SOZOMEN. - Salamanes Hermias, according to Photius (Bibl., 30). An ecclesiastical historian, born of a Christian family in the village of Bethelia near Gaza, and living in an environment where the memories of the monk Hilarion were still vivid. The dates of his birth and death are unknown.
He became a lawyer, lived in Constantinople, where he dedicated his Ecclesiastical History to Emperor Theodosius II.
SPADA, Virgilio – Islands between Borgo Vecchio and Borgo Nuovo, from Piazza S. Pietro to Piazza S. Giacomo, with the locative value of the individual houses. Autograph drawing by
V. S
Vatican Library, cod. Vat. lat. 11257, f. 6.This history had been preceded (Hist. eccl., I, 11, 12) by a more concise one that narrated the history of the Church from the Ascension to Licinius, which has been lost. The Ecclesiastical History consisted of nine books and was intended to extend to 439; the preserved text goes up to 425; the end is missing for unknown reasons (perhaps the middle of a book).
The work was written after 443 and presupposes knowledge of the Ecclesiastical History of Socrates. In addition to Socrates, the author used synodal writings, imperial epistles, laws, and other documents. He found much of this official material in the collection of Sabinus (cf. P. Batiffol, S. S. 1988, pp. 265 ff.) and in the Historia Athanasii (P. Batiffol, Le Synodikon de st Athanasie, ibid., 10 [1901], pp. 128 ff.); he also knew works by Athanasius, Eusebius, and Rufinus. For secular history, he depended on Olympiodorus. S. was a jurist, not a theologian, and therefore not always clear in his judgments, but he was a pious man, an admirer of the ascetic life. Photius is of the opinion that S.'s work surpassed that of Socrates stylistically.