The Church History of Eusebius
Caesarea · 339
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Eusebius of Caesarea
Eusebius of Caesarea
260 CE–339 CE · Caesarea Maritima
Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260–339 CE), bishop of Caesarea Maritima from c. 313–314, is called the "Father of Church History" for his monumental Ecclesiastical History, the first systematic account of Christianity's first three centuries. Educated under the scholar-martyr Pamphilus and immersed in the great library at Caesarea, he witnessed the Diocletianic persecution firsthand and traveled to Egypt, where he witnessed mass martyrdoms and was briefly imprisoned. A close confidant of Constantine, he occupied a position of honor at the Council of Nicaea (325), delivered a panegyric oration at the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (335), and composed the Life of Constantine.
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Stop 1 of 7260–339Home, Bishopric, Death
Caesarea MaritimaIsrael
What they did here
Eusebius spent virtually his entire career here — educated under Pamphilus in the city's renowned library, appointed bishop c. 313–314, and dying in 339 as the city's most celebrated intellectual.
About Caesarea Maritima
Caesarea Maritima was a port city on the Mediterranean coast of modern Israel. Herod the Great built it around 22-10 BCE on the site of a Phoenician harbour town, and it later became the Roman provincial capital. According to Josephus, a clash beside one of its synagogues helped spark the Jewish revolt of 66 CE, and around 300 CE Rabbi Abbahu headed a rabbinic academy there. It was also an early Christian centre: Origen worked there, and its church library, built up by Pamphilus, served Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, and drew scholars such as Gregory of Nazianzus. Arab forces took it in 640; it was later a Crusader port until the Mamluks destroyed its defences in 1265.
In the same place & time
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Sages whose lives overlapped with Eusebius of Caesarea’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
In the same tradition
Arius, Athanasius of Alexandria, Cyril of Jerusalem, Alexander of Alexandria
The world in their lifetime
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Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Eusebius of Caesarea’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Works(15)
The Life of Constantine with Orations of Constantine and Eusebius
Caesarea · 339