Hippolytus of Rome

This volume contains the earliest Christian works of commentary and history that are extant: Hippolytus of Rome’s Commentary on Daniel and his Chronicon. Both were written likely between 202–235 CE and are here translated into English for the first time by Thomas C. Schmidt, with Nick Nicholas serving as co-translator for the Chronicon.

In his Commentary on Daniel Hippolytus interprets the deeds and visions of Daniel against the backdrop of contemporary Roman persecution and eschatological expectations, thus providing much information about Christian affairs in the early third century. Throughout the commentary Hippolytus discusses his distinctive Logos theology and also mentions various liturgical practices involving baptism, anointing and the celebration of Easter. In his Chronicon, Hippolytus tallies the years of the world from creation to his present day while also devoting much time to ethnography and geography, and so draws for us a detailed landscape of the world as viewed from a Roman Christian mind. In the Chronicon and the Commentary on Daniel, Hippolytus also makes reference to the birth of Christ, which he may have placed on December 25.

Schmidt introduces both works by discussing the person of Hippolytus and explaining the complicated and contradictory theories regarding the authorship of the ‘Hippolytan Corpus.’ He argues that the principal works in the corpus likely stem from the same early third century Roman Christian community and that Hippolytus of Rome authored the Commentary on Daniel and authored or at least edited the Chronicon.