John Malalas

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John Malalas (Greek: Ἰωάννης Μαλάλας, translit. Iōánnēs Malálas, /ˈmælələs/; c. 491 – 578 AD) was a Byzantine chronicler from Antioch (now Antakya, Turkey).

Life

Malalas was of

Syrian descent,[1] and he was a native speaker of Syriac who learned how to write in Greek later in his life.[2] The name Malalas probably derived from the Syriac word ܡܰܠܳܠܰܐ malolo 'rhetor, orator'; it is first applied to him by John of Damascus. The alternative form Malelas is later, first appearing in Constantine VII.[3]

Malalas was educated in Antioch, and probably was a

Paneas.[5]

Writing

The title page of Historia Chronica, 1691, from the Austrian National Library
The title page of Historia Chronica, 1691, from the Austrian National Library

He wrote a Chronographia (Χρονογραφία) in 18 books, the beginning and the end of which are lost. In its present state it begins with the mythical history of

Eusebius of Caesarea and other compilers, confidently strung together myths, biblical stories, and real history."[7] The eighteenth book, dealing with Justinian's reign, is well acquainted with, and colored by, official propaganda. The writer is a supporter of Church and State, an upholder of monarchical principles. However, the theory identifying him with the patriarch John Scholasticus is almost certainly incorrect.[8]

He used several sources, for example Eustathius of Epiphania and other unknown authors.

The work is important as the first surviving example of a chronicle written not for the learned but for the instruction of the monks and the common people, and its language shows a compromise with the spoken language of the day, although "it is still very much a written style. In particular, he employs technical terminology and bureaucratic clichés incessantly, and, in a period of transition from Latin to Greek governmental terminology, still uses the Latin loanwords alongside their Greek replacements.... The overall impression created by Malálas' style is one of simplicity, reflecting a desire for the straightforward communication of information in the written language of everyday business as it had evolved under the influence of spoken Greek."[9]

It obtained great popularity, and was used by various writers until the ninth century; it was translated into

Old Bulgarian probably in the tenth century, and parts of it were used for the Primary Chronicle.[10] It is preserved in an abridged form in a single manuscript now at Oxford (Baroccianus 182) as well as in various fragments. A medieval translation in Georgian also exists.[11]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ "John Malalas | Byzantine chronicler". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-01-25.
  2. ISBN 978-1-4411-0105-1
    .
  3. ^ Thurn, Ioannis Malalae Chronographia, p. 1.
  4. ISBN 0-582-30709-0
    ), p. 180.
  5. ^ Thurn, Ioannis Malalae Chronographia, p. 1.
  6. ^ Thurn, Ioannis Malalae Chronographia, p. 2.
  7. ISBN 0-8047-2421-0
    ), p. 267.
  8. ^ Thurn, Ioannis Malalae Chronographia, p. 2.
  9. ^ Horrocks, Greek, pp. 179-81, q.v. for details of lexical and syntactic usage; see also pp. 181-82 for a passage of Malalas with interlinear translation and transcription showing how Horrocks believes it would have sounded in the spoken Greek of the day.
  10. ^ Oleg Tvorogov, Хроника Иоанна Малалы Archived 2009-05-17 at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ISBN 0-19-504652-8
    .

Sources

Modern editions

Text
  • Johannes Thurn (ed.) 2000, Ioannis Malalae Chronographia,
    ISBN 3-11-008800-2
Translation

Further reading

  • E. Jeffreys, B. Croke, and R. Scott (eds.), Studies in John Malalas (Sydney: Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, 1990) (Byzantina Australiensia, 6), pp. 1–25.
  • David Woods, "Malalas, Constantius, and a Church-inscription from Antioch," Vigiliae Christianae, 59,1 (2005), pp. 54–62.
  • J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz, "Malalas on Antioch," in Idem, Decline and Change in Late Antiquity: Religion, Barbarians and their Historiography (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2006) (Variorum Collected Studies).

External links

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