Endnote 4 – The Road More Traveled

In the second book of his Ecclesiastical History (2.12.13), Eusebius introduces an additional proof of a famine in Jerusalem in the first century and of the Christian apostolic relief mission for the poor of Jerusalem (Acts 11:29–30). He cites Josephus’ witness to Helen of Adiabene’s corn dole for the hungry and then adds this substantiation:

“Illustrious stellae of the Helen whom the historian [i.e., Josephus] has commemorated are still today being pointed out [eis eti nun … deiknutai] in the suburbs of contemporary [nun] Aelia [Jerusalem].”

It is exactly his formula, honed to perfection in the Onomasticon, now dropped into the History to give additional verification from visual (i.e. literary) evidence.