Historical Sources and Resources

 

Ante-Nicene Fathers
The Ante-Nicene Fathers consist of 10 volumes spanning the time from the Apostolic Fathers to various third and fourth-century sources. The intent is to comprise all the extant works of the Fathers (except for the works of Origen) down to the first General Council held at Nicaea in 325 A.D.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1
The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1 consists of eight volumes of the writings of St. Augustine, the most influential of the early Church Fathers, and six volumes of the treatises and homilies of St. Chrysostom.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2
The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2 contains in fourteen volumes the works of the Greek Fathers from Eusebius to John of Damascus and the Latin Fathers from Hilary to Gregory the Great.

Eusebius
This site contains links to the writings of Eusebius. Eusebius was a Greek historian who chronicled the history of Christians. He wrote in the 4th century A.D.

Foxe's Book of Martyrs
The Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe, is an account of Christian martyrs throughout Western history from the first century through the early sixteenth centuries, emphasizing the sufferings of English Protestants and proto-Protestants from the fourteenth century through the reign of Mary I.

Philo
Philo was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria in the first century A.D. This resource provides copies of most of his writings.

Orion Center for the Study of the DSS
The Dead Sea Scrolls are significant biblical and non-biblical literature ranging from the third century BCE (mid-Second temple period) to the first century of the Common Era prior to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. On this fascinating website, you are able to browse the fragments by site, language, or content using a free high-definition digital library or even take a virtual Qumran tour.

Perseus Digital Library
Also known as the Perseus Hopper, this site showcases primary and secondary sources covering the history, literature, and culture of the Greco-Roman world. Also included are collections of Arabic, Germanic, 19th-Century American and Renaissance materials. Users can read texts and research words, phrases and the inflections of words.  Includes also is a massive library of art objects, sites, and buildings in collaboration with many museums.

Internet Medieval Sourcebook
(legacy,fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.asp) A starting point regarding Medieval document, maps, secondary sources, bibliographies, images, and music.

 

JOSEPHUS

  • Against Apion The "Against Apion" or "Contra Apionem" presents a well-written systematic apology for Judaism in reply to various attacks, especially in the literary world.
  • Antiquities of the Jews The "Antiquities of the Jews" ("Jewish Archeology") is a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from the beginnings of Biblical history to the outbreak of the war in 66 A.D. It was completed in the thirteenth year of Domitian, 93-94 A.D. For the Biblical period (books 1 and 11) Josephus draws almost exclusively from the Bible in the Septuagint version, but he modifies the Biblical story and supplements it by legends, following current traditions.
  • Discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades Since all of Josephus' writings were in Greek, except for the original draft of "Jewish War", it was appropriate for him to write a discourse on Hades for his Greek readers.
  • The History of the Jewish War The "History of the Jewish War," in seven books, is his earliest and most carefully written work.