OROSIUS, PAULUS

born , probably Braga, Spain; fl. 414417 defender of early Christian orthodoxy, theologian, and author of the first world history by a Christian. As a priest Orosius went in about 414 to Hippo, where he met St. Augustine. In 415 Augustine sent him to Palestine, where he immediately opposed Pelagianism. At a synod summoned that July by Bishop John of Jerusalem, Orosius ineffectively accused Pelagius of heresy. Early in 416 he returned to Augustine, who asked him to compose a historical apology of Christianity, Historiarum adversus paganos libri VII (Eng. trans. by I.W. Raymond, Seven Books of Histories Against the Pagans). This book chronicles the history of the world from its creation through the founding and history of Rome up until AD 417. In it Orosius describes the catastrophes that befell mankind before Christianity, arguing against the contention that the calamities of the late Roman Empire were caused by its Christian conversion. Orosius' book enjoyed great popularity in the early European Middle Ages, but only its narrative covering the years after AD 378 has any value to modern scholars.