Sextus Julius Africanus was a Christian historian and scholar who lived in the late second and early third centuries CE, during the Roman Empire. He was likely born in Jerusalem and served as a soldier in the Roman army. He was also a well-traveled intellectual, known to have visited Alexandria and to have led a diplomatic mission to the Roman emperor on behalf of a city in Palestine. He corresponded with other major Christian thinkers of his time, such as Origen.

Africanus is most significant for his written works, though they survive only in fragments. His major achievement was the Chronographiae, a five-volume universal history. This chronicle was the first Christian attempt to synchronize biblical history with the events of the Greek and Roman worlds, creating a timeline that led up to the life of Christ. According to modern scholars, this framework was highly influential for later Christian historians. He also wrote the Cesti, a large, encyclopedic work dedicated to the emperor, which covered topics from agriculture and medicine to military tactics and natural magic. This book reflects the wide-ranging interests of an educated Christian living within Roman culture. A letter he wrote discussing the genealogy of Jesus also survives.