Jerome Translates and Supplements the Chronicon of Eusebius

Circa 380 CE

Jerome, Chronicon. Folio 37r from Bodleian Library MS. Auct. T.2.26, Italy middle of the 5th century.

In Constantinople about 380 CE Roman Christian priest, confessor, theologian and historian Jerome (Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus) composed The Chronicon or Temporum liber, The Book of Times. This was a translation into Latin of the chronological tables which compose the second part of the Chronicon of Eusebius, with a supplement covering the period from 325 to 379.

This entry I originally wrote in 2012. On June 25, 2021 I learned from Roger Pearse's blog (Roger-Pearse.com) that a mid-5th century copy of Jerome's Chronicon, written in Late Antiquity during the last days of the Imperium Romanum, within one hundred years of Jerome's death, is preserved as Bodleian Library MS. Auct.T-2.26 and is fully digitized and available online through the Digital Bodleian. This must certainly be one of the very earliest surviving copies of this text. Pearse wrote, "I can say, from my own memory, just how amazing this is. When I remember, less than twenty years ago, that access to this volume was basically impossible. Nobody ever saw it. But now… anybody can consult it, anywhere in the world."

The codex contains the text of Jerome's work followed by the Chronicle of Marcellinus. The Digital Bodleian describes the codex as follows:

"Composite manuscript: Part 1: ff. 1-32, Southern France, first half of the 15th century. Part 2: ff. 33-145, Italy, middle of the 5th century. Part 3: ff. 146-78, Italy, 6th century.

Contents: Eusebius (tr. Jerome), Chronici Canones (ff. 1-145). Marcellinus, Chronicle (ff. 146-178)."

Copied a century after the text of Jerome, the text of Marcellinus, who died c. 534, is a chonicle of the Eastern Roman Empire covering the period from 379 to 534 with a continuation to 566. Therefore the Bodleian codex remains one of the earliest surviving copies of that text.

"In spite of numerous errors taken over from Eusebius, and some of his own, Jerome produced a valuable work of universal history, if only for the impulse which it gave to such later chroniclers as Prosper, Cassiodorus, and Victor of Tunnuna to continue his annals. Following the Chronicon of Eusebius (early 4th century), Jerome dated Creation to 5199 BC.

"The Chronicle contains a chronology of the events of Greek mythology, based on the work of Hellenistic scholars such as Apollodorus, Diodorus Siculus, and Eusebius. While the earlier parts are clearly unhistorical, there may be scattered remnants of historical events of late Mycenean Greece from entries of the 12th century BC. (See the historicity of the Iliad. Notably, Jerome's date for the capture of Troy of 1183 BC corresponds remarkably well with the destruction layer of Troy VIIa, the main candidate for the historical inspiration of legendary Troy, dated to c. 1190 BC.) Homer himself is dated to 940 BC, while modern scholarship usually places him after 800 BC" (Wikipedia article on Chronicon (Jerome), accessed 12-15-2012).

Timeline Themes

Indexing & Searching Information

Timelines / Chronicles / Calendars / Timekeeping

Survival of Information / Philology

Jerome Translates and Supplements the Chronicon of Eusebius

Timeline Themes

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