Augustine of Hippo

354 CE–430 CE · Thagaste

Augustine of Hippo (354–430) was the most influential theologian of the Western church, born in Roman North Africa to a pagan father and Christian mother (Monica). Educated in rhetoric at Carthage, he passed through Manichaeism before his celebrated conversion in Milan under Bishop Ambrose, recounted in his Confessions. Returning to Africa, he founded a monastic community and was ordained, then consecrated bishop of Hippo Regius, where he wrote the City of God and hundreds of letters and sermons. He died on 28 August 430 during the Vandal siege of Hippo, having shaped Catholic doctrine on grace, original sin, and the Trinity for all subsequent centuries.

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Did you know?

Augustine died with an enemy army at the gates
Augustine of Hippo spent his final months in his North African city of Hippo Regius as the Vandals besieged it; he died there in August 430, about three months into the siege. His great work The City of God had been begun years earlier, in response to the sack of Rome in 410.
How we know
Augustine 354–430, died 28 August 430 during the Vandal siege of Hippo Regius; The City of God begun c. 413 after the sack of Rome (410).
The book often called the West's first autobiography
Around 397–400 CE, Augustine of Hippo wrote the Confessions, an intimate first-person account of his own life, doubts, and change of heart. It is frequently described as the first autobiography in the Western literary tradition, and has been read continuously for over 1,600 years.
How we know
Augustine's Confessions composed c. 397–400 CE — more than 1,600 years ago.

Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→Trace on the map →

Stop 1 of 6354–370Birthplace, Childhood

ThagasteNorth Africa

What they did here

Augustine was born here on 13 November 354 to Patricius and Monica, and received his early schooling before departing for Madauros and then Carthage; he later returned (388–391) to found a lay monastic community before moving to Hippo.

Thagaste in this era

Under Roman imperial rule, Thagaste gained enduring renown as the birthplace of Augustine (354 CE), who was born, schooled, and briefly taught here before his conversion and episcopal career reshaped Latin Christian theology for centuries.

About Thagaste

Thagaste was a small Roman municipality in Numidia (present-day Souk Ahras, Algeria), chiefly significant as the birthplace and early home of Augustine of Hippo.

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In the same place & time

Sages whose lives overlapped with Augustine of Hippo’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.

Across the traditions

In the same tradition

Pope St. Damasus I, Pope St. Siricius, Ambrose of Milan, Jerome, Pelagius

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Augustine of Hippo’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Graeco-Roman world

Jewish world

Buddhist world

Kumārajīva· 344 CE–413 CE

Works(49)

A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin

Hippo Regius · 430

Augustine died with an enemy army at the gates

The book often called the West's first autobiography