Incipit:
Date: Books 1-7: by 293 or 311;

Books 6-10.7:  313-315;

Book 10.8-9: 324
CPG: 3495
TLG: 2018.002
Earliest ms.: The earliest extant Greek mss., such as Paris, BNF, gr. 1431, date to the 11th c. However a ms. of the work in Syriac translation from the mid-5th c. survives: St. Petersberg, Russian Nat. Library, Syriac 1.
Text: E. Schwartz, Eusebius’ Werke 2 (GCS 9.1, 1903; 9.2, 1908; 9.3, 1909).
K. Lake, Loeb Classical Library 1 (1926), 2 (1932) with English Translation.
G. Bardy, Eusèbe de Césarée. Histoire ecclésiastique, 3 vols. [Sources chrétiennes 31, 41, 55. Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1:1952; 2:1955; 3:1958 (repr. 3:1967)]: 1:3-215; 2:4-231; 3:3-120. A Latin version was prepared by Rufinus, and versions in Syriac, Armenian, and Coptic exist.
English Translation: H. J. Lawlor and J. E. L. Oulton (ed), Eusebius. Ecclesiastical History and Martyrs of Palestine. Translated with introduction and notes, London: Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, 2 vols (1927-28) [1954].
R. J. Deferrari, Fathers of the Church 19 (1953); 29 (1955).
G. A. Williamson (Harmsworth: Penguin, 1965).
The Loeb translation, mentioned above.
Notes: Barnes puts a first edition, i.e. Books 1-7, as early as 293 (Constantine, chapter 8, pp. 126-47). R.W. Burgess argues for a date closer to 313 (“The dates and editions of Eusebius’ ‘Chronici canones’ and ‘Historia ecclesiastica’.” The Journal of Theological Studies 48.2 [Oct. 1997], pp. 471-505). Books 8 through 10.7 clearly date to after the Great Persecution, probably to 313-315,  and the final chapters 8-9 of Book 10 date to the last months of 324 or later. Even though he would live for another 15 years, Eusebius never expanded the work further, most significantly not describing the Council of Nicaea.
Bibliography: Wallace-Hadrill, D.S.  Eusebius of Caesarea.  Westminster, Maryland:  The Canterbury Press, 1961.

Created by JRZ; updated by GLT 07/17/2026

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