By Nicholas Morris
Eutropius specifies dates in several ways (see Bird 2011: liii). Usually, he uses one style at a time, though sometimes he will give a single date in more than one style, presumably to emphasize its importance. This guide covers the most frequent dating styles which Eutropius uses.
A.U.C. dating: A.U.C. is short for ab urbe condita, “from the foundation of the city.” Eutropius follows his sources in his use of the date proposed by the scholar M. Terentius Varro: April 21st, 753 BCE. This is one of the most frequently used styles in Eutropius’ writing, the other being according to the list of consuls. There are certain sections of the Breviarium, however, where Eutropius is incorrect in his calculations. These will be indicated in the notes.
Consular dating: The Roman Republic was led by two chief magistrates known as consuls. Since a consul’s term of office only lasted for a year, the Romans used the records of successive consulships as a means of keeping track of time. These records were compiled in a master list known as the fasti consulares. While the consulship was retained as a magistracy in the imperial bureaucracy, Eutropius’ use of consular dating is almost exclusively reserved for his account of the Republic, and it is mentioned only twice after the accession of Augustus: the accession of Nerva in section 8.1 and the death of Jovian in section 10.18. Bird conjectures that the former instance is an attempt to flatter the emperor Valens, as the emperor apparently shared his name with one of the consuls for 96 CE (Bird 2011: liv). The latter listing of Jovian and his infant son as the consuls for 364 CE does not appear to have any deeper significance.
Imperial/Regal dating: Beginning with Augustus, Eutropius gives a timeline for the reigns of the emperors, providing the length of time between each emperor’s accession to power and his death (or abdication, in the case of Diocletian). Some helpful dates to remember are as follows: the accession of Augustus in 27 BCE, the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 CE, and the accession of Diocletian in 284 CE. Eutropius keeps this same practice when he discusses the kings: for example, Romulus died after ruling thirty-seven years, Numa Pompilius died after ruling forty-three years, etc.
In several sections that detail the early Republic (1.9-15), Eutropius will begin each one with the phrase annō... ab expulsīs rēgibus (“in the nth year from the expulsion of the kings”). Eutropius claims that the Roman monarchy lasted for two hundred and forty-three years. Taking the foundation date of 753 and subtracting from it the length of the regal period, we end up with a sum of five hundred ten; thus, Tarquinius Superbus was overthrown in 510 BCE. From this point onwards, the Republic was formed, and Eutropius will give the date accordingly from the fasti consulares.
Calendar dating: In several places, Eutropius gives the dates according to the Roman calendar. Each month of the calendar has three specific days: the Kalends, the first day, the Nones, the fifth or seventh day (depending on the month), and the Ides, the thirteenth or fifteenth day (depending on the month). In order to calculate the date, take the number of days given in Roman numerals and go backwards that number from either the Kalends, Nones, or the Ides. We will use section 1.1 as an example. Eutropius gives the date of Rome’s founding as XI Kal. Māiās. The Kalends is the first day of May, so counting backwards eleven days from May 1st leads to April 21st.
Other styles of dating: Eutropius also uses some dating styles which he does not use anywhere else in the Breviarium.
In section 1.1, Eutropius not only uses the standard calendar date of Rome’s founding, but also includes the Olympiad, a four-year cycle beginning in 776 BCE, as well as the time since the alleged destruction of Troy. Traditional Roman mythology held that Rome’s first king Romulus was descended from the Trojan prince Aeneas, who had led the tattered remnants of his people to Italy and built a new kingdom there. The Olympics also held pagan associations for many Christians, and were banned by Emperor Theodosius I in 393 CE. Eutropius was possibly a pagan himself, and the inclusion of these two dating methods may thus have been Eutropius’ subtle attempt to preserve and justify his polytheistic faith and identity in an increasingly Christianized world.
Two instances have to do with Carthage specifically. In section 4.10, Eutropius calculates that the Third Punic War begins about fifty-one years from the end of the Second. Furthermore, in section 4.12, the razing of Carthage, according to Eutropius, occurs seven hundred years after its founding.
Finally, in section 2.7, Eutropius asserts that the end of the Latin War (340 – 338 BCE) was synchronous with the founding of Alexandria. This assertion turns out to be inaccurate, however, as Alexander founded his eponymous Egyptian metropolis closer to 331 BCE.