Narrative of Events Happening in Persia on the Birth of Christ.
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Julius Africanus
Julius Africanus
160 CE–240 CE · Aelia Capitolina
Sextus Julius Africanus (c. 160–240) was a Christian scholar, traveler, and historian who pioneered Christian chronography with his five-volume Chronographiai, synchronizing biblical events with Greco-Roman history. A self-identified native of Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem), he settled at Emmaus/Nicopolis in Palestine and served as its civic representative. He traveled widely — accompanying Severus's Osrhoene campaign, studying in Alexandria under Heraclas, and leading an embassy to Rome on behalf of Emmaus, after which the city was elevated to the status of Nicopolis. He was later charged by Emperor Severus Alexander with organizing the public library at the Pantheon, and he dedicated his encyclopedic Kestoi to that emperor.
Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→Trace on the map →
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Stop 1 of 5160–190Birthplace, Early Life
Aelia CapitolinaIsrael
What they did here
Africanus identifies himself as a native of Aelia Capitolina (the post-135 CE name for Jerusalem), a claim corroborated by a papyrus fragment naming it as his former homeland.
About Aelia Capitolina
Aelia Capitolina, the Roman colony built over Jerusalem after 135, on the site of modern Jerusalem, Israel. The Christian chronographer Julius Africanus was active in the region; the name held until Constantine restored Christian Jerusalem.
In the same place & time
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Sages whose lives overlapped with Julius Africanus’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
In the same tradition
Hippolytus, Origen, Sabellius, Novatian, St., Pope St. Pontian, Pope St. Urban I, Pope St. Callixtus I, Minucius Felix
The world in their lifetime
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Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Julius Africanus’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Works(4)
The Extant Fragments of the Five Books of the Chronography of Julius Africanus.
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The Passion of St. Symphorosa and Her Seven Sons.
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The Epistle to Aristides.
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