The Presbyters Project

CCCXI Olympi [...] IIII. [...] Aiax natione Galata effectus apostata et senior Arrianus inter Sueuos regis sui auxilio hostis catholicae fidei et diuinae trinitatis emergit. De Gallicana Gothorum habitatione hoc pestiferum inimici hominis uirus aduectum. (228)

(ed. Burgess 1988: 117, 119)

Olympiad 311 (...) 4. Ajax, a Galatian who was an apostate and an Arian senior among the Sueves, helped by his king became known as an enemy of the Catholic faith and of the Holy Trinity. The pestiferous venom of this dangerous man was imported from the Gallic residences of Goths.

(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

It is not clear exactly what origin Hydatius had meant saying "natione Galata". It was suggested that it meant "Galician", but in other places Hydatius always use orthography Gallaecia or Callaecia. Other possibility is that "Galata" refers here to a Greek from Galatia (PCBE, Gaul, v. 2, Aiax; see also Burgess (1988: 118) translation: "Ajax, a Greek apostate"). It is also probable that the term describes here a person of Gallic origin (Thompson 1980: 80-81, Mathisen 2014: 161).

Place of event:

Region

Iberian Peninsula
Gaul

About the source:

Author: Hydatius
Title: Chronicle, Continuatio chronicorum Hieronymianorum ad a. 468
Origin: Chaves (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Hydatius bishop in Galicia, probably in Chaves (Iberian Peninsula) wrote his chronicle ca 468-469. It is the most important source of the history of Spain in the 5th c. For the detailed discussion on the chronicle and further bibliography see Burgess 1988, Muhlberger 1990: 193-266.

Edition:

Edition and translation: R.W. Burgess, The Chronicle of Hydatius and the Consularia Constantinopolitana: Two Contemporary Accounts of the Final Years of the Roman Empire, Oxford 1988.

Editions:

Mommsen Theodor ed., Hydatii Lemici continuatio chronicorum Hieronymianorum, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores antiquissimi 11, Berlin 1894, 1-36.

Tranoy, A. ed., Hydace, Chronique, v. 1-2, Paris 1973

Bibliography:

R.W. Mathisen, "Barbarian 'Arian' Clergy, Church Organization, and Church Practices", [in :] Arianism: Roman Heresy and Barbarian Creed, eds. G.M. Berndt, R. Steinacher, Farnham 2014, 145-191.

S. Muhlberger, The Fifth-Century Chroniclers: Prosper, Hydatius, and the Gallic Chronicler of 452, Leeds 1990.

Thompson, E.A., 'The Conversion of the Spanish Suevi to Catholicism' [in:] Visigothic Spain: New Approaches, ed. E. James, Oxford 1980, 77-92.

Categories:

Non-Latin Origin - Greek

PR156.

Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Arian

PR156.

Change of denomination

PR156.

Relation with - Another presbyter

PR156.

Relation with - Monarch and royal/imperial family

PR156.

Non-Latin Origin

PR156.

Described by a title - Senior

PR156.

Pastoral activity - Missionary work

PR156.

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER378, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=378