| Abstract: | This article argues that after the Council of Nicaea in 325Arius was exiled to Illyricum, then summoned to the imperialcourt in the winter of 327–8 by Constantine, who was howeverunable to effect his return to Alexandria. Some years later,Arius grew impatient at his continuing exclusion from Alexandriaand wrote an injudicious letter to the emperor, who denouncedhim in a letter read out in Alexandria in the presence of theprefect Paterius. The article defends Eduard Schwartz's datingof this letter to 333 against the attempt of the editors ofAthanasius Werke 3.1.3 (2007) to redate it to the 320s by settingout the full evidence for the chronology of the prefecture ofEgypt between 324 and 334. It is further shown that Arius wasrecalled again in 335 and died in 336, not significantly earlier,as argued by the recent editors, and it is also suggested thatConstantine issued his edict against Arius in 325 immediatelyafter the Council of Nicaea, not in 333. |
