Hydatius

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Hydatius, also spelled Idacius (c. 400 – c. 469) was a late Western Roman writer and clergyman. The

Vila Real), he was the author of a chronicle of his own times that provides us with our best evidence for the history of Hispania
in the 5th century.

Biography

Hydatius was born around the year 400 in the environs of Civitas Lemica, a

Flavius Aëtius
, the most important representative of the imperial government in the West.

Along with this concern, Hydatius devoted himself to rooting out

emperor Magnus Maximus
around 385. We know very little else about Hydatius's life, though we know he was kidnapped and imprisoned for a time in 460 by local enemies, which suggests he played an important role in the internal politics of Roman Gallaecia.

Hydatius probably died in 468 or shortly after, since at that point his chronicle breaks off abruptly.

Chronicle

Hydatius's main claim to historical importance is the chronicle he wrote towards the end of his life. The chronicle was a very popular historical genre in

Eusebius of Caesarea. Jerome brought the Greek chronicle of Eusebius of Caesarea up to date as far as the year 378, after translating it into Latin
. Jerome's translation and continuation proved very popular, and others decided to continue Jerome in the same way.

Hydatius was one such continuator. His continuation begins with a preface explaining his debt to Jerome, and then picks up in the year 379. Hydatius had access to a number of chronographic and historical sources and used four parallel chronological systems. Because of this, and particularly towards the end of the chronicle, it can be difficult to translate his chronology into any modern calendar. At the beginning, Hydatius's continuation offers relatively little information for each year. He narrates the events from 427 onward as a contemporary witness and the text becomes increasingly full as the years progress until it resembles an organic literary work more than a typical chronicle.

Hydatius's main concern throughout is to show the dissolution of civil society in the western Roman empire and in Hispania in particular, and he paints a very dark picture of fifth-century life. His deep

Christ to Thomas, which was interpreted to show that the world would end in May 482. Hydatius may thus have believed that he was chronicling the world's last days, and on occasion he deliberately distorted his account to show events in a gloomier light. This is especially true of the narrative climax of his account, the sack in 456 of the Suevi capital at Braga by the Visigothic king Theodoric II, acting in the service of the Roman emperor Avitus
. Regardless of his sometimes very sophisticated literary devices, Hydatius's chronicle is an essential source of information for reconstructing the course of fifth-century events. Moreover, it is our only source for the history of Hispania in the period up to 468, at which point the narrative breaks off.

It is doubtful whether Hydatius is also the author of the Fasti consulares for the years 245–468, appended to the Chronicle in the only almost complete manuscript in our possession. The Chronicle is printed in Migne, P.L. vol. 51, 873–890, and vol. 74, 701–750; the Fasti Consulares are found in P.L., vol. 51, 891–914.

References

  1. ^ Brown, Peter. The Rise of Western Christendom. (Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2003) p. 99

Bibliography

  • Burgess, R.W., ed. and trans. The Chronicle of Hydatius and the Consularia Constantinopolitana. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993. (This is now the standard reference work, with Latin and English translation on facing pages. The chapter numbering differs from Mommsen's.).
  • Mommsen, Theodor, ed. Chronica minora saec. IV.V.VI.VII., volumen II. (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, vol. 11.) Berlin: Weidmann, 1894. (This was until recently the standard edition, and its chapter numbering is still frequently cited.)

Sources

  • Arce, Javier. "El catastrofismo de Hydacio y los camellos de la Gallaecia." In: Los últimos romanos en Lusitania. (Cuaderno Emeritenses 10.) Edited by A. Velázquez, E. Cerrillo and P. Mateos. Mérida: Museo Nacional de Arte Romano, 1995, pp. 219–229. (An example of Hydatius's literary sophistication.)
  • Börm, Henning. "Hydatius von Aquae Flaviae und die Einheit des Römischen Reiches im fünften Jahrhundert." In: Griechische Profanhistoriker des fünften nachchristlichen Jahrhunderts. Edited by B. Bleckmann and T. Stickler. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2014, pp. 195–214. (Börm argues that Hydatius saw the Roman Empire as an undivided whole even after 395.)
  • Gillett, Andrew. Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West, 411-533. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003 (esp. ch. 2).
  • Kulikowski, Michael. Late Roman Spain and Its Cities. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.
  • Muhlberger, Steven. The Fifth-Century Chroniclers: Prosper, Hydatius, and the Gallic Chronicler of 452. Leeds: Francis Cairns, 1990.
  • Public Domain Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Hydatius of Lemica". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  • A. Palo, La Cronaca dei Due Imperi (vol. II). Il Chronicon di Idazio Vescovo (A.D. 379-468 & Fasti Hydatiani). Introduzione, traduzione e note a cura di A. Palo, Edizioni Il Saggio - Centro Culturale Studi Storici, Eboli-Castellabate, 2022

External links

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