Sextus Julius Africanus (c. 160 – c. 240; Ancient Greek: Σέξτος Ἰούλιος ὁ Ἀφρικανός or ὁ Λίβυς) was a Christian traveler and historian of the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries. He influenced fellow historian Eusebius, later writers of Church history among the Church Fathers, and the Greek school of chroniclers.
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👉 Sextus Julius Africanus in the context of Crucifixion darkness
The crucifixion darkness is an event described in the synoptic gospels in which the sky becomes dark in daytime during the crucifixion of Jesus for roughly three hours. Most ancient and medieval Christian writers treated this as a miracle, and believed it to be one of the few episodes from the New Testament which were confirmed by non-Christian sources. Modern scholars have found references by early historians to accounts of this event outside the New Testament, although no copies of the referenced accounts survive.
In his Apologeticus, Christian apologist Tertullian in AD 197 considered this not an eclipse but an omen, which is recorded in Roman archives. In his apologetic work Contra Celsum, the third-century Christian scholar Origen offered two natural explanations for the darkness: that it might have been the eclipse described by Phlegon of Tralles in his Chronicle or that it might have been clouds. In his Chronicle of Theophanes the fifth-century chronicler George Syncellus quotes the History of the World of Sextus Julius Africanus as stating that a world eclipse and an earthquake in Judea had been reported by the Greek 1st century historian Thallus in his Histories.
In this Dossier
- ⭐ Core Definition: Sextus Julius Africanus
- 👉 Sextus Julius Africanus in the context of Crucifixion darkness
- Sextus Julius Africanus in the context of Menkaure
- Sextus Julius Africanus in the context of Genealogy of Jesus
- Sextus Julius Africanus in the context of Pope Demetrius I of Alexandria
- Sextus Julius Africanus in the context of Callixtus I
Sextus Julius Africanus in the context of Menkaure
Menkaure or Menkaura (Egyptian transliteration: mn-kꜣw-rꜥ; c. 2550 BC - c. 2503 BC) was a king of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom. He is well known under his Hellenized names Mykerinos (Ancient Greek: Μυκερῖνος, romanized: Mukerînos by Herodotus), in turn Latinized as Mycerinus, and Menkheres (Μεγχέρης, Menkhérēs by Manetho). According to Manetho, he was the throne successor of king Bikheris, but according to archaeological evidence, he was almost certainly the successor of Khafre. Africanus (from Syncellus) reports as rulers of the fourth dynasty Sôris, Suphis I, Suphis II, Mencherês (=Menkaure), Ratoisês, Bicheris, Sebercherês, and Thamphthis in this order. Menkaure became famous for his tomb, the Pyramid of Menkaure, at Giza and his statue triads, which showed him alongside the goddess Hathor and various regional deities.
Sextus Julius Africanus in the context of Genealogy of Jesus
The New Testament provides two accounts of the genealogy of Jesus, one in the Gospel of Matthew and another in the Gospel of Luke. Matthew starts with Abraham and works forwards, while Luke works back in time from Jesus to Adam. The lists of names are identical between Abraham and David (whose royal ancestry affirms Jesus' Messianic title Son of David), but differ radically from that point. Matthew has twenty-seven generations from David to Joseph, whereas Luke has forty-two, with almost no overlap between them or with other known genealogies. They also disagree on who Joseph's father was: Matthew says he was Jacob, while Luke says he was Heli.
Early Christian scholars (starting with Africanus and Eusebius) take both lineages to be true, offering various explanations for their divergence. For instance, one (usually Matthew's) may be taken to be the lineage of Joseph and the other (usually Luke's) of Mary, or one may be Jesus' customary legal lineage and the other his biological blood lineage. These versions can also fit the gospels' simultaneous account of Jesus' virgin birth of Mary alone, with Joseph being merely his legal adoptive father; both Joseph and Mary are taken to be David's descendants. Levirate marriage, through which an individual (such as Joseph) may have two legal fathers, can also serve these explanations. However, some modern critical scholars like Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan state that both genealogies are inventions, constructed to bring the Messianic claim into conformity with Jewish criteria.
Sextus Julius Africanus in the context of Pope Demetrius I of Alexandria
Demetrius I (died 22 October 232), 12th Bishop and Patriarch of Alexandria. Sextus Julius Africanus, who visited Alexandria in the Bishoprice of Demetrius, places his accession as eleventh bishop from Mark in the tenth year of Roman Emperor Commodus; Eusebius of Caesarea places it in the tenth year of Septimius Severus.
Sextus Julius Africanus in the context of Callixtus I
Pope Callixtus I (Greek: Κάλλιστος), also called Callistus I, was the bishop of Rome (according to Sextus Julius Africanus) from c. 218 to his death c. 222 or 223. He lived during the reigns of the Roman emperors Elagabalus and Alexander Severus. Eusebius and the Liberian catalogue list his episcopate as having lasted five years (217–222). In 217, when Callixtus followed Zephyrinus as Bishop of Rome, he started to admit into the Church converts from sects or schisms. He was killed for being Christian and is venerated as a saint and martyr by the Catholic Church (the patron saint of cemetery workers).