The Seven Books of Arnobius Against the Heathen. (Adversus Gentes.)
330
A
Arnobius
Arnobius
?–330 CE · Sicca Veneria
Arnobius of Sicca (died c. 330 CE) was a teacher of rhetoric at Sicca Veneria in Roman North Africa who converted to Christianity, reportedly late in life, during or after the Diocletianic persecution. Jerome's Chronicle adds that his conversion was prompted by a premonitory dream, though Arnobius himself writes dismissively of dreams in Adversus Nationes, leaving that detail uncertain. To satisfy his bishop's doubts about his sincerity, he composed the apologetic work "Adversus Nationes" (Against the Heathen), a defense of Christianity against pagan criticism and a critique of traditional Roman religion. He is the teacher of Lactantius. Beyond his tenure at Sicca Veneria, no ancient source records his birthplace, any travel, or the location of his death.
Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→Trace on the map →
✦
Stop 1 of 1290–330Rhetor, Apologist, Convert
Sicca VeneriaTunisia
What they did here
Jerome (De Viris Illustribus 79) records Arnobius as a teacher of rhetoric here who converted to Christianity and wrote Adversus Nationes at this location — the only place attested in any ancient source.
About Sicca Veneria
Sicca Veneria (modern El Kef, northwestern Tunisia), a town of Roman Africa Proconsularis. The Christian apologist Arnobius of Sicca taught rhetoric there in the early 4th century.
The world in their lifetime
✦
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Arnobius’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.