Zosimus

Zosimus was a Greek historian (Born 460s, died 520s). He lived in Constantinople during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I (491–518).^[1] According to the religious leader Photius, Zosimus was a comes, or a noble of small importance. He also worked for the imperial treasury, which was where the Byzantine government managed their money. Zosimus was known for being a pagan when the Byzantine Empire was Christian. He did not agree with Roman Emperor Constantine's decision to make the Roman Empire Christian.^[2]

Not much is known about the life of Zosimus except that he was Greek and a pagan.^[3] He wrote about things that happened a long time before he was alive, and was also biased because of his paganism, so he is not trusted without outside proof.^[4]

Historia Nova

Zosimus wrote Historia Nova (meaning "New History,") which is a series of six books written in Greek. They are history books about the years 238 to 410 A.D.^[5] It was written in the late 400s.^[6] Zosimus's goal was to write about what led to the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Since he was a pagan, Zosimus puts Rome's Christian Emperors in an very bad light. This has led to historians being skeptical of Zosimus. Some historians say that since Zosimus was pagan when the Byzantine Empire was Christian, he might have lost his job at the government treasury. This would explain why he was sometimes very bitter in his writing.^[7]