The Martyrs of Palestine
Eusebius’s year-by-year record of the Christians put to death in his own province of Palestine between 303 and 311. He lived at Caesarea, the governor’s seat, and knew some of the victims.
The work covers the eight years of the persecution in Palestine, one year at a time, with the dates of individual martyrdoms. Eusebius was at Caesarea throughout, and writes of people he had seen and in some cases known well, among them the presbyter Pamphilus, whom he calls “thrice dear to me” (11).
It survives in two forms. The shorter, in Greek, was copied into most manuscripts of the Church History at the end of book 8, and is the one translated here. A longer form survives complete only in Syriac. The book is the best evidence for how the edicts of Diocletian were applied in one eastern province, including the order of the second year that everyone should sacrifice (3.1), which the Church History does not report so plainly. It is written to honour the martyrs, and says little of the many who complied.
Cited in
- AD 303 to AD 311, firm date