Epiphanius Scholasticus

Epiphanius Scholasticus was a sixth-century translator of Greek works into Latin.

Little is known of his life, aside from his works. It seems he bore the name Scholasticus "not so much because of any devotion to literature or theology, but in the sense that that word frequently had in the Middle Ages, meaning a chaplain, amanuensis, or general assistant of any dignitary of the church."^[1]

Epiphanius worked at the Vivarium under the direction of Cassiodorus, who described him as vir disertissimus.^[2]

Under the direction of Cassiodorus, in about 510, he compiled the Historiae Ecclesiasticae Tripartitae Epitome, or the Historia Tripartita ("Tripartite History"), a standard manual of church history through the Middle Ages. Epiphanius undertook the translations into Latin of the Greek church histories of Socrates Scholasticus, Sozomen and Theodoret, written in the previous century.^[3]

Epiphanius also translated the commentaries of Didymus on the Proverbs of Solomon^[4] and on the seven general epistles, as well as the commentaries of Epiphanius of Salamis upon Canticles. His Codex Encyclicus, compiled at the urging of Cassiodorus, collects and translates letters addressed by different synods to the Emperor Leo I in defence of the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon against the Monophysite Timotheus Aelurus. The list was drawn up in 458 by the order of Leo I, although Epiphanius made several additions to it.

References

^ "Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies. | Christian Classics Ethereal Libra..." Ccel.org. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
^ Petersen, Joan M. (January 1976). "Did Gregory the Great know Greek?". Studies in Church History. 13: 121–134. doi:10.1017/S042420840000663X. ISSN 0424-2084. Retrieved 11 December 2023. Cassiodorus applied the epithet vir disertissimus to two translators at Vivarium, Epiphanius Scholasticus and Mutianus.
^ Apeldoorn, Laurens van; Douglass, Robin (2018). Hobbes on Politics and Religion. Oxford University Press. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-19-880340-9. The early Greek Ecclesiastical Histories had been accessible in Latin since Epiphanius Scholasticus, at the suggestion of Cassiodorus, undertook the translation of Theodoret, Socrates, and Sozomen, which Cassiodorus edited and selected for his Historia Ecclesiastica Tripartita.
^ Muckle, J. T. (January 1943). "Greek Works translated into Latin before 1350 (Continuation)". Mediaeval Studies. 5: 102–114. doi:10.1484/J.MS.2.306546. ISSN 0076-5872. Retrieved 11 December 2023. Didymus the Blind. Cassiordorus (Inst. I, 5.) says that Epiphanius Scholasticus translated his Commentary on Proverbs.

External links

Henry Wace, editor, A Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature, Epiphanius Scholasticus
Catholic Encyclopedia article on Epiphanius Scholasticus

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Epiphanius Scholasticus". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

[1] "Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies. | Christian Classics Ethereal Libra..." Ccel.org. Retrieved 2008-10-28.

[2] Petersen, Joan M. (January 1976). "Did Gregory the Great know Greek?". Studies in Church History. 13: 121–134. doi:10.1017/S042420840000663X. ISSN 0424-2084. Retrieved 11 December 2023. Cassiodorus applied the epithet vir disertissimus to two translators at Vivarium, Epiphanius Scholasticus and Mutianus.

[3] Apeldoorn, Laurens van; Douglass, Robin (2018). Hobbes on Politics and Religion. Oxford University Press. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-19-880340-9. The early Greek Ecclesiastical Histories had been accessible in Latin since Epiphanius Scholasticus, at the suggestion of Cassiodorus, undertook the translation of Theodoret, Socrates, and Sozomen, which Cassiodorus edited and selected for his Historia Ecclesiastica Tripartita.

[4] Muckle, J. T. (January 1943). "Greek Works translated into Latin before 1350 (Continuation)". Mediaeval Studies. 5: 102–114. doi:10.1484/J.MS.2.306546. ISSN 0076-5872. Retrieved 11 December 2023. Didymus the Blind. Cassiordorus (Inst. I, 5.) says that Epiphanius Scholasticus translated his Commentary on Proverbs.

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