Iulius Africanus has rightly been called the "Father of Christian Chronography". His world chronicle is one of the few works of Christian literature pioneering a new genre. Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages mainly articulated their reflection on history in the form of the world chronicle. The work has not been preserved in its entirety; the extant fragments have to be laboriously pieced together from the works of later authors. To date, there has not been a critical edition of this material, and the edition in use today dates back nearly 200 years (J.M. Routh 1814). This new edition in the GCS series closes an old gap in the programme of this series - and at the same time marks a new beginning, because this is the first edition ever in this series to be published with an English translation. The edition establishes a completely new foundation for our knowledge of Early Christian historical thinking, and in addition provides an important component in our understanding of an important epoch, the "Imperial Crisis" of the 3rd century, in which the new world of Late Antiquity began to develop out of the Hellenic-Roman heritage.

Iulius Africanus (3rd cent.) is a fascinating writer in a period of transition. Widely travelled, he belongs to the intellectual elite of the second sophistic. His two main works present a similar encyclopedic approach, but very different contents. He can be considered the "father of Christian chronography", since he authored the first Christian world chronicle (Chronographiae). However, he also wrote a comprehensive and multifaceted manual of many fields of knowledge, where the religious character is open to debate. The preserved fragments of the Cesti treat military, technical, medical and many other topics. These texts are presented in an entirely new critical edition. The transmission of the texts as well as questions of authenticity are highly complex. Compared to the previous edition (Vieillefond 1970), considerable progress has been reached in terms of both, quantity and quality of the material. Hitherto unknown texts have been included, and in the case of dubious authorship all necessary information is provided for a realistic picture of the transmission. In the introduction, all relevant channels of transmission are discussed. The edition is accompanied by notes and a new English translation.

A new form of organizing knowledge was adopted during the time of the Roman Empire, with works such as the Cesti of Julius Africanus (3rd century AD) playing a central role in the process. It records areas of knowledge that appear disparate from a modern point of view. They include magic, medicine, the military, agriculture and poetry. This volume examines the work, which survives only in fragments, along with its somewhat complicated reception, thus closing a gap in current research.

The Church Father John Chrysostom died 1600 years ago. Hardly any Christian from Antiquity has done more to form the identity of the most varied church traditions right up to the present day. While Protestants honour him as a preacher (hence the honorific Chrysostomosa ' a oeGolden-moutheda ), the Orthodox Churches know him as the progenitor of their Sunday liturgy (Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom). The volume provides an insight into the many facets of the history of this figure's influence.

Christianity and the book this is hardly a superficial relationship. Their histories date back to about the same period: the rise of Christianity and the widespread adoption of the codex both occurred in Late Antiquity. There are also substantive connections, for Christianity was quick to put the new medium to use and for its part, the codex had its own share of repercussions on religion. Indeed, Christian book culture in antiquity set the stage for the Koran's passage into written form."

Julius Africanus (3rd cent.) has been called the a oeFather of Christian Chronographya a " the exact calculation of dates and ages (such as the date of the Incarnation, and indirectly also of the end of the world). At the same time, however, he also presents the beginnings of a Christian universal history (Universal Chronicle), a genre which decisively influenced the historical thinking of both Orient and Occident over hundreds of years. The present studies open up this literaturea " some of which is virtually inaccessiblea " and make significant contributions to research into Latin, Greek and Oriental representations of the genre of universal chronicle.

The University of Basel was founded in 1460 on the basis of a privilege from Pope Pius II. As a young man, this pope had spent several years in the town and felt a strong affinity with it throughout his life. This volume begins with an examination of this prominent humanist and describes the contexts of the founding of the university in a series of further articles. The other examined dimensions are the urban and university contexts, as well as the church and art.

Die "Christliche Weltchronistik" stellt fur fast eineinhalb Jahrtausende die fundamentale Form christlichen Geschichtsdenkens dar. In diesem Band werden die wichtigsten Werke dieser Gattung von Iulius Africanus uber Hieronymus und Paulus Orosius bis zur Schedelschen Weltchronik und zu Luthers "Supputatio annorum mundi" vorgestellt, analysiert und mit zahlreichen paradigmatischen Abbildungen illustriert. Drei eingehende Analysen untersuchen wichtige Aspekte von Genese und Entwicklung der Gattung: Martin Wallraff behandelt die Entstehung christlicher Universalgeschichtsschreibung, Thomas Kroenung die Chronographie des Iulius Africanus und Franz Nagel den Jenaer Illustrationszyklus zur Weltchronik Ottos von Freising. Vom 19. Mai bis Ende Juli 2005 fand in der Thuringer Universitats- und Landesbibliothek Jena eine Ausstellung mit zahlreichen Exponaten zur christlichen Weltchronistik statt, darunter auch der Jenaer Illustrationszyklus zur beruhmten Weltchronik Ottos von Freising und eine Reihe weiterer Chroniken aus dem Mittelalter und der Reformation.