Testimonia (test. 7)

47

having been made more or less direct from the original Greek; see Wallace-
Hadrill 1955, esp. 250-1; Mossbacher 1979. 67-73; Christesen 2007. 235-40.
In this case, this conclusion is confirmed by the version of the text preserved
in Cyril of Alexandria (test. 7), which agrees with the Latin. If Eusebius’ date
is correct, the reference must be to the poets’ initial appearances at a festival
rather than their initial victories, which date a few years later; see test. 11-12
with nn.
For Eusebius’ organization of his chronology by Olympiads, perhaps draw-
ing on Africanus, see Christesen 2007. 228-76. A similar system had been used
by Timaeus of Tauromenium (4th/3rd century BCE) and eventually became
standard, its fundamental advantage being that it supplied a firm framework
within which material from various places and periods could be organized.

test. 7 K.-A. (= test, vi Storey)
Cyril of Alexandria, Contra Julianum 1.15
ογδοηκοστή όγδοη Όλυμπιάδι τον κωμωδόν Άριστοφάνην (test. 14), Εϋπολίν
τε και Πλάτωνα ([test. 6]) γενέσθαι φασίν
They say that the comic author Aristophanes (test. 14) dates to Olympiad 88,
and Eupolis and Plato ([test. 6]) as well
Citation context Cyril cites this material in the course of an attempt to show
that Moses substantially antedated the greatest Greek thinkers and thus de-
serves more deference than they do—which was also the fundamental point
of Eusebius’ Chronicle, from which Cyril was borrowing; see Interpretation.
Interpretation The reference to Plato, said at Euseb. p. 115.13 Helm to have
been born in 01. 88.4 (Plato nascitur), shows that Cyril is drawing direct on the
now-lost original Greek of Eusebius’ Chronicle, meaning that this is merely
another, somewhat less precise version of test. 6. That Cyril places Eupolis,
Aristophanes and Plato all in Olympiad 88, rather than putting Plato in 01.
89.1, as in the Armenian version (“Plato wurde geboren”), also confirms the
greater reliability of the Latin version of the text; see test. 6 n. Finally, com-
parison with the Chronicle makes it clear that the reference in Cyril is to the
4th-century Athenian philosopher Plato rather than to Plato Comicus (pace
Kassel-Austin); cf. Mancuso 2006.