Time Immemorial: Archaic History and Its Sources in Christian Chronography from Julius Africanus to George SyncellusDumbarton Oaks
William Adler
ISBN: 0884021769
price: $19.50
At the beginning of the ninth century, George Syncellus, a
Byzantine monk and chronographer, composed a chronicle of
universal history commencing with the first day of creation.
Syncellus cites abundantly from a great variety of ancient
sources, especially in his treatment of antediluvian history. His
sources include excerpts from the histories and chronicles of
Egypt and the Ancient Near East, Hermetic literature, as well as
Jewish and Christian pseudepigrapha. Supplementing Syncellus with
fragments from these same sources in other Christian chronicles,
this work examines how Christian chronographers integrated
non-biblical sources into their treatment of archaic chronology
and traces the transmission and interpretation of these sources
by four Christian chronographers whom Syncellus expressly
identifies as his chief authorities: Julius Africanus, Eusebius
of Caesarea, and two fifth-century Alexandrian monks, Pandorus
and Annianus.
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