Page "Zosimus" Paragraph 2

The first book sketches briefly the history of the early Roman emperors from Augustus to Diocletian ( 305 ); the second, third and fourth deal more fully with the period from the accession of Constantius Chlorus and Galerius to the death of Theodosius I ; the fifth and sixth, the most useful for historians, cover the period between 395 and 410, when Priscus Attalus was deposed ; for this period, he is the most important surviving non-ecclesiastical source.

The work, which breaks off abruptly in the summer of 410 at the beginning of the sixth book, is believed to have been written in 498 – 518.