John Malalas

John Malalas ( Malalas = Syriac for orator; * 490 in Antioch, Syria; † after 570 in Constantinople Opel ) was an East Roman historian of the late late antiquity. His previously often suspected identity with John III. Scholasticus, Patriarch of Antioch, is now no longer represented in the rule. He is the author of a Christian world chronicle.

Life and work

About the biography of the author of the traditional with the name John Malalas Chronicle does not have reliable information, but you can in this regard draw conclusions from his work. John was probably quite formed and apparently several years in the imperial service. He apparently moved soon after the catastrophic earthquake in 526 of Antioch to Constantinople to Opel.

John is the author of the oldest almost completely preserved Greek-speaking world chronicle in 18 books. The main manuscript from the 12th century ( Bodleian Library, Codex Baroccianus graecus 182 ), which already included an edited and no longer full text, however, is partially damaged; so the first book is missing ( its content but from two other, also edited manuscripts from the 10th century is known), parts of book 5 and 18 and the final. Some of missing information can be reconstructed thanks to a Church Slavonic translation of the work. The text of the said main manuscript breaks in the year 563, towards the end of the reign of Emperor Justinian, from. It is unclear how far the chronicle even handed; is suspected as the end date often the year 565, but 574 seems possible. The work enjoyed just because of the late antique vernacular approximate Greek, even centuries later great popularity and found many imitators.

Book 1 to 6 deal with the biblical, ancient Near Eastern and older Greek history, with strong mythological descriptions are incorporated. In Book 7, the Roman Prehistory, in Book 8 deals with the Hellenistic history. From the 9th book is Roman history, omitting the Republican period, the focus of the presentation: About Augustus to the present day middle of the 6th century. The focus of the presentation is up to the closing part of Antioch, after Constantine Opel. Apparently originated at least two versions of the chronicle: an earlier still in Antioch (1st half of the 6th century) and later in Constantinople Opel. As a historical source, the Chronicle, compared with their literary-historical value, over long distances is less useful; yet the historical research in many areas is reliant on the information in Malalas. Especially the presentation from the 15th book provides quite valuable information about the outgoing Late Antiquity to the east of the Mediterranean.

Malalas sighted its quite numerous sources not critical, but offers a more colorful story based on his historical and mythological material. However, the individual sources are almost impossible to identify with certainty; and an unknown or lost works, but apparently he pulled zoom Eustathius of Epiphaneia. His style is understandable and sometimes the entertaining character of the representation shows. However, in the earlier research, the work was considered very critical and considered inadequate partly due to lack of penetration of the contents of the source material. In more recent research, however, the specific nature of the work is and the recognizable in the Chronicle perception of their presence ( in the historical information before the 5th century are less useful ) considered by the author. In this respect, the Chronicle is the history of mentality of particular value. Although considered critical recently again Warren Treadgold the Chronicle, his often speculative assumptions, however, are very controversial.

The work of John Malalas was used extensively by many later authors, such as John of Ephesus, the anonymous author of the Chronicon Paschale and Theophanes, whose texts were also used to supplement the relevant today Malalas edition of Hans Thurn. In addition, the chronicle was translated very early into several languages. A Latin version was printed in 1691. In modern research, however, Malalas long time was hardly noticed and little appreciated; this changed with the growing interest in late antiquity since about 1980. Ludwig Dindorf in 1831 was an edition of the Greek work out, which was partly flawed, but remained in use for a long time due to lack of alternatives. The fundamentally improved edition of Thurn is only available since 2000. She follows in the text outline not Dindorf, but the counting of the widely used English translation of Malalas 1986.

A project funded by the DFG project to create an historical- philological commentary ( University of Tübingen) is currently being planned.

Editions and translations

• John Malalas: Chronographia. Edited by Hans Thurn ( posthumously ), Berlin 2000 ( Corpus Historiae Fontium Byzantinae 35). [ basic text output; specialized knowledge. Book review ]
• Elizabeth Jeffreys, Michael Jeffreys, Roger Scott: The Chronicle of John Malalas. A translation. Melbourne 1986, ISBN 0-9593626-2-2 ( Byzantina Australiensia 4). [ a very positive reception from the English translation of research that is relevant still ]
• John Malalas: World Chronicle. Translated by Hans Thurn and Mischa Meier. With an introduction by Claudia Drosihn, Mischa Meier and Stefan Priwitzer and explanations of Claudia Drosihn, Catherine Enderle, Mischa Meier and Stefan Priwitzer. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 2009 [ German translation, but does not replace, edited by Jeffrey / Jeffrey / Scott English translation.; Review at Plekos ]