Prosper of Aquitaine, in his Chronicle, records the martyrdom of *Timotheus (martyr of Rome, buried on the via Ostiensis, S00330) in 306. Written in Latin in Gaul or Rome, in the mid 5th c.
Evidence ID
E08014
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Prosper of Aquitaine, Chronicle 973-4
CCLXXIX
Constantio VI et Maximiano VI
His consulibus Timotheus Romae pro Christo passus est X k. Iul.
'279 [years since the Crucifixion]
[Consulship of] Constantius for the sixth time and Maximian for the sixth time [= AD 306]
Under these consuls Timotheus was martyred for Christ at Rome on the 10th day before the Kalends of July [22 June].'
Text: Mommsen 1892, 447.
Translation: David Lambert.
Festivals
Saint’s feast
Source
Prosper of Aquitaine (ob. after 455) was active from the 420s to the 450s, producing religious polemics, collections of documents, theological treatises, poetry, and chronography. Prosper was originally from southern Gaul, and is known to have been living in Marseille in the late 420s. The once generally accepted belief that he subsequently moved to Rome, and even became an adviser to Pope Leo the Great, has been increasingly disputed in recent scholarship (for differing perspectives, see Markus 1986; Hwang 2009, 187-198; Salzman 2015); it is clear from his works, however, that he visited Rome, had contacts with the papacy, and had access to papal documents.Prosper first compiled his Chronicle in 433, and added continuations in 445 and 455. Like most late antique Latin chroniclers, Prosper began the original part of his Chronicle at the point where Jerome's Chronicle ended, in the late 370s (Prosper, Chron. 1166; p. 460 in Mommsen's ediition), but instead of simply appending his continuation to a text of Jerome's work, he produced his own version, which is shorter than the original but also contains additions by Prosper (we have not included separate entries for items in Prosper's Chronicle which simply reproduce entries in the Chronicle of Jerome). Prosper dates events in his Chronicle both by years since the Crucifixion and by consular years. For a detailed overview of Prosper's Chronicle, see Muhlberger 1990, 55-135.
Discussion
Prosper's record of the martyrdom of Timotheus is one of the occasional instances where he adds an event from the period before 378 that was omitted by Jerome from his Chronicle. According to Mommsen, Prosper's source was the Fasti Vindobonienses Priores, an annotated consular list (published by Mommsen on p. 291 of the same volume as his edition of Prosper). Prosper's date of 22 June for the martyrdom of Timotheus appears to be an error for 22 August, which is found in most other sources: the error originates in the Fasti Vindobonienses Priores.Bibliography
Edition:Mommsen, T., Prosperi Tironis epitoma de chronicon, in: Chronica Minora saec. IV. V. VI. VII., vol. 1 (Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Auctores Antiquissimi 9; Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1892), 385-485.
Further reading:
Hwang, A.Y., Intrepid Lover of Perfect Grace: The Life and Thought of Prosper of Aquitaine (Washington: CUA Press, 2009).
Markus, R.A., "Chronicle and Theology: Prosper of Aquitaine," in: C. Holdsworth and T.P. Wiseman (eds.), The Inheritance of Historiography: 350-950 (Exeter: Exeter University Publications, 1986), 31-43.
Muhlberger, S., The Fifth-Century Chroniclers: Prosper, Hydatius, and the Gallic Chronicler of 452 (Leeds: Francis Cairns, 1990).
Salzman, M.R., "Reconsidering a Relationship: Pope Leo of Rome and Prosper of Aquitaine," in. G. Dunn (ed.), The Bishop of Rome in Late Antiquity (Farnham: Ashgate, 2015), 109-125.
Record Created By
David Lambert
Date of Entry
12/10/2020
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00330 | Timotheus, martyr of Rome, buried on the via Ostiensis | Timotheus | Certain |
|---|
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