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Lactantius

Lactantius

250 CE–325 CE · North Africa (Numidia / Africa Proconsularis)

Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius (c. 250–325 CE) was a North African Latin rhetorician and Christian apologist, a pupil of Arnobius of Sicca. Summoned by Emperor Diocletian to teach Latin rhetoric at the imperial capital Nicomedia, he converted to Christianity there and endured poverty during the Diocletianic persecution. He composed his major apologetic works, including the Divine Institutes and De Mortibus Persecutorum, at Nicomedia. In old age he was called by Constantine to tutor the imperial prince Crispus at Trier, where he is believed to have spent his final years and died.

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Stop 1 of 3250–290Birthplace, Early Education

North Africa (Numidia / Africa Proconsularis)Algeria/Tunisia

What they did here

Lactantius was African by birth and a pupil of Arnobius, who taught at Sicca Veneria (modern El Kef, Tunisia); an inscription at Cirta (modern Constantine, Algeria) mentioning a 'L. Caecilius Firmianus' has led some scholars to associate his family with Numidia, but the exact city of birth is unattested — the coordinate is placed between Cirta and Sicca to reflect regional uncertainty.

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Works(4)