FAUSTO di BISANZIO. - Celebrated Armenian historian who lived in the period between the fourth and fifth centuries, born into a noble family and a priest. His residence in Byzantium earned him the title of “Byzantine.”
F. is the author of a History of Armenia covering the period between 317 and 387. It is the most important source for the political and ecclesiastical history of that kingdom. The book was written in Greek around 400, but already in the fifth century it had an Armenian version, which alone has survived in its entirety. Despite certain exaggerations, the critical value of the work is great, since it often draws upon official documents.
BIBL.: The Armenian text was published several times, most recently by the Mechanismi of Venice (1880). French version by V. Langlois, Collection des historiens amérites et modernes de l'Arménie, I, Paris 1867, pp. 209–310; German version by M. Lauer, Des F. von Byzance Geschichte Armenien, Cologne 1879; Bardenhewer, V, pp. 185–87; G. Corlitt, Documents pour l'étude du livre d'Apathange (Studi e testi, 127), Vatican City 1946, V. indice. Iemario Orthe de Urbina