In the unsettled socio-political and literary spheres of Late Antiquity, the Chronicle of Hydatius represents reliable and important evidence for the reconstruction of the political and military events that occurred in the Iberian peninsula during the fifth century. The Bishop of Aquae Flaviae (present-day Chaves in Portugal) pursues the previous historiographical works of the ‘holy and very erudite Fathers’ (patres sancti et eruditissimi ), Eusebius of Caesarea and Jerome, and traces a chronological period that goes from 379 to 468: with a dark stylistic expressionism and a marked pessimistic vein, he makes a detailed report about the salient episodes of the barbarian penetration beyond the Pyrenees, of the violent conflicts between the Sueves and the Goths, and the restless relationship between the barbarian tribes and the native population. In that climate of uncertainty and precariousness, the Galician bishop developed a dramatic awareness of the demise of the empire: after having led an embassy to the general Aetius, between 431 and 432, and after assuming, thanks to his personal prestige and his episcopal office, the role of political mediator between the claims of the Ibero-Roman communities and the court of Ravenna, Hydatius seems to be aware of the weakness of imperial power and the inability of the central authority to stem the barbarian invasions.

The historical-apocalyptic conception of the Chronicle

It is not surprising, therefore, that Hydatius’s refined political knowledge, gained from the direct experience of leading diplomatic delegations, corresponds to an articulated historical conception, which, in some respects, presents very interesting elements of novelty. In this regard, Richard W. Burgess enthusiastically portrays Hydatius as one of the pioneers of the Latin chronograph genre.