Chronicon Paschale
Chronicon Paschale (the Paschal or Easter Chronicle),
Structure
The Chronicon Paschale follows earlier chronicles. For the years 600 to 627 the author writes as a contemporary historian—that is, through the last years of emperor Maurice, the reign of Phocas, and the first seventeen years of the reign of Heraclius.
Like many chroniclers, the author of this popular account relates anecdotes, physical descriptions of the chief personages (which at times are careful portraits), extraordinary events such as earthquakes and the appearance of comets, and links Church history with a supposed Biblical chronology. Sempronius Asellio points out the difference in the public appeal and style of composition which distinguished the chroniclers (Annales) from the historians (Historia) of the Eastern Roman Empire.
The Chronicon Paschale is a huge compilation, attempting a chronological list of events from the creation of Adam. The principal manuscript, the 10th-century Codex Vaticanus graecus 1941, is damaged at the beginning and end and stops short at 627. The Chronicle proper is preceded by an introduction containing reflections on Christian chronology and on the calculation of the Paschal (Easter) cycle. The so-called
Authorship
The author identifies himself as a contemporary of the Emperor Heraclius (610–641), and was possibly a cleric attached to the suite of the Ecumenical Patriarch Sergius. The work was probably written during the last ten years of the reign of Heraclius.
The chief authorities used were:
Editions
- Matthaeus Raderus (Munich, 1615): Chronicon Alexandrinum idemque astronomicum et ecclesiasticum (editio princeps, Greek text with Latin translation)
- L. Dindorf (1832) in Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae, with du Cange's preface and commentary
- J. P. Migne, Patrologia graeca, vol. 92.
Partial English translation
- Chronicon Paschale 284–628 AD, translated by ISBN 0-85323-096-X
References
- ISBN 9781444338386
- ^ a b Chisholm 1911.
Sources
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Paschal Chronicle". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 882.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Chronicon Paschale". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Further reading
- See also C. Wachsmuth, Einleitung in das Studien der alten Geschichte (1895)
- H. Gelzer, Sextus Julius Africanus und die byzantinische Chronographie, ii. I (1885)
- J. van der Hagen, Observationes in Heraclii imperatoris methodum paschalem (1736, but still considered indispensable)
- Pauly–Wissowa, Realencyclopädie, iii., Pt. 2 (1899)
- C. Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur (1897).[1]
External links
- The 1615 editio princeps by Raderus at Google Books
- Chronicon Paschale (Olympiads 112–187)
- 1832 Dindorf edition at Google Books: Vol.1; Vol. 2.
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