6), an expression that – in Eusebius’ terminology – is used to indicate one’s orthodoxy above all; later he calls him λογιώτατος ( Hist. eccl. 6.203, “very erudite”). Eusebius places him at Rome during Zephyrinus’ pontificate (199–217 CE) and says that Gaius wrote a Dialogue against Proclus, who was the head of the Phrygian…

Galatia is a highland area comprising the region crossed by the upper courses of the rivers Halys and Sangarius and extending from Paphlagonia to the Lake Tuz in the northern plateau of Central Anatolia, in current Turkey. In Hellenistic era, it was bounded on the north by the kingdom of Pontus, on the east by Cappadocia, Bithynia on the west, and by the kingdom of Pergamum on the south. The Galatian highlands are a monotonous country of bare mountains with small plains between them. Its …

Claudius Galen (129–199/216 CE) was an exceptionally prolific Greek polymath, philosopher and physician, an expert in physiology, anatomy, and neurology, and the physician of the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Septimius Severus (Emperor/Imperial Cult). He also was well-versed in Greek literature (Lacy, 1966; Rosen, 2013), and from the philosophical viewpoint concentrated on the soul and the soul-body relation issue (Hankinson, 1991; Tieleman, 1996; Dillon, 2022). He reports Marcus’ laudatory words about him as both a physician and a philosopher in Gal. Praen. 14.658 (ed. Küh…

Emperor Galerius Maximianus (c. 260‒311 CE; r. 293‒311 CE), born in the northern part of Moesia Superior that was later renamed Dacia Ripensis (Aur. Vict. Lib. Caes. 40.16), is portrayed by the Christian polemicist Lactantius in his De mortibus persecutorum as the primary instigator of the great persecution of Christians unleashed by the emperor Diocletian in 303 CE. Galerius’ parents are described as peasants and his original occupation that of a shepherd (Jer. Chron. 225), origins that are mocked in the nickname Armentarius (“herdsman”) used by the historian Aurelius Victor ( Lib. …

The territory of Gallaecia was established as a Roman province during the late 3rd century CE and was located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. It broadly corresponded with the current autonomous region of Galicia, and parts of Asturias, Leon, and Zamora, as well as a small part of northern Portugal. Its main river is the Miño, which crosses the region from north to south and flows into the Atlantic. On its western shore we find Cape Finisterre ( finis terrae), which the Romans considered the westernmost point of the known world.The Galaici were the indigenous people against w…

The people who lived in the region of northern Palestine, the Galil in Semitic languages, played a significant role in the 1st century CE. During this time, two crucial processes took place within the mainly rural Jewish society of the hilly landscape of northern Palestine: the uprising against Rome that ended in the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and the birth of the messianic movement that turned into a world religion. This entry will focus on the dynamics of the human geography of this region in the first six centuries CE, and its implications for the landscape.Geographical and …

The sole surviving child of Theodosius I (379–395 CE) and his second wife, Flavia Galla, Galla Placidia was, through her maternal line, a member of the Valentinian dynasty, since Flavia Galla was the daughter of Valentinian I (364–375 CE), niece of Valens (364–378 CE), sister of Valentinian II (375–392 CE), and half-sister of Gratian (367–383 CE), through whose wife Placidia was distantly connected with the Constantinian dynasty. This gave her a more impressive lineage than her two half…

The term “Gallican liturgy” in this lemma refers to the  liturgical practices current in early medieval Gaul, also denoted as “the liturgy of Gaul” (Vogel, 1981, 275) or “Old-Gallican liturgy” (Vismans, 1958–1962, vol. II, 778, 2084–2085), the individual character of which gradually waned under the influence of the Carolingian liturgical reforms during the late 8th and the 9th century CE. The individuality of the Gallican liturgy encompasses singular features in the order of Mass, the s…

Gallienus (Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus; r. 253–268 CE) was born about 218 CE (Wickert, 1926, 84, 350–352). He was the son of Valerian I and Mariniana and was confirmed by the Roman Senate as Augustus and co-emperor when Valerian was approved in 253 CE. Valerian placed Gallienus in charge of the western provinces when he left Rome to command the armies in the eastern provinces and defend against incursions of the Persians, Goths, and other tribes. Gallienus married Cornelia Salonina, and the couple apparently had three sons, Valerian II, Saloninus, and Marinianus.The biography …

Ancient Gangra (today’s Çankırı in Turkey) was the metropolitan see of the province of Paphlagonia in Asia Minor of the eastern Roman Empire. It is most notable for the synod of 13 bishops which convened here in the middle of the 4th century CE and the proclamation of 20 regulations ( horoi: later designated as canons).The primary concern of the council (Councils/Synods) was the new movement of Eustathius and his followers. In all likelihood, the Eustathius referred to here was a monk who was appointed bishop of Sebaste in 356 CE (Socr. Hist. eccl. 2.43; Soz. Hist. eccl. 3.14.31) and in th…

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 geographical peculiarities of the land mass of Gaul have influenced its history, and the history of its church, in profound ways. On the other hand, it was history that made it into a coherent entity in the first place ( CAH, vol. X, 464-67; Delaplace & France, 2011, Introduction). Prior to the Roman conquest by Julius Caesar during the years between 59 BCE and 50 BCE, the territory was made up of a variety of tribes and cultures, predominantly Celtic but without a sense of unity. It was Roman imperialism that created Gaul, if…

Gehenna is a term for the place of punishment of the wicked in Judaism and early Christianity. It takes its name from a valley near Jerusalem, which later, due to its evil reputation as the place of idolatrous practices, was transformed into the place of final destiny and punishment of the wicked, that is, to hell (Hades).OriginsGreek γέεννα corresponds to Hebrew גֵּי־הִנֹּם  / gê-hinnom (the valley of Hinnom; Josh 15:8), the short form of גֵּי(א) בֶן־הִנֹּם/ gê[ ʾ]  ben-hinnom (the valley of the son of Hinnom; Josh 18:16; Jer 7:31), or גֵּי בְנֵי־הִנֹּם/ gê bǝnê-hinnom (the valley of t…

Gelasius I was bishop of Rome (492–496 CE), the successor (and former secretary, or dictator; against this, see Nautin, 1984, 283) of bishop Felix III (Mar 1, 492 CE). According to some sources, he was of African origin, and his father’s name was Valerius ( LP, vol. I, 255), although Gelasius declares himself a Roman by birth (Gelas. Ep. 12.1). During his papacy the Roman see for the most part lacked effective influence outside of its own patriarchal jurisdiction. Not only did Frankish bishops resist papal authority, but Spain, North Africa, and Ita…

Paul (Paul [Apostle]) in Gal 3:28 declared that there is no gender difference “in Christ,” a statement that was subject to a variety of interpretations in early Christianity and oftentimes was forgotten. Besides the New Testament and the Genesis accounts of the creation of humanity, Philo of Alexandria, a major figure in Hellenistic Judaism, exerted an enormous influence on early Christian thinkers such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, and others, also with respect to anthropology and the exegesis of the Genesis anthropogony.Philo read Scripture, including th…

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