Conclusion

Abstract

The conclusion revisits the areas of paratextuality and information visualization introduced at the beginning of the book. It argues that the Eusebian apparatus participated in a wider ‘information technology revolution’ that occurred from the fourth century onwards and exemplifies the late antique view of knowledge as a perception of the structural order underlying an object of study. With respect to paratextuality, the conclusion proposes that the shift in attitudes towards paratexts in the sources covered in this book is tied to the emergence of the book as an object of significance and study in itself, rather than merely being the necessary equipment for an oral performance. Finally, the conclusion proposes that although notions of textual and cosmological harmony have shifted since late antiquity, the Eusebian apparatus remains effective as a means for mapping the polyphonous conversation that is the fourfold gospel.