Article Sidebar
Published: May 9, 2020
Main Article Content
Yitzhak Hen
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Article Details
Issue
Vol. 22 (2003)
Section
Reviews
Averil Cameron is Warden of Keble College, Oxford. The Rev. Stuart Hall is a retired priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church, formerly priest in charge of St John's Pittenweem and St Michael's Elie.
`Overall, however, this volume will prove an enormously useful tool for scholars and students of church history and late antiquity in general.' Journal of Early Christian Studies, 2001
`This volume provides a fine introduction to the Life of Constantine in a format that is user-friendly both with regard to organization of content and graphic design ... The commentary helpfully assesses the historicity of Eusebius' accounts of specific events and how certain themes in the text serve the various literary purposes of the work. The book is a goldmine of bibliographical sources on particular topics in the Vita, for example, on Constantine's building programs in Jerusalem and elsewhere.' Journal of Early Christian Studies, 2001
`The commentary is a mine of information and succinctly distilled learning, drawn from an extensive modern bibliography supplemented by the authors' own combined wisdom.' Journal of Ecclesiastical History, April 2001
`Their collaboration on Eusebius ... has resulted in what is sure to become an indispensable companion to Constantinian studies.' Journal of Ecclesiastical History, April 2001
`scrupulous fidelity to the tenor of Eusebius' Greek often reproduces his vaqueness and pomposity.' T.D.Barnes, The Classical Review, Vol.51, No.1, 2001
`sure to become an indispensable companion to Constantinian studies ... The commentary is a mine of information and succinctly distilled learning ... the authors have succeeded in condensing a mass of modern scholarship in clarifying the (often obscure) details of Eusebius' text.' E.D.Hunt, Ecclesiastical History, vol.52/2, April 2001
`this translation is a good introduction to the VC of Eusebius for the specialist and the generalist alike. To those users who know no Greek, this book is a godsend; for the specialist, it provides the reader with easy access to the most recent literature on the various issues dealt with in the VC. In a word, the book is a real gem.' Michael DiMaio, Dept of Philosophy, Salve Regina University.
`It is ... a pleasant experience to be able to read the VC from beginning to end without worrying about the exact meaning of the text since one can safely rely on Cameron and Halls translation as giving an accurate representation of the content and flavor of Eusebius narrative.' Michael DiMaio, Dept of Philosophy, Salve Regina University.
`Cameron and Halls discussion of Eusebius use of imperial documents in the VC is especially worthy of note because it takes one of the most complicated and disputed issues and explains it in a clear fashion ... Cameron and Halls discussion of the plan and literary character of the VC is unique because they place Eusebius work in its proper relation to ancient biography.' Michael DiMaio, Dept of Philosophy, Salve Regina University.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Eusebius of Caesarea. Life of Constantine. Translated by Averil Cameron and Stuart G. Hall. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999. Pp. xviii + 395. $95, cloth; $35, paper.
Eusebius of Caesarea's Life of Constantine (Vita Constantini) remains one of the most important sources for the career and policies of the first Christian emperor. Strangely, in view of this text's significance and the large body of English-language scholarship on Constantine, there has been no new English translation of the work since 1890, when one appeared in the Nicene and post-Nicene Fathers series. In this welcome volume, the authors rectify the oversight by providing a new translation of and commentary on the Life, based on the 1992 Greek edition of F. Winkelmann.
In the extensive introduction that precedes the translation and commentary, the translators survey the attribution of the text to Eusebius and the date and circumstances of its composition. Hall and Cameron support the attribution to Eusebius; they also argue that the irregularities within the text result from at least two major revisions of it during Eusebius' lifetime. One of these revisions is likely to have occurred after Constantine's death in 337 and the rehabilitation of Athanasius of Alexandria with the purpose of encouraging Constantine's sons to continue the ecclesiastical policies of their father. The authors then discuss the sources that Eusebius uses in the work, which include his own writings, imperial documents, secular histories, scripturalcitations and models, secular citations, and Eusebius' own firsthand knowledge of Constantine. The authors outline the plan of the Vita, often criticized as haphazard, and characterize its literary genre as a unique though imperfectly synthesized blend of imperial encomium, bios. and history.
They give a summary of the Vita's presentation of Constantine's personality and of the significant events of his career (many of the more notorious of which, such as the execution of his son Crispus and the mysterious death of his wife Fausta in 326, are intentionally eliminated from Eusebius' account). They evaluate what the Vita and other sources can tell us about Constantine's understanding of his imperial mission. The authors then consider the historical value of the Vita and its later reception in Christian historiography; they also include a brief examination of the manuscript and translation history of the text. The chapter headings for the text that exist in the manuscripts are not original, but as they often provide interesting information, Hall and Cameron offer translations of them at the end of the introduction. They include their own divisions of the text's content in their translation of the Vita itself. These are indicated by italics, as are all the Constantinian documents included in the Vita. After the translation and commentary, the volume concludes with an up-to-date bibliography of relevant scholarship in all major European languages and a detailed index.
This volume provides a fine introduction to the Life of Constantine in a format that is user-friendly both with regard to organization of content and graphic design. The translation is clear and comprehensible, often capturing the [End Page 289] exalted tone of Eusebius' florid rhetoric. The commentary helpfully assesses the historicity of Eusebius' accounts of specific events and how certain themes in the text serve the various literary purposes of the work. The book is a goldmine of bibliographical sources on particular topics in the Vita, for example, on Constantine's building programs in Jerusalem and elsewhere. The authors include a judicious selection of material evidence from Constantine's reign (such as coins, mosaics, a map, and building plans) to support their commentary. One can, of course, always quibble with individual points of translation, commentary, or editing; perhaps the most distracting thing I found in this volume was the occasionally mystifying use of capitalization, which the commentary sometimes, but not always, clarified. Overall, however, this volume will prove an enormously useful tool for scholars and students of church history and late antiquity in general.
What is the purpose of the Life of Constantine?
In addition to detailing the religious policies of the Roman Empire under Constantine, Eusebius uses Life of Constantine to engage several of his own religious concerns, such as apologetics, as well as a semi-bibliographic account of Constantine.
What did Eusebius say about Constantine?
23 He simplifies Eusebius's political theology to a simplistic phrase: salvation came through the might of a godly ruler; Eusebius saw Constantine as coordinate with the 'Logos-Christ,' and in comparing the two, saw the work of a Christian Caesar as more important than the work of Christ, and that Constantine was a ...
Why is Constantine so famous?
Who was Constantine? Constantine made Christianity the main religion of Rome, and created Constantinople, which became the most powerful city in the world. Emperor Constantine (ca A.D. 280– 337) reigned over a major transition in the Roman Empire—and much more.
What language did Constantine speak?
His main language was Latin, and during his public speeches he needed Greek translators.