Jean Malalas
Jean Malalas (in ancient Greek / Ionnis Malalas), born about 490 AD. AD and died around 578 AD. AD , is the author of the oldest chronic Byzantine preserved: the Chronographia (). He exercised great influence on the Byzantine chronicles but Slavic and Oriental, as well as traditional Western annals.
The only biographical information we have of him must be inferred from his name and his work: it is probably Syrian ancestry (Malalas means "rhetorician" in Syriac ), a native of Antioch , and had to work in administration before coming to Constantinople , probably in the 530s or shortly after 540.
The city of Antioch is indeed an important place in his work, a world history in 18 books, ranging from biblical times to the reign of Justinian I : the single manuscript preserved Greek stops in 565 , but Slavic translation of tenth - eleventh century is more complete. The story may have been extended until 574 later: the last book that describes the reign of Justinian shows less interest in the capital and contains fewer hints of sympathy Monophysite the beginning, it therefore seems as grafted the book or the author himself at a later date or by someone else. The identification of John Malalas the patriarch of Constantinople John the Scholastic III ( 565 - 577 ) is now rejected.
Written in a popular language, perhaps for a popular audience itself, this column has value as a historical source for the sixth century. The section devoted to the reign of Justinian seems to reflect the imperial propaganda of the time. For the older parts, the author takes care to cite his sources, although many seem secondhand. His influence was considerable, since the book was translated into Slavonic ecclesiastical and especially in Georgia.
Editions
- Ioannes Malalas, Chronographia, Corpus Historiae Fontium Byzantinae, Series Berolinensis, H. Thurn (ed.), Berlin, 2000 (rd.).
- Clavis Patrum Graecorum 7511
Bibliography
- Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, sv Malalas, John, Vol. II, 1274.
- E. Jeffreys, B. Croke, R. Scott, Studies in John Malalas, Sydney, 1990.
- The Chronicle of John Malalas (VI th century. Chr.). Proceedings of the conference of Aix-en-Provence (21-23 March 2003), (monographs, memoirs and other works), Paris, 2004, edited by J. Beaucamp, in collaboration with S. Agusta-Boularot, A.-M. Bernardi, B. Cabouret and E. Cairo.
External Links
- Ioannis Malalae Chronographia the Chronograph Malalas in publishing Dindorf, 1831 on Google books
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