Zosimus

Zosimus lived in Constantinople during the reign of Anastasius I, serving as comes and advocate of the imperial treasury in the 490s–510s. He wrote his history long after the events he chronicled, drawing on earlier sources to construct a narrative spanning Rome's decline. His work is notable for its open condemnation of Constantine's conversion, arguing that rejecting the traditional polytheistic religion set the empire on a path toward weakness. Writing as a pagan in a now-Christian world, he preserved a vanishing perspective on the forces that shaped late antiquity.