As with other examples of its genre, the Chronicon Paschale is a popular account which relates anecdotes, physical descriptions of the chief personages (which at times are careful portraits), and extraordinary events such as earthquakes and the appearance of comets.
The Chronicle proper is preceded by an introduction containing reflections on Christian chronology and on the calculation of the Paschal (Easter) cycle.
The so-called 'Byzantine' or 'Roman' era (which continued in use in Greek Orthodox Christianity until the end of Turkish rule as the 'Julian calendar') was adopted in the Chronicon as the foundation of chronology; accordingly the date of the creation is given as 21 March 5507 BC.
[2] The author identifies himself as a contemporary of the Emperor Heraclius (610–641), and was possibly a cleric attached to the suite of the Ecumenical Patriarch Sergius.
The chief authorities used were: Sextus Julius Africanus; the Fasti consulares; the Chronicle and Church History of Eusebius; John Malalas; the Acta Martyrum; the treatise of Epiphanius, bishop of Constantia (the old Salamis) in Cyprus (fl.