The Chronicon

Eusebius’ Chronicon (or Chronicle) was the ancient world’s first systematic, chronologically sound, universal history. It begins with the earliest extant written records available to the author and continues to about AD 325. Eusebius frequently cites and quotes Berossus, Alexander Polyhistor, Abydenus, Josephus, Castor, Diodorus, Cephalion, various translations of the Bible, the writings of Manetho, Porphyrius, and others. His chronicle includes important events, personalities, and king lists from the ancient Chaldeans, Assyrians, Medes, Lydians, Persians, Hebrews, Egyptians, and Greeks, plus listings of the Greek Olympiads and the rulers of the Greek city-states, the Macedonians, and Romans. It was arguably Eusebius who first made use of chronological tables, now a tool taken for granted by modern historians. This was a revolutionary development in Eusebius’ day, not sufficiently appreciated in modern works on historiography.