Sophia Scriptura

Church History 2.21.1

Eusebius of Caesarea · Church History · ca. 300–325 · Caesarea · Read in context

Summary: Josephus (quoted): an Egyptian false prophet led thousands to the Mount of Olives, planning to seize Jerusalem.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:73–74

Ἑξῆς δὲ τούτοις ἐπιφέρει μεθʼ ἕτερα λέγων μείζονι δὲ τούτων πληγῇ Ἰουδαίους ἐκάκωσεν ὁ Αἰγύπτιος ψευδοπροφήτης. παραγενόμενος γὰρ εἰς τὴν χώραν ἄνθρωπος γόης, καὶ “ προφήτου πίστιν ἐπιθεὶς ἑαυτῷ, περὶ τρισμυρίους μὲν ἀθροίζει τῶν ἠπατημένων, περιαγαγὼν δʼ αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῆς ἐρημίας εἰς τὸ ἐλαιῶν καλούμενον ὅρος ἐκεῖθεν οἶός τε ἦν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα παρελθεῖν βιάζεσθαι, καὶ κρατήσας τῆς τε Ῥωμαϊκῆς φρουρᾶς καὶ τοῦ δήμου τυραννεῖν, χρώμενος τοῖς συνεισπεσοῦσι “δορυφόροις.

English · Claude translation

Next after these things he adds, after other matters: “The Egyptian false prophet afflicted the Jews with a greater blow than these. For a sorcerer came into the country and, gaining for himself the reputation of a prophet, gathered about thirty thousand of those he had deceived; and leading them round from the desert to the mount called the Mount of Olives, he was ready from there to force his way into Jerusalem, and, having overpowered the Roman garrison and the people, to rule as tyrant, using those who broke in with him as his bodyguard.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:73–74 · Wilhelm Dindorf, ed., Eusebii Caesariensis Opera, vol. 4: Historiae ecclesiasticae libri I–X (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871) · Greek text: W. Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Dindorf, Eusebii Opera 4. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Teubner, 1871); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1 (1890) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Extrabiblical texts
  • Josephus, J.W. 2.261–262 (Josephus (works)) · quotation, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotation (2.21.1–2) is Josephus, J.W. 2.261–263.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.21.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/2/21/1/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 2.21.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/2/21/1/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage