The Chronograph of 354: Its Manuscripts, Contents, and History

Abstract

The Chronograph of 354 has been held in high estimation since the beginning of the ninth century. Its illustrations, calendar, consular fasti, Easter table, and lists of urban prefects, bishops of Rome, and martyrs makes it not only a useful and beautiful text but one particularly evocative of the time and place of its creation. In spite of the major studies of this work that have been undertaken since 1850 its history from its creation in Rome in the last months of 353 down to the copying of the surviving manuscripts is still only incompletely understood. The results of modern analysis have left incomplete, contradictory, and often tralatitious conclusions that are in need of a reevaluation from first principles, which is presented here. This reevaluation not only clarifies the historical journey of this text through 1,600 years, but also establishes which texts were, and were not, part of the original compilation in 353.