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Phlegon of Tralles | |
|---|---|
| Born | Early second century AD |
| Died | Late second century AD unknown |
| Occupation | Chronicler andhistorian |
| Notable works | Olympiads, On Marvels, On Long-Lived Persons, |
Phlegon ofTralles (Ancient Greek:Φλέγων ὁ Τραλλιανός,romanized: Phlégōn ho Trallianós) was aGreek writer and freedman of the emperorHadrian, who lived in the 2nd century AD.
His chief work was theOlympiads, an historical compendium in sixteen books, from the 1st down to the 229thOlympiad (776 BC to AD 137), of which several chapters are preserved inEusebius'Chronicle,Photius, andGeorge Syncellus.[citation needed]
Two short works by him are extant.On Marvels consists of "anecdotes culled from sources as diverse as the Greek poetHesiod and the Roman natural historianPliny the Elder. Each... recounts a fantastical or paranormal event."[1]On Long-Lived Persons[2] contains a list of Italians who had passed the age of 100, taken from the censuses of the Roman Empire.
Other works ascribed to Phlegon in theSuda are a description ofSicily, a work on the Roman festivals in three books, and a topography ofRome:
Origen of Alexandria (182-254 AD), inAgainst Celsus (Book II, Chap. XIV), wrote that Phlegon, in hisChronicles, mentions Jesus: "Now Phlegon, in the thirteenth or fourteenth book, of his Chronicles, not only ascribed to Jesus a knowledge of future events (although falling into confusion about some things which refer toPeter, as if they referred to Jesus), but also testified that the result corresponded to His predictions." He referred to a description by Phlegon of an eclipse accompanied by earthquakes during the reign ofTiberius: that there was "the greatest eclipse of the sun" and that "it became night in the sixth hour of the day [i. e., noon] so that stars even appeared in the heavens. There was a great earthquake inBithynia, and many things were overturned inNicaea."[3]
Julius Africanus writes "Phlegon records that, in the time of Tiberius Cæsar, at full moon, there was a full eclipse of the sun from the sixth hour to the ninth..."[4]
Eusebius, in book 2 of Chronicle (Chronicon, quoted byJerome), refers to Phlegon's 13th book for confirmation of an eclipse and earthquakes in Bythinia and Nicaea.[5]
"In the 4th year of the 202nd Olympiad, there was a great eclipse of the Sun, greater than had ever been known before, for at the sixth hour the day was changed into night, and the stars were seen in the heavens. An earthquake occurred in Bythinia and overthrew a great part of the city of Nicæa."[6]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Phlegon".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 447.