The Influence of Eusebius’ Chronicle on the Apologetic Treatises of Cyril of Alexandria and Augustine of Hippo

Abstract

In the early fifth century, both Cyril of Alexandria and Augustine of Hippo used Eusebius of Caesarea's Chronicle in the writing of their respective apologetic treatises – Against Julian for Cyril and The city of God for Augustine. The present study compares the use that these two authors made of their predecessor and argues for two continuities between these acts of reception: the use of synchronisms between biblical and non-biblical history and the tracing of Mosaic monotheism through time. In both these respects, Cyril and Augustine were carrying forward themes of Christian apologetic that reached back to the second-century apologists.