Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John
303
V
Victorinus
Victorinus
?–303 CE · Poetovio
Victorinus of Pettau (died c. 303/304) was bishop of Poetovio in Roman Pannonia (modern Ptuj, Slovenia) and the earliest known Latin biblical commentator, producing exegetical works on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, Matthew, Revelation, and a treatise against heresies, of which only the Commentary on Revelation and the short tract De fabrica mundi survive. Jerome (De Viris Illustribus 74) noted that Victorinus was not equally familiar with Latin and Greek, so that although his works were noble in thought they were inferior in Latin style — a remark that suggests a Greek-speaking formation, though no specific location for that education is recorded in any source. He was martyred under Diocletian's persecution, likely in 303 or 304.
Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→Trace on the map →
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Stop 1 of 1270–304Bishop, Martyr
PoetovioSlovenia
What they did here
Victorinus served as bishop of Poetovio (Roman Pannonia) throughout his known ministry and was martyred here under Diocletian c. 303/304; all attested works were composed at this see.
About Poetovio
Poetovio (modern Ptuj, Slovenia), a Roman town in Pannonia on the Drava. Victorinus of Poetovio, the earliest known Latin biblical commentator, was its bishop and a martyr (c. 304).
The world in their lifetime
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Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Victorinus’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Works(2)
On the Creation of the World
303