Sextus Julius Africanus (c. 160 – c.240) is a Christian traveler and historian of the late 2nd and early 3rd century CE.
He is important chiefly because of his influence on Eusebius, on all the later writers of Church history among the Fathers, and on the whole Greek school of chroniclers.
His name indicates that he was an African.
Julius calls himself a native of Jerusalem – which some scholars consider his birthplace – and lives at the neighboring Emmaus.
His chronicle indicates his familiarity with the topography of Palestine.
Little of his life is known and all dates are uncertain.
One tradition places him under the Emperor Gordianus III (238–244), others mentions him under Severus Alexander (222–235).
He appears to have known Abgar VIII, the Christian King of Edessa (176–213).
ulius travels to Greece and Rome and goes to Alexandria to study, attracted by the fame of its catechetical school, possibly about the year 215.
He knows Greek (in which language he writes), Latin, and Hebrew.
He is at one time a soldier and had been a pagan; he writes all his works as a Christian.
Whether Julius Africanus was a layman or a cleric remains controversial.
Statements calling him a bishop only appear in the fourth century.
