Translating Eusebius’ ‘Church History’ in the West and in the East: Rufinus and his contemporary Syriac colleague

The aim of the contribution is to analyse some aspects of the Latin and Syriac translations of Eusebius’ Historia Ecclesiastica (H.E.), two very ancient versions and, as such, inserted by E. Schwartz in the critical apparatus of his edition. They are, in fact, not only precious witnesses of an ancient phase of the Eusebian text, but, considered from the point of view of the techniques and the linguistic and conceptual strategies of translation, they are also inestimable sources for reconstructing the main features of the cultural and theological contexts in which they were produced and intended for circulation. For this purpose, we will draw attention to some passages in which the Latin and Syriac translations show remarkable discrepancies with Eusebius’ text.